“If you can’t tell someone how to think then you have to learn to manage the environment where they think. And make it a place where they want to come everyday.” - Schmidt & Rosenberg: How Google Works

A new hire is a big investment** and in most cases you are hiring them for their minds. It only makes sense that you’d want to offer a space where that mind can thrive. Yet all too often in today’s environment companies will hire smart people only to put them in boring spaces and stifle their creativity. Say you are moving out of the coffee shop into your first office or heck even upgrading from the first office to that second one because the companies needs are growing! What are the chances that the needs of your employees just happen to line up with the needs of the previous tenant which happened to line up with the needs of the developer and the designs of their architect? The answer is: outside of the restrooms, not strong (and those probably suck too). Now, I understand that most companies do not have the luxury of designing and funding ground up construction that provides a completely unique space for their smart creatives. What we can do today is to bridge the gap between the previously built world and the world we want to live and work in.

**The CEO of a construction company in NYC I used to work for said a new hire can cost his business nearly $250K in the first year, including salary, benefits, bonus, healthcare, admin work and insurance.

5 ideas to help stimulate the

5 senses of your new hires:

1. Play with Lighting

… Yes blue light stimulates alertness and that red filter on your phone is great after 8pm but that’s not what im talking about ... Using something like the Philips Hue bulbs or one of the other products on Amazon will enable you (or your employees) to adjust the ambient light. This is not only a creative way to liven up a previously dull space, these multi colored LED lights also change the way we interact with art. This was demonstrated brilliantly by The Garden School in Hackney. They make a static environment feel more dynamic because the space can be different every day.

Photo: JK | Location: MSG [phish concert] NYC USA

Photo: JK | Location: Arapaho National Forest CO USA

2. Introduce texture

Photo: JK | Location: O’Fallon Park CO USA

... You may have noticed that Live edge tables have become all the rage in modern offices, conference rooms, even the home dining room table. This is a prime example of how we can introduce the natural world back into our built environments. This can also be achieved with textured walls using natural materials like stone, wood or built materials like rope, glass and textiles. A textured wall changes our depth perception and our tactile interactions with the spaces in which we work.

Photo: JK | Location: Ollantaytambo Peru

3. Living Systems

... No the mini cactus sitting on top of your toilet tank is not what I am referring too. One easy way to implement living systems into our built spaces by the use of Green Walls. This idea, pioneered by one of my college professors David Tilley, has become more and more mainstream and has even found its way from the exterior of our buildings to the interior. Companies like LiveWall and even HGTV are making these systems much more accessible to the everyday consumer. Living systems are a broad and fascinating topic of ecological technology design that I will post more about in a future article. But for now things like green walls (and roofs) provide a wonderful visual, tactile and olfactory experience that we are not generally exposed to in our traditional work and classroom settings.

Photo: JK | Location: Vincente Lopez BA Argentina

4. Air and Scent

Photo: JK | Location: Laguna Quilotoa Ecuador

... We are tied to nature through our sensory receptors, especially those in our noses and on our skin. Growing up on the Long Island Sound I have always been fond of gentle breezes and the smell of salt in the air, even a hint of low tide feels like home. Having traded the sea for the mountains I now appreciate a crisp cool morning with a subtle hint of pine. Think about it, Grandma’s house, the local bakery, the perfume of your first girlfriend, these are all people and places that have deep rooted olfactory based memories, the power of scent should not be ignored.

Now let’s walk into the office … elevator doors open ... cue the scent of burnt coffee and the receptionist who smells oddly similar to the cleaning supply aisle at Stop & Shop (a wonderful aisle to walk through just wouldn’t want to live there). These are the “smells” of the office that, in all honesty we’ve become too tolerant of. First off, coffee should NEVER be burnt and is actually quite easy to do well and also has some interesting health effects, but I digress. Through the use of negative and positive pressure spaces we can create a natural breeze feeling and capitalize on this opportunity to introduce scent in spaces where we traditionally have not. Chemist have gotten quite skilled at recreating the chemicals that flavor the air of the natural world, just go ask the people over at Yankee Candle. In all seriousness, air temperature, humidity and scent are all now able to be controlled via smartphones with market available material.

5. Sound

Film: JK | Location: Evergreen CO USA

… The 21st century has brought us into an era where humans control nearly 100% of the Audio stimulation we receive. No, you can't tell the passing fire engine to quiet down but you can put on your fancy new noise canceling headphones and choose what music, audiobook, or podcast will take its place. Noise pollution has existed as long as sound has, but in today’s society municipalities and universities are starting to study science this phenomenon and understand its health effects. Fortunately the days of Muzak are becoming a thing of the past but leaves us without a solution for a loud cubicle neighbors or the loud talkers on public transportation. This article on office noise reduction provides some helpful tools for creating a more pleasant work environment. Now I understand that noise reduction and Biophilic design may not have a straight line connecting the two but noises from our built (and being built) environments tend to trigger us to be less productive and generally more agitated. Learning how to recreate the sounds experienced when on a solo hike through the woods or walking down a beach will enable us to provide more tranquility in our workplaces. Increased tranquility will increase the amount of time people spend at work (doing work) and enhance their ability to be productive while in that environment.

* Smart Creative: A person who combines deep technical knowledge of his or her trade with intelligence, business savvy, and a host of creative qualities. Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg “How Google Works”

~JK

Bouns: Check out this awesome tour of Signapore with Summer Rayne Oakes