Office setup
We are a completely open office. Communication and collaboration are two pillars of our brand, so an open format is critical. In San Francisco, even the principals do not have private offices.
Cool office design factor
Our whole office revolves around our central incubator space; in our Miami office, it’s the library. It’s lined with steel so we can pin up literally hundreds of inspirational images during our pre-design sessions. It has wood floors perfect for weekly yoga and personal training sessions; in Miami we do Zumba. It has beer taps in the walls—with wine taps to come—for our Friday social hours. In Miami, we have a built-in espresso machine for Cuban coffee.
Employee perks
For three decades, we’ve practiced an alternative workweek. We work nine-hour days, and have every other Friday off. It has become a critical part of our firm culture, and a way to help our staff foster work-life balance.
Emphasizing collaboration
We actively cultivate what we call ‘creative confidence.’ Our organization is purposefully boutique in our approach, our hierarchy is pretty flat, and we prioritize communication. We encourage new ideas, and always try to expand our range of options for design solutions, rather than narrow them. [IDEO president and CEO] Tim Brown says it perfectly: ‘Empathy is at the heart of design. Without the understanding of what others see, feel, and experience, design is a pointless task.’
Wellness in design
We incorporate wellness into every single project. The well-being of guests in our resorts, or residents of our multifamily or mixed-use communities, is a key design driver for every design solution. The new generation of travelers, and residents in multifamily communities, do not see it as an option to be incorporated or not. Sustainability—wellness for the planet and the community—goes hand in hand with wellness for the individual.
That said, an example of an upcoming project that incorporates wellness is Caroline Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Bermuda—a destination resort and residential community designed to embrace Bermuda’s casually elegant lifestyle.
