STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION 2017 Clarification Questions
CONTENTS GENERAL QUESTIONS...3 9 SOUND/ACOUSTICS...9 TECHNOLOGY...9 AESTHETICS/FINISHES/BRANDING...10 BREAK/CAFE... 10 11 MAIL/PRINT ROOM...11 LOCKERS...11 DESIGN SPECIFICATION DEPARTMENT...11 12 ORDER ENTRY DEPARTMENT... 12 GLOBAL ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT... 13 CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT... 13 MARKETING DEPARTMENT...13 14 DESIGN DEPARTMENT...14 CREDIT DEPARTMENT...14 15 NEW PRODUCT ENGINEERS DEPARTMENT... 15 LEADERSHIP... 15
GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Which floor is the focus of the 2017 IIDA Student Design Competition? The second floor is the focus of the 2017 IIDA Student Design Competition. The additional documents are meant as support documents to give participants a fuller understanding of the space. Participating students should only design the second floor of OFS Brands headquarters. 2. Can interior walls be removed? Which walls are non-structural? Yes, interior walls can be removed. The columns are supporting and cannot be moved or changed. There is a structural steel plan included in the design package. Creatively use furniture solutions to break the space apart in interesting ways, if desired. 3. On the PDF, there is an extra column when compared to the cad file. Which one is accurate, the PDF or the CAD file? The PDF is correct; there are a total of seven columns in the space. 4. In the floor plan and PDF, what is the hatched space near the elevators? The hatched section of the PDF is a window wall and ceiling. This extends to the entire vertical face of the main entrance and angles out as a ceiling over the entryway. There is a secondfloor glass side rail that overlooks the lobby and a first-floor glass side rail that overlooks the lobby. The vertical window wall extends from the top of the angled window ceiling from the first-floor ceiling height to the top of the cathedral ceiling on the second floor. If you need a photo for clarification, please email students@iida.org. 5. Are there pictures of the current office interior? Pictures of the current interior will not be provided. Students should work from the existing documents and resources provided. 6. How often does the office get visitors from outside of their company? OFS headquarters is not just a workplace, it is also the company s largest showroom, where the bestselling and most impactful products are displayed. Visitors to this space are frequent and include customers, clients, and interior design professionals. 7. Can we make openings in the ceiling/roof? This is the second floor of a three-floor building; there should be no additional openings in the ceiling. 8. Are dimensions of the furniture available on the website? The DWG and RVT files are only available under each product line; RVT files are available for most, but not all, product lines. If you select a product line, there will be a downloads section for individual model DWG files. Additionally, there are typical configurations setup for many of the more popular product lines with the drawing files. 9. We read that there is a cafe downstairs, and we see there are many openings at this floor to the lower levels. What activities take place below or near the light tunnels? We are concerned with sound travel. Currently, the area at or near the light tunnels is a landing space with a lounge area. A reception off the elevators to the left passes through the area with light collaborative furniture. 3
10. What will be the main public access to the showroom on the second floor? Main public access is through the elevators. 11. What kind of mechanical systems are in the building/ceiling? It is a four-pipe system using chilled and heated water supplies to individual zoned air handlers to heat and cool each space. Fresh air is mixed into the space using outdoor intakes. 12. What are the current space standards or sizes of workspaces? Some people said their work surface was inadequate, but did not indicate the size. Currently, customer service and order entry have 54-66" surfaces. The credit department has L-setups for the most part. New product development shares a closed-door space with 66" surfaces. Design specification uses 66" or 84" surfaces. The marketing team is nomadic, relying on touch-down space. 13. Do any of the private offices require private restrooms? The CEO s office and the office adjacent to the CEO s have private restrooms. 14. Is there a current floor plan with furniture? Yes, but we would like a fresh perspective to solving our furniture and layout needs, so we decided not to include it. 15. Where are the departments currently located on the floor plan? Please note the existing room names on the floor plan and/or sections for clarity. See the revised Floor Plan Drawing for room labels. Note: This is the current setup, but that does not mean it must stay this way. 16. Are storage needs at personal workstations or by department? Or both? Work items are kept at the workstation; however, there are also furniture lockers at two spots on the second floor for coats, gym shoes, and other items that don t fit at the workstation. There is also a central area to store shared items like office supplies. 17. Who is currently occupying the private offices/enclosed rooms? Single residents in some cases. In many cases though, they are shared by up to four residents. Some are also group meeting areas. If someone requires a private office to themselves, it is noted in the brief. You have the freedom to reimagine private offices based on the departmental needs as well eliminate the non-structural walls. 18. The door outlined currently leads to nowhere. In the Doc 01 Floor Plan, the door leads to a space. However, I was unable to find what the space is from the supporting documents. Is the door meant to be there with the attaching space or is the door taken out for the competition? This door is access to a maintenance room and the roof. 19. What kind of system had been used to create the current standing partitions? Standard drywall construction. 4
20. What is the ceiling height? See the 2nd Floor Reflected Ceiling Plan for drop-ceiling heights. Open plan exposed ceilings are 11' 6". The open corridor area located by the restroom is 14' up to the base of the cathedral skylight and 18' to the peak of the cathedral. This is the same in the skylight area next to the boardroom and director of sales operations. Open space between the elevators and window facade is 14' up to the base of the cathedral (not a skylight) and 23' to the peak of the cathedral. 21. How many restrooms are required? Can they be moved? The restrooms are set in place and cannot be altered. The existing plumbing should remain as is in the main restrooms and private restrooms. 22. From the design brief, The CEO is currently located near the elevator and would like to stay in that space, which is marked on the floor plan. In the floor plan and supporting documents, the CEO is not marked. What room are they currently in? See revised floor plan drawing with room labels. 23. Does the second floor need a reception desk or waiting area? Yes, outside of the CEO s office. 24. Do employees on this floor require a break area or a safe room space, private phone booths, or any other private individual space? Yes. We can accommodate personal privacy as needed. 25. What is the budget for this project? The furniture budget is reasonably unlimited. The constraints of the brief limiting architectural additions will keep the budget in check. 26. What are the ceiling heights of the suspended acoustic ceiling panel systems? The sections show variations in heights. Can you supply the heights and type of ceilings on an RCP? See the 2nd Floor Reflected Ceiling Plan for drop ceiling heights. Other ceiling heights are provided in answers to previous questions. 27. Do we need to include restrooms, or is that allocated on another level for this renovation? If so, may we move the location of current restroom? The restrooms may not be altered and are already included. 28. Does the project need mechanical, lighting, and electrical to be considered? If yes, please supply the RCP showing locations of supply and return vents, light fixtures, and an electrical layout showing existing outlets and switches. Lighting could be considered to provide adequate lighting for individual workstations, but would require a substantial retrofit to the ceiling system. Changes to ductwork within the mechanical system would also require substantial retrofitting and restructuring of walls and ceilings. Small electrical retrofits are possible, such as floor cores or ceiling supplies. See the 2nd Floor Reflected Ceiling Plan, 2nd Floor Electrical Drawing, and 2nd Floor Mechanical Drawing. 29. Will this space need to be ADA accessible? If so, what are the required specifications? It should comply with applicable ADA requirements. 5
30. Are there any required themes or consistency in the design with the different floors? No, you may design independent of what exists on other floors. 31. Does each department have to be separated by walls, or is an open office (with privacy for those who need it) preferred? 32. Are there any existing furniture pieces that you want to re-use? No. 33. Do you prefer each specific type of space to use the same furniture (or furniture style/ line), such as all private offices having the same furniture line used (matching) or all open workstations/benching to have the same groups of furniture? There is no preference. Furniture should work great, look great, reflect the culture, meet the needs of the users, and scale correctly to the space. 34. Are there fun events held in this second floor space, such as holiday parties? Occasionally, but it is primarily an office space. 35. How casual is the company? Do you allow employees to bring pets? We are moderately casual. No skateboarding, but there are no suit coats either. OFS does not allow pets. 36. What are your employees typically into for hobbies, outdoors, video games, traveling, etc.? OFS has employees of each generation, and their interests and hobbies are as varied as any office might be. 37. Is there a feature that you want to highlight in the space? The space has access to excellent sunlight and views of the green spaces surrounding the HQ office. This might be a potential feature to highlight, but this is up to the designer. 38. Would you like to have the same task chair used for all employees? 39. Should there be a sense of hierarchy in the furniture choices and finishes? Or is the culture flat/egalitarian? More of a flat culture, but meeting spaces and private offices can often be client-facing. 40. Are there window treatments on the windows? How much daylight will come through the space? Are there specific departments that would benefit from direct daylight in their work areas? The space gets a lot of sunlight and it s a feature we love. The outward windows that currently exist behind closed-door spaces all have manually adjustable shades. Everyone would benefit from sunlight. 41. Do there need to be any rooms/spaces dedicated to visitors/guests? We do get vendors, reps, and clients that sometimes visit and need spaces to dock up. 6
42. How often are outside visitors entering the facility? On the second floor, outside guests will not visit without an escort, so they will have come by the reception area first and will have already been greeted and signed in by the time they get to the second floor. 43. Overall do you want the design/layout to be open plan? Generally speaking, yes, but to what degree is up to you. This is a decision for each designer to make. 44. What is your dress code? Casual to business casual. The video in the design brief will give the designer a good feel for how OFS employees dress. 45. How social are the employees? We like each other and are fairly social. 46. What are the mission and vision statements of OFS Brands? We would encourage you to visit this page to learn more about OFS Brands. Also, please watch the video component of the competition brief for more information. 47. If there are certain workers that need private offices, do you prefer glass walls or drywall walls? 48. Does the office get a lot of public use as a showroom? How often? Any large events? There are no events held on the second floor, but we frequently have clients in for various meetings. 49. If this office space also doubles as a showroom, how often will the furniture need to be rotated out and new furniture products be brought in? We want you to design for this to be a great solution for the next 4-5 years; however, flexibility is important to our culture and our ability to react. If the design allows us to easily convert workspace into collaborative space or collaborative space into workspace over time, this would be a value to us. 50. What are the number of printers that will be needed for each department? There should be two printer banks on the floor that can be shared by all. The executives will have their own printers in their offices. 51. Do you want us to display other brands of furniture? And if so, is there a preference of those that should be utilized versus avoided? The only requirement is that you use at least 50 percent of the furniture from OFS. First and foremost, this is an IIDA competition judged by professional designers. The amount of OFS Brands furniture used will have no bearing on the award decision. Our headquarters just happens to be the venue for this year s competition. 52. Do you have a preference for which furniture pieces are OFS Brands and which pieces come from other manufacturers? 7
53. What is the workflow process that occurs between the seven departments on the second floor? There are times we pull together as small groups, as large groups, and individually. The video and the design brief are the best descriptors for department needs. 54. Some departments mentioned being paper intensive. How much paper is typically used in a day or week in the paper-intensive departments? Is the paper stored in a central location, and once it is used (for a customer order for example) where are those paper files stored? For the departments that are paper heavy, they will be printing and working with new papers everyday 20+ sheets a day likely. These papers are kept, filed, and eventually cycled out of their individual workstations. Reams are 8.5x11. 55. Can we assume that if direct/mandatory adjacencies were not mentioned in the written programming nor the video, then no other adjacencies are required? Are there any two departments that always work closely with each other and should be placed near one another that were not already mentioned? There is no requirement to have certain departments near one another beyond what was mentioned in the brief. 56. You mention custom and special orders what do you mean by custom? Custom colors? Custom sizes? Specials generally refers to standard product that is modified to be a different size or slightly different shape. Custom products would generally require a complete re-engineering of the product and may also include materials that are not available within our standard options. 57. How much extra space is needed for steady growth and evolution in each department, should we be creating additional empty/future workspaces? Ideally, we would like the ability to grow headcount by 20-25 percent in the next 5 years. There needs to be some flexibility in the furniture plan to allow for this growth over time. 58. How would you like fun to be integrated into your office? What types of features in your office would help to make your work experience more fun and lively? We are interested in the creative ideas that you might propose. Molly Prior s comments in the video capture our sentiment around this topic well. 59. For the huddle spaces that some of the departments mentioned, could these incorporate whiteboards on walls out in the more public space or is a private room needed for these? Whiteboards are an important tool to many collaborative environments. We are interested in this and have a partnership with Visual Magnetics, a material/solution that you might explore. Ideally, there is also a solution to privacy on an as-needed basis. 60. Would putting the marketing and design specification teams together or near each other be beneficial because they are both creative and fun departments or would that be distracting? It would not be distracting, but this is a decision for each designer to make. 61. Sustainable design was mentioned as a basic principle. How important is sustainability to you? Are you OK with spending a little more money up front for green and energyefficient products if it means energy savings in the long run? Is it OK to go with the latest technologies for green results? Yes. 8
62. Could more windows be added to exterior walls? No. SOUND/ACOUSTICS 63. What do you currently use for minimizing sound in the space? How well does it work for you? We have a sound masking system and it works alright. Changes would be up to the designer. 64. How much acoustic privacy and noise reduction do you need/want in the space? Acoustics should be considered in your design and is a critical part of productivity and well-being. 65. With an open-floor space, would you be opposed to a sound masking system integrated in with the sound-absorbing materials? The right amount of sound-absorbing surfaces and materials is important in addition to the sound masking system that we have in our ceiling. 66. The order entry and credit departments mentioned that a noise barrier would be beneficial. Is there a specific team or area that is loud that they want the barrier to help with or are they just talking noise barriers in general? Customer service tends to be the loudest department. That should be considered in the design. TECHNOLOGY 67. Are your computer screens anti-glare? No, but they can be. 68. Do employees have laptops that can be used throughout the office? If yes, all departments? If yes, do they have docking stations? Most employees have laptops and those that do have laptops either have docking stations or charging availability. 69. How many monitors are typically located at an employee s workstation? Typically, each employee has two monitors at their workstation. Some employees have two monitors plus a laptop. Marketing just uses laptops for the most part. 70. Do all employees get a dedicated phone/phone number at their desk? Yes, except for marketing. 71. Can we assume there is Wi-Fi throughout the space? Yes, Wi-Fi is available throughout the space. 9
AESTHETICS/FINISHES/BRANDING 72. Do you want to incorporate more natural materials, such as wood, stone, and glass, or do you prefer plastics and metals? Natural materials likely reflect our culture more; however, we are open to whatever materials best suit the applications. 73. Are there any colors you want to avoid, and do you have a specific style in mind such as contemporary, industrial, traditional, etc? Any specific color scheme we should lean toward? You can use our website and our Neocon showroom as a possible guide to how we like to display ourselves as well as your interpretation of our culture through the IIDA video. Here are those links: http://ofsbrands.com/ http://ofsbrands.com/neocon/2017 74. The website is neutral in color, are there specific brand colors that represent the OFS company brand? Are there any specific colors you d like to be used in the spaces? See above. Look for ways to bring color, life, and interest to the space while staying true to the brand, culture, and our connection to the natural world. 75. Would you like branding and your logo to be incorporated in the space? In general, the space should pay homage to the people who work in it more so than the company that provides it. 76. Do you prefer a hard-resilient flooring or soft flooring? Or maybe a combination of the two? Perhaps a combination. Consider work areas that have acoustic needs and traffic areas that have other needs. We are open to any suggestions though. 77. Would you like any of the private offices, conference rooms, or boardroom to have more high-end finishes? Yes, definitely in the boardroom. Also, it will be natural to have that in some of the private offices, too. BREAK/CAFE 78. Do you have any existing beverage machines that we need to accommodate? On the first floor, there is a sizable public café space, open to the entire OFS Brands HQ office. There, employees can find access to food and refreshments. However, on the second floor, a space for coffee, tea, water, and possibly quick snacks would be ideal. What that could look like and whether there is a vending machine is up to you. In general, we encourage healthy choices. 79. What kind of amenities and appliances would you like in the cafe and breakroom? See above. No need for a fridge or microwave as those will be in the cafe on the floor below. 10
80. Will there be existing appliances like microwaves or coffeemakers? What sizes are the appliances/coffeemaker? The coffeemaker, sink, and snack bar would be new based on your selection. 81. Do you want any type of break seating/room on the second floor, or is eating mainly done on first floor and at desks? Mainly done on the floor below. Coffee is mainly consumed at desk and often throughout the day. MAIL/PRINT ROOM 82. Will the mail and print room need a supply closet? Yes, but storage can be accommodated through furniture cabinetry. 83. What are the dimensions of the copy machine(s)? 40x60 84. What does light-duty paperwork shop mean? A place to score and cut paper, build mock-brochures, pack boxes, etc. LOCKERS 85. Is each individual employee assigned a locker, or are you looking for a bank of lockers that are first come, first served.? Assigned. DESIGN SPECIFICATION DEPARTMENT 86. In department one, can the touchdown area and floor plan and whiteboard space be a collaborative area, i.e., one space with multiple functions? 87. Should the touchdown area for design concepts and floor plans to be close by, combined with, or separate from the space that s used for rolling out floor plans and whiteboard space? 88. Which departments do the design specification team spend the most time with? It varies sometimes marketing, sometimes product development engineers. 89. How much space do each of you typically need in your area to work efficiently? Ideally 66" or larger surface. 90. What types of storage are needed? Hanging file, book, binder, piling space? Piling space is good. One box drawer, one file drawer, and some shelf space would be ideal too. 11
91. For the design specification department, does the leader prefer a private office, a shared private office, or an open space? These are all quite different, are all of them equal solutions for the leader? The most important thing is that the leader has space to roll out plans, have regular meetings with her team and have enough audible privacy to have phone conversations as needed. This can happen in a private office, a shared office that is big enough, a private office that is meant to also be a team meeting space, or she can have an open workstation with fast access to this sort of meeting and privacy space. All of those are good options. 92. In the design specifications department, one of the team members mentions that he would like height to adjust. What does he mean by that? Is that for the personal workstations or for the we collaborative areas? They are requesting height adjustable work surfaces for their main work area. 93. Customer service, credit, and the design specification departments mentioned that they wanted storage. What kinds of storage? Do they only need more filing storage, more shelving storage, table top storage? What is each department really looking for when they say more storage? Customer service and credit have a lot of paper. They need storage at their desks that would allow them to better manage their papers. A blend of above the surface elements and beneath surface drawers would be good. They work on multiple projects and requests at a time, so a space configuration that allows them ample areas for sorting, short-term storage, and piling is good too. 94. Is no barrier between each employee preferred, or small partitions separating work stations? For the design specification department, they would like things somewhat in the middle, they need to be able to focus on their work, but they are always talking to each other and enjoy the visual connectivity. ORDER ENTRY DEPARTMENT 95. Would you prefer panel noise barrier, or sound masking technology? We currently have sound masking. Order entry doesn t need heavy noise barriers, but the right amount of privacy would help them from visual distraction. 96. One employee refers to simple in the video meaning simple furniture or simple layout? She is referring to the general culture at headquarters. It s not an urban environment, we are not a flashy bunch, but at the same time, we know the sophistication and fashion sense that comes with the industry we are in. We want something that reflects the industry we work in, but is true to our environment and culture. 97. Is there a need for a great amount of work surface space? They need at least 66" surfaces. 12
GLOBAL ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT 98. Will they need sound barriers between each customer service rep? Yes, but not overkill. Seated height privacy (48") will do for this group. 99. Is storage needed? If so, how much? Yes, for filing, personal items, book storage, tackboards/pin-up areas for maps. 100. Do global accounts team members all need private offices or an open plan? What does a private adjoining office look like? In other words, does this mean adjacent? The director needs a private office that is near his team. The team can be in an open plan or shared office next to him. CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT 101. Will the director of sales and operations want a private office? Yes. 102. How much storage will this department need? Will they need lateral filing? Shelves? They will need lateral filing, shelves, project management storage, and binder shelves. This group will need the largest amount of storage at their individual stations. 103. How large are the paper documents? 8.5" x 11" 104. For the customer service department, does the director of sales need a private office while still being in vicinity of the design specification and customer service departments? Likely yes. 105. In the credit and customer service departments, noise is a complaint. Is it better to soundproof these areas and keep them collaborative, or soundproof and provide more privacy? Either is possible. Customer service generates the most noise and at the same time also requires audible privacy for conversations. They will naturally require decent audible privacy at their stations. 106. In the description it says, A private space to have one-on-one meetings with the team and a place to host conference calls. Can this be put in a private office? Or would you rather have the VIP projects manager have a private office and a separate space for those meetings? These functions can be combined. MARKETING DEPARTMENT 107. Will the team want privacy between desks or an open collaborative desk area? 108. Fun furniture? Fun colors? What about it do you want fun? We are open to ideas! 13
109. How much linear storage is needed? Types of storage needed? If referring to the lockers, we need everyone to have a locker where we can store coats, gym clothes, lunch, etc. 110. Does this team want to be able to easily add another one or two workstations if more employees are added? Yes. 111. Does the marketing team need individual workstations? The four specialists on the team need a place to be. There also needs to be space for the remote workers in marketing that frequently drop in. 112. Would the design specification team leader be okay with sharing an office with another team leader or would they ideally prefer their own private office? They can share. 113. Are height adjustable desks something that all employees want/need or just design specification? All the employees would likely desire this. DESIGN DEPARTMENT 114. Are any drafting/drawing tables needed? No. 115. Are wall boards needed to pin up ideas that are in the works? CREDIT DEPARTMENT 116. Does this department prefer shared or private offices. They are fine either way. 117. Do you want sound masking installed to help reduce the noise? It s already installed. 118. What is your typical work surface size currently? It varies based on the person in the department. Roughly 20 square feet of surface space is the average. 119. Does the credit department want an area for collaboration and three individual work areas? 120. The customer service team was very specific in terms of what they wanted their workstation to look like. Does the credit department have any other requirements in terms of the way their workstation is setup? For an open-plan workstation, their stations should naturally be the largest, with the most storage and with the best audible privacy. The trick is how you deliver this without the look and feel of a cubicle. 14
121. There are two credit supporters that need a space that can support their ever-changing work functions, what does this include? What are their specific wants and needs for this space? They ideally have an L- or U-shaped unit something that allows them multiple surfaces to work on multiple projects from. 122. The customer service, credit, and the design specification departments mentioned that they wanted storage. What kinds of storage? Do they only need more filing storage, more shelving storage, and/or tabletop storage? Customer service and credit needs all types noted above. Design specification can have basic personal storage, and a community space for the group storage of projects and reference parts. NEW PRODUCT ENGINEERS DEPARTMENT 123. What does the brief mean by a special space? Do they need a smaller workshop to trial new products or is it mostly computer/drawing-based activities it is needed for? They do a lot of computer work and whiteboarding. They also have a lot of parts and components or various sizes that they keep around their work area. 124. Do the engineers need individual workspaces? They need assigned workstations, but they can either share a large office or be located together in an open area. 125. What is the current workstation situation for the engineers? Do they like it? They are in a shared office. They like it, but they would like some more storage space for all of the samples and parts they have. They would also like more collaborative space to spread out and work creatively. 126. Can you provide more description of what this department does? They work with product designers to engineer, draw, and solve complex industrial design problems. They are also very hands on with parts and samples. They frequently are out of the office visiting plants. 127. Are there any special storage needs? Ample access to group storage of furniture parts. 128. Would the engineers prefer to be in a closed-off space or just located together out on the floor? Either can work for them. LEADERSHIP 129. Do you want to be visible (windows) to the employees? Yes. 15 IIDA HEADQUARTERS / 111 E. WACKER DRIVE, SUITE 222 / CHICAGO, IL 60601 USA / +01 312.467.1950 / IIDAHQ@IIDA.ORG