May 2019

-by Jason Costello, AIA, EDAC, LEED AP and John Fowler, AIA, EDAC, LEED AP

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, behavioral and mental health (BMH) conditions affect one in five adults in the United States each year, yet only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year. As the stigma of mental illness begins to lessen, the need for access to behavioral healthcare treatment will only continue to grow. Recognizing that often outpatient behavioral health facilities are not medical facilities, and shouldn’t be designed as such, healthcare designers are designing therapeutic environments that ensure patient safety and promote psychological wellness and healing.

Research and emerging evidence compiled by The Center for Health Design suggests that certain design features are important for BMH treatment facilities and can relieve stress, create calm, and facilitate healing. Behavioral healthcare settings today often feature a comfortable, home-like environment with access to daylight and views of nature, enhanced noise control and visual privacy, and supportive spaces that promote patient security, autonomy, and positive distraction. BMH facilities are also being designed with efficient floor plans, multi-functional spaces, and alternative workplace designs to improve space utilization and reduce waste.

The design of the built environment can impact a patient’s real and perceived quality of care. A study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that the design and conditions in doctors’ waiting rooms influenced perceptions of the quality of care delivered by the doctors associated with those spaces. In behavioral health facilities, natural materials and daylighting are used to offer a calming, hospitality-feel to the reception area. If a clinical program requires security, it is often provided by plain-clothes officers with a dual job function to promote a more welcoming environment from the moment patients enter the clinic.

The programming of a behavioral health facility centers around consult rooms, the primary clinical spaces of an outpatient care environment. Their design should create a neutral, residential look while utilizing commercial materials and products. Details are subtle yet critical, such as no-trip area rugs and comfortable chairs. The selection of carpet and luxury vinyl tile (LVT) surround supports the look of a living room but with a level walking surface suitable for a healthcare environment. Visual privacy may be controlled by motorized shades that limit visibility yet allow daylight to enter the space. Sound masking solutions should be implemented to protect patient confidentiality.

Some facilities are deviating from the private office model in favor of a free address, open work setting with unassigned and shared therapy spaces. This planning model is more efficient for clinics whose providers see patients at multiple locations, leaving their vacant offices unusable to others. The integration of room scheduling software, online for clinicians and at digital signs strategically located at consult room entries, can help to improve space utilization and room booking for clinicians in a free address workplace.

Group therapy is a key programmatic element in today’s behavioral health treatment plans, but can be underutilized in an outpatient program. Facilities should be designed for multi-use flexibility to improve space utilization. Moveable partitions between large group therapy rooms can enable configuration for a variety of additional uses, as long as acoustical privacy at the partition (particularly above ceiling) is addressed to ensure HIPPA compliance for speech privacy.

Behavioral healthcare is shifting toward treatment of the whole person as clinicians recognize that exercise and nutrition are key contributors to mental wellness. Facilities are expanding their program offerings by adding nontraditional treatment spaces for fitness, yoga, meditation, and art/music therapies and demonstration kitchens to teach dietary health and wellness. These activities may require dedicated spaces or share multipurpose rooms. Defining these space requirements early in the design process is important to reduce the sound and vibration impact on adjacent patient and staff areas.

With an increased focus on overall wellness in behavioral healthcare as well as emerging approaches to treatment, BMH facilities require a clear clinical vision for today and a flexible design for change in the future.

Originally appeared in TechTarget’s SearchHRSoftware

PTC’s entire image is built around practical applications of bleeding-edge technology. The maker of computer-aided design software and related tools for manufacturers was early to catch the IoT wave and more recently moved into virtual and augmented reality. Its website is chockablock with gorgeous 3D images of spacecraft, colorful cutouts of jet engines and shots of fit models staring intently at screens.

So, it’s not surprising that, when PTC relocated its headquarters from the Route 128 suburb of Needham, Mass., to a 17-story, elliptical glass high-rise in Boston’s booming Seaport District, it executed a digital workplace strategy that resulted in an office packed with eye-popping digital imagery, networked IoT sensors and sleek furniture — capped by a museumlike corporate experience center and employee cafe on the top floor. “They really viewed this move as very transformational for them,” said Tim Bailey, lead architect on the project and associate partner at Margulies Perruzzi, a Boston architectural and interior design firm. “They really wanted to show that they’re leaders in the technology that they produce.”PTC executives also saw the move as essential in attracting younger talent that tilts toward an urban lifestyle. In addition, it was a chance to reset the corporate culture and inspire employees to greater creativity with an open-office, activity-based design that offers a variety of workspaces for people to work individually or in groups.

While the still trendy open-office idea has been around for a while, the new PTC headquarters takes it a huge step further with a radical departure from walled offices and cubicles: 100% unassigned, or “free address,” seating. Workers have assigned floors and departmental “neighborhoods,” but when they arrive there, they check a wall monitor displaying Steelcase Live Map software to find open seats. Employees get a backpack and an assigned locker to leave their things and grab a wireless keyboard and mouse before heading to a workstation.

Moving from a suburban campus on a pond next to the Charles River to the hottest neighborhood in one of America’s most congested cities, plus the unassigned seating, required the 1,000 PTC employees in the headquarters to accept two major changes in their lives. PTC HR aimed to help employees adapt with a yearlong change management program that continues well past the Jan. 22 move-in day.

A moving employee experience

Facilitating the move to Boston was HR’s initial priority, according to Kathy Cullen-Cote, executive vice president and chief HR officer. “Even myself, when they first told me that we were going to be moving to Boston, I resisted,” Cullen-Cote said. “I think that’s important, as I rolled out the program, to remember that I felt some resistance.”Frequent communication was “a huge piece in the success,” she said. There were weekly newsletters about the Seaport move, and each month, one of the weekly socials was dedicated to answering questions. Rosa Mexicano, a restaurant in the Seaport, catered food, and WageWorks explained the commuting benefits PTC would provide. (It reimburses half the expense and hires a ferry to short-circuit traffic between a commuter rail station and the Seaport).

Glint pulse surveys provided managers and HR near-instant feedback about the move. Some employees were initially angry because they felt something was being taken away from them, according to Colleen Simonelli, vice president of diversity, inclusion and organizational development. “We wanted to get a sense of, post-move, how people were feeling,” she said. “We did a survey a couple of weeks after the move, and the results were positive.”Employees were asked to volunteer as Seaport champions, and a core team provided a way to give feedback to peers instead of escalating it to a boss. “We have very active employee resource groups here, and they’re very generous in volunteering in helping to shape our culture,” Simonelli said. A pre-move party was held in the new office. “We were trying to prepare everyone, get them excited [and] get their hearts and minds around what this would actually mean,” said Diane Young, senior director of global benefits and employee programs.On moving day, champions handed employees information packets and led them to their neighborhoods. “We had hundreds of people helping to support this,” Simonelli said. “It was really special. We had City Year volunteers that, when you walked into the building, they would cheer you. Imagine that you’ve just taken your new commute, you arrived at your new office, and you walk in, and there are 25 people clapping and cheering you on.”The long day ended with an after-party at a nearby Kings bowling alley. Change management “was really such a big piece of it — that did take a lot of time,” Young said. “Going into the project, you’re focused [more on] the tactical [part] of planning the move, picking the furniture, the design and all that, but the employee impact is really, really important. I can’t stress enough how much time should go into that.”

Acclimating to unassigned seating

Despite the disruption of the move, “there was probably the most noise around the open-office concept,” Cullen-Cote said. In Needham, most engineers had their own office, but at 121 Seaport Blvd., none of them would.

“In the first couple of days, it’s uncomfortable because, instead of going to your desk that you’ve gone to for however long, now, you have to go and find a locker and put your things down, and then you have to choose a desk,” she said. “Where are your friends sitting? What if I want to stand versus sit? What if I want two monitors, but there are no more seats with two monitors?”

A lot of thought went into choosing the best ratio between open seats and enclosed spaces, according to John Civello, vice president of corporate real estate and workplace. “We heard a lot of pushback immediately about how ‘it will be awful. I’ll never be able to find a place to have a private call,'” he said. “People have heard all the negative stuff about open plan and all the nightmare scenarios where a company would build out 100 seats and two huddle [small meeting] rooms.”

To avoid such horror stories, a typical floor in the new headquarters has one enclosed space for every four tables. “We really went over and above to make sure that we had enough of these private spaces that people could use when they needed to,” Civello said. “We haven’t really eclipsed 50% to 55% utilization on a given day. So, there’s plenty of private space for people.” PTC occupies nine of the 17 floors, and its lease guarantees room to expand.

Bailey said his firm used metrics from past projects to strike the right balance and asked employees how often they collaborate and make private calls. The 100% unassigned seating also forced a rethinking of the usual rules about the space needed for each person. One conclusion was that there should be a huddle room for every 20 people. “They had very private, siloed spaces in Needham,” he said. “We ended up bumping up the number of private spaces a little bit, just to offset that drastic change.”

“The tricky thing is, because they are 100% unassigned, we’re basically designing a space that can satisfy all of the departments,” Bailey said. “Some departments like legal and HR need more private space.”

To familiarize employees with the new work environment, HR ran discussion sessions and learning labs. Local office designer Red Thread, an authorized supplier of the furniture and audiovisual (AV) equipment maker Steelcase, set up furniture in Needham for workers to try. They could book a huddle room — affectionately renamed “cuddle rooms” — or use a “phone booth” to make a call. They could rate the spaces on CrowdComfort online software. Employees were also given the chance to name kitchen areas, called “hives.”

Digital workplace strategy for global collaboration

The building is outfitted with products from PTC customers, making the vendor’s industrial design and IoT tools the foundation of its digital workplace strategy. Steelcase used Creo 3D computer-aided design software to design the furniture, for example, and the building controls are from Schneider Electric, an early user of PTC’s ThingWorx IoT platform.

Employees experience the digital workplace strategy as soon as they enter the ground floor. Otis Elevator Co. control panels require riders to press the floor icon three times if three people are going to the same destination and then scan their badge. Algorithms assign cars to meet demand in the most efficient way. Later this year, a Steelcase Live Map smartphone app will let workers spot open seats before they reach their floor.

Another Steelcase program, RoomWizard, enables reserving of meeting rooms. Heat sensors and motion detectors can tell when reserved rooms and workstations are unoccupied, and after a few minutes, Live Map will make them available. Aruba wireless access points provide Wi-Fi — and, soon, beacons for proximity awareness and wireless apps — atop a Cisco network backbone. Cloud telephony from Boston-based Fuze connects voice over IP on smartphones and PCs to the standard telephone lines in conference rooms. Every workstation has dual monitors that remember user settings, and most conference rooms have Cisco WebEx whiteboards.

A really cool place

Civello expressed amazement at how the planning and plug-and-play technology made for a speedy move. “That afternoon, in my floor, everybody was working. I’ve been in this business for 25 years, and when you do a move like this or a corporate headquarters, it usually takes five days for people to unpack and set their PC up. With this move, people just showed up with a backpack, plugged in and went to work.”

Young said the unassigned seating has fostered collaboration. “People are just walking over and getting things done very quickly. They’re talking, meeting. It’s formal and informal,” she said. “It’s just a much more collaborative workspace than it ever was before.”

For Cullen-Cote, “the environment is so energized. It’s just bright and shiny, and people are smiling more.” One employee described it to her this way: “It’s like getting a new job in a really cool place and bringing all your friends with you.”

Our project for Home Base won the Best Practice Award for a Medium Sized Project at IFMA’s Boston Chapter award ceremony! Congratulations to Home Base and thank you for all you do to help our veterans!

BOSTON – May 14, 2019 – Middlesex Savings Bank, one of the largest mutual banks in Massachusetts with more than $4.8 billion in assets, and Margulies Perruzzi (MP), one of New England’s most innovative architectural and interior design firms, are pleased to announce the re-opening of the Bank’s newly renovated branch at 64 Main Street in Concord, Mass. Located in the town’s quaint historic district, the Concord branch renovation focused on celebrating and honoring the historic interior architectural features of the building while incorporating modern amenities, comforts, and features for employees and customers.

Middlesex Savings Bank was founded as Middlesex Institution for Savings in 1835 in the Town of Concord. At a time when banking focused more on businesses than on consumers, the Bank’s founders, in an act of true community spirit, set out to create a bank where people of modest means, who had no other alternatives, could have a safe place to save. The Greek Revival structure in Concord Center, erected in 1932, served as the Bank’s headquarters until its merger with Natick Five Cents Savings Bank.

“We are thrilled with the outcome. The Town of Concord has been an excellent partner and has assisted with the permitting and approval process required to address the nearly 100 year old infrastructure in the building. Middlesex Savings Bank is pleased to be able to continue serving the community in the redesigned space,” said Adam Fandrey, senior vice president and corporate real estate director at Middlesex Savings Bank.

The goal for the 9,000 square foot renovation was to keep the integrity of the historic features yet improve the function, flow, and visibility of employees to enhance the customer experience. Focusing on the Bank’s top priorities of customer service and accessibility, Margulies Perruzzi worked closely with the Bank to consider all the features of the space and their influence to make customers feel welcome and comfortable. Porticos and private offices were opened up to increase visibility, enabling customers to quickly and easily see where to go for help. A customer service pod was aptly placed in the center of the branch, and a previously unused mezzanine level was re-designed with a conference room and additional customer service workstations. A glass half-wall was installed on the balcony to keep the space open while offering speech privacy.

To brighten the space, dark millwork panels on the walls and ceiling were painted white, emphasizing the beauty of the existing dark wood columns within an aesthetically pleasing visual rhythm. Historically-inspired details, like natural stone at the teller line and at the base of the wood columns, are a subtle nod to the rich history of traditional banking interior design. The “community wall” of local landmarks was reimagined in the Concord branch as wall-mounted photography in the alcoves behind the teller line. The color palette and finishes were kept neutral, with the Bank’s brand colors of blue and yellow used on the teller stations and carpet. Soft seating was strategically placed throughout the branch, and a hot beverage area was located near the entrance.

New lighting played a major role in improving the functional and aesthetic quality of the space. Margulies Perruzzi used a mix of modern and transitional-style light fixtures to highlight the natural beauty of the interior architecture as well as improve energy efficiency. Electrical and mechanical systems were updated, with close attention paid to making the heating, air conditioning and sprinkler equipment fit within the wood intricacies of the space. Without modifying the historic façade, all exterior windows and part of the roof were replaced.

Since 2010, Margulies Perruzzi has collaborated with Middlesex Savings Bank on many projects, including the relocation and/or re-design of branches in Ashland, Bellingham, Franklin, Holliston, Medway, Millis, Medfield, Sherborn, Wayland Center, and Wellesley Hills, and the renovation of the Bank’s main branch in Natick.

About Margulies Perruzzi
As one of New England’s top architectural and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi (MP) designs Workplace, Health+Science, and Real Estate projects that inspire and nurture human endeavor. More information may be found at http://mparchitectsboston.com.

Originally posted in High Profile

Concord – Middlesex Savings Bank and Margulies Perruzzi (MP) announced the re-opening of the newly renovated branch at 64 Main Street in Concord. The renovation focused on celebrating and honoring the historic interior architectural features of the building while incorporating modern amenities, comforts, and features.

The goal for the 9,000sf renovation was to keep the integrity of the historic features yet improve the function, flow, and visibility of employees.

The project team includes J. Calnan & Associates, construction manager and BLW Engineers, MEP engineering.

MP worked closely with the bank to consider all the features of the space and its influence to make customers feel welcome. Porticos and private offices were opened up to increase visibility, enabling customers to quickly and easily see where to go for help.

A customer service pod was placed in the center of the branch, and a previously unused mezzanine level was re-designed with a conference room and additional customer service workstations. A glass half-wall was installed on the balcony to keep the space open while offering speech privacy.

To brighten the space, dark millwork panels on the walls and ceiling were painted white, emphasizing the beauty of the existing dark wood columns. Natural stone at the teller line and at the base of the wood columns, are a subtle nod to the rich history of traditional banking interior design.

The “community wall” of local landmarks was reimagined as wall-mounted photography in the alcoves behind the teller line. The color palette and finishes were kept neutral, with the Bank’s brand colors of blue and yellow used on the teller stations and carpet. Soft seating was placed throughout, and a hot beverage area was located near the entrance.

—

Congratulations to Northbridge High School for their big win at the Eco-Carpentry Challenge 2019, taking home the Best in Class Small Shop! Mentors included John Greene from Margulies Perruzzi, Mike Maclean of Peabody Office, and Chelsea Snow of AIS (Affordable Interior Systems).

The Furniture Trust, a nonprofit committed to responsible reuse of unwanted office furniture, held its annual signature event, the Eco-Carpentry Challenge, designed to promote resourcefulness and upcycling while providing students critical skills. Used office furniture donated by local businesses was delivered to ten high schools where students had five months to use teamwork, imagination, and carpentry skills to transform these materials into new products, later donated back into the community.