Barbara Hicks

Originally published in High-Profile Monthly. By Dan Perruzzi, AIA, LEED AP, principal and senior partner at Margulies Perruzzi Architects

October 24, 2017 – As the workplace continues to evolve, law firms are also changing rapidly in response to internal pressures and external market forces. Technology, generational change, and new business pressures are just a few of the demands that are creating new trends in law office design. To keep up, law firms are becoming more focused on how the quality of the workplace can reinforce firm culture and help attract and retain talent – and clients – in an increasingly competitive legal landscape.

While other industries are moving to remote work, lawyers still spend 70 percent of their time in the office. However, new workplace strategies are transforming legal offices across the country. Traditionally large office footprints and private offices, spacious law libraries, and the 1:1 support staff to lawyer ratio are fading to make way for new office environments that support today’s work styles, technological advances, and the need for more efficiency and flexibility.

As law firms face global competition, generational change, and leadership succession, these workplace strategies and trends should be considered when renovating, relocating or designing a legal workplace for the future.

Engaging a Multigenerational Workforce
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Generation Y will account for 50 percent of the workforce by 2020, and Millennials will make up 75 percent of the legal workforce by 2025. Research shows that Millennials value a greater work/life balance than their Baby Boomer or Generation X counterparts. Providing innovative ways to better blend life and work, as well as injecting a “fun factor” into office spaces, can help firms evolve with the changing cultural attitudes and expectations across current and future generations. Varied work settings and common areas, like cafés and lounges with casual seating, are becoming more popular. As demographics change and Millennials move into management, expect to see more flexible layouts with larger collaborative spaces for team-based work, and smaller private spaces for quiet work and confidential meetings.

New Ways of Working
Technology is dramatically changing space allocation in law firms. Large rooms once used for law libraries loaded with books are dwindling as that information becomes digitized. Document scanning, e-signatures, and electronic filing are also shrinking the storage needs for document filing. Wireless connectivity and teleconferencing equipment are becoming standard office features to ensure productivity with virtual legal teams and global clients.

Law firms are increasingly turning to real estate as a strategy to create more efficient law practices and deliver cost-effective legal services. As firms decrease support staff and rely on contract attorneys, law firms are aggressively reducing their office footprint. Single-size offices are becoming more common, and space metrics are changing from the traditional 900 to 1,000 square feet per attorney to 500 to 600 square feet, according to JLL’s “Law Firm Perspective 2016.”

New Attitudes About Space Design
Many law firms are incorporating support space designed for collaboration and team proximity, rather than proximity to partners. The old planning metrics of support staff to partners has dramatically changed, and more legal work is becoming group-based within a firm. The legal workplace is shifting from the traditional office/support/library model to spaces that offer open, collaborative areas for teamwork and social functions. Although attorneys still require private offices for focused, individual work, expect square footage efficiencies to continue. Design features, such as low-walled workstations and glass fronted offices, provide greater transparency and better access to natural light and views, and modular construction is enabling firms to efficiently re-design a space as the organization changes and grows. The legal workplace is being designed with an eye toward increased collaboration, enhanced productivity, and greater employee satisfaction.

Lawyers in succeeding generations tend to value the office as a marketing tool, as well as the place where they spend the majority of their working time. As the legal profession evolves, these workplace trends and strategies will have significant impact on how law firms will operate in the future.

About the author
Dan Perruzzi, AIA, LEED AP, is a principal and senior partner at Margulies Perruzzi Architects. Consistently ranked as one of Boston’s top architectural and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi Architects services the corporate, professional services, research and development, real estate, and healthcare communities. For more information, please visit www.mp-architects.com.

Originally published in Banker & Tradesman. By Marc Margulies, FAIA, LEED AP, and Alvaro J. Ribeiro, AIA

October 17, 2017 – Renovating and re-purposing a building can involve several factors: preserving existing features, updating building infrastructure, and energizing spaces for their new use. Warehouses offer their own challenges, especially “legacy” buildings that have long become obsolete. An outdated warehouse in a high-profile location in Quincy, Mass. has been transformed into a new 694,000 SF global customer fulfillment center for Boston Scientific Corporation, a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices. Completed in September 2017, this modern, energy-efficient, and state-of-the-art facility expands and modernizes BSC’s logistics and distribution functions and aligns with the company’s Global Facilities Master Plan, an enterprise-wide initiative that brings the company’s real estate and workplace portfolio in line with its global business strategy.

Since 1997, Boston Scientific has located its call center and distribution center operations in the north building of the vast warehouse complex on Quincy’s Squantum Point. Situated on the Neponset River and visible from Interstate 93 on approach to Boston, the new customer fulfillment facility consolidates Boston Scientific operational and distribution functions into the south building on the site. More than half of the company’s global product manufacturing, including medical device products such as life-saving stents, will move through the 24-hour customer fulfillment facility.

Comprising 64,000 SF of office space and a 630,000 SF customer fulfillment center, the building’s office space was designed to meet global workplace strategy standards that Boston Scientific is deploying around the world. The customer fulfillment center includes 2.5 miles of high-efficiency, “smart technology” conveyor and the first installation of an enterprise warehouse management system for Boston Scientific Global Distribution. Boston Scientific selected Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA) to design the interior fit-out and building envelope renovations for this sustainably designed building, which is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification for existing buildings. Lee Kennedy Construction is the general contractor for the project.

MPA inherited legacy warehouse conditions that guided the repositioning of the south building and the development of the open office floor plan. Different weight-bearing capacities of the existing floor slab informed the location of major building functions such as the warehouse and its accompanying storage. The large building features a unique, L-shaped footprint, so MPA’s design stretched the office spaces along the building’s edge to distribute natural light to the interior. Different corporate functions occupy each of the L’s wings, maximizing operational efficiency from the unique layout. The existing precast façade was completely replaced with an energy efficient, metal panel rain screen system and new ribbon windows. The corner of the building was removed and updated with a multi-story curtain wall to create a dramatic canopied main entry.

The open office space features a mix of workstations and glass-fronted offices, supported by town squares, breakout cafés, training spaces, and a variety of meeting rooms. To enhance the employee experience in the new building, BSC chose a variety of high-end amenities, including a fitness center, 24/7 grab-and-go food kiosk, and game room. Adjoining the full-service corporate café, the waterfront roof terrace with outdoor casual seating and conference spaces offers stunning views of downtown Boston and provides a compelling amenity for employees.

While MPA’s design transformed an outdated warehouse building into an attractive, energy-efficient, and natural light-filled office and fulfillment facility, this Quincy project significantly advances Boston Scientific facilities and real estate strategy. As worldwide demand for medical devices grows, the expansion and modernization of this global logistics center is an important milestone for the company, the City of Quincy, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

About the authors
Marc Margulies, FAIA, LEED AP, is a principal and senior partner and Alvaro J. Ribeiro, AIA, is a senior architect at Margulies Perruzzi Architects. For more information, please visit www.mp-architects.com.

Originally published in High-Profile Monthly. By Dianne Dunnell, IIDA, NCIDQ, LEED AP, interior design director and associate partner at Margulies Perruzzi Architects

September 25, 2017 – Workplace strategy focuses on marrying three important aspects of the modern workplace: 1) applying better space utilization metrics; 2) optimizing real estate costs; and 3) updating an office space to meet current trends in design and technology. Factoring in employee satisfaction and a company’s ability to attract and retain top talent, there is a clear business objective to creating a work environment that inspires, motivates, and connects employees.

As how we work evolves to include greater collaboration, technology, and mobility, the design — and size — of the workplace is changing, and companies are increasingly asking “How much space do we really need?” The trend in space utilization indicates that 40% of an office’s individual work spaces are used at any given time, leaving 60% of space vacant due to meetings, travel, and rotating schedules. Companies are thus responding by reducing the ratio of square footage per person while enhancing collaboration space and amenities.

Determining a company’s space needs should involve more than just looking at employee headcount. In addition to business drivers, a company’s work culture and use of technology will help to define needed square footage. Keep in mind that the workplace a company designs today must support its workforce of the future. It is important to first conduct a discovery process to identify a company’s purpose, business drivers, culture, and ways of working. Provide employees with opportunities to prioritize what settings will support their work needs and create a workplace with the right mix of spaces.

A successful workplace strategy should prepare for evolving workplace trends and space planning models, including high-performance workplace and activity-based design. These two planning models demand different workspace requirements that are outlined below, in addition to common areas such as reception, café/lunch room, and a quiet room. In general, with a decrease in workstation and office sizes and number, an increase in collaboration space, conference rooms, and amenity space is necessary.

Today’s common planning model, high-performance workplace (HPW), is characterized by open office space with assigned seating and a fixed private office-to-workstation ratio. Workstations are clustered into neighborhoods, and the space has designated zones for high collaboration, meetings, and quiet work. Typically, there is one size each for offices and workstations throughout the space.

An example high-performance workplace that provides 20% of the space for offices, 27 workstations (6’x7’), four phone rooms, and four conference rooms would require approximately 7,900rsf. The ratio would thus be 197sf/person.

An emerging planning model, activity-based work (ABW) design, creates a balanced variety of communal workspaces that correspond to the type of work performed throughout the day. Rather than assigning traditional work settings to employees, this model anticipates that employees will choose for themselves work areas that suit their needs for a particular task or day. This model offers typically unassigned workstations for quiet, heads-down work. Activity-based work design moves an office from individual space to “we” space.

An example space designed with the ABW model, leveraging the same head count and support space program as noted in the HPW planning model, would require 6,660rsf. The ratio, without considering a remote work program, would be 166sf/person.

One size does not fit all. A company may implement a mostly HPW and use the ABW model for select departments or teams. More than 50% of companies are also providing remote working options. A conservative mobile work ratio would reflect 1:1.3 seats to people. A more aggressive goal, where 70% to 90% of staff are mobile, would lean toward a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio.

So how much space do you need? While a HPW averages 150sf to 200sf/person, some firms that embrace technology and activity-based work can achieve less than 100sf/person. The key is to select the right planning model that best fits your future, not current, office needs, based on industry sector. Leveraging digital storage and mobile devices, and following space-sharing strategies, may allow employees to work more efficiently and possibly reduce an office footprint by 50%.

Thoughtful space utilization analysis and design execution will yield a more successful workplace result. View MPA’s workplace strategy video series (or read the full report) at: http://mp-architects.com/wps.

About the author
Dianne Dunnell, IIDA, NCIDQ, LEED AP, is the interior design director and an associate partner at Margulies Perruzzi Architects. Consistently ranked as one of Boston’s top architectural and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi Architects services the corporate, professional services, research and development, real estate, and healthcare communities. For more information, please visit www.mp-architects.com.

Originally published in Medical Construction & Design. By Jason Costello, AIA, EDAC, associate principal and partner at Margulies Perruzzi Architects

September 20, 2017 – Restrooms are universally used spaces, but their design in healthcare settings can vary widely based on patient population, room location and layout, and safety concerns. For designers, patient restrooms in hospitals pose the greatest design challenges to ensure that the spaces support healing, comfort, and calm for patients and provide ease of maintenance, infection control, and safety features for facility managers.

The design of healthcare restrooms is similar to that of commercial restrooms with respect to durability, cleanability, and accessibility – but that’s where the parallels end. Given consumer choice in healthcare, medical facilities are designing restrooms with a comforting, home-like feel. Gone are the institutional-looking lavatories of old; today’s healthcare restrooms incorporate new products and technologies that provide a level of hospitality that patients increasingly seek.

Designing restrooms to optimize the patient experience
Whether renovating or building anew, hospitals and healthcare facilities are listening and responding to their patients, visitors, and staff by creating patient rooms and restrooms that are accessible and comfortable for everyone. The trend toward “increased capacity rooms and restrooms” that address weight limitation of plumbing fixtures and a continued focus on improved accessibility, provide the extra space and accommodations that people with mobility challenges and dexterity disabilities need.

Restrooms in healthcare fall into two categories: public restrooms that serve patients and visitors, and clinical toilet rooms that support the clinical functions required of various programs within the facility.

Public restrooms consist of a mix of gang toilet rooms and individual restrooms. These restrooms are often associated with public amenities and waiting areas, and demand a high level of design and finish materials. Porcelain tile walls and flooring provide excellent durability and cleanability for these high-use spaces. A new trend is the use of solid surface materials for the toilet portions, providing a clean modern look while maintaining excellent cleanability and resistance to cleaning chemicals and standard abuse in this environment. Often, gang toilet rooms are supplemented with private toilet rooms designated for family use, gender neutral, and accessibility compliance.

A key challenge with all public toilets is addressing the weight limitations of porcelain wall mounted toilets and the associated weight of users. The risk of injury and breakage can necessitate post-installation fixes of “wood block” supports. This issue requires a critical design phase discussion between infection control, housekeeping, and facility engineering to select a solution that works for all concerned – and avoids a post-occupancy fix.

The second category of healthcare restrooms – dedicated clinical toilet rooms – are designed to accommodate specific clinical needs across a wide spectrum of acuities:

-Medical/surgical patient rooms are often much more like hotel room toilets, complete with shower and hospitality-style finishes with hospital grade durability. As a large number of hospitals are converting semi-private patient rooms to private rooms, toilet rooms are also being renovated to meet current standards. In an effort to minimize demolition costs, hospitals are considering fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) panels that can be installed over existing materials and provide a new seamless enclosure for the shower and entire toilet room. Further, careful attention is required in the design of the threshold and flooring transitions between the patient room, the toilet room, and the accessible shower to control water within the room and to minimize the risk of slips and falls.
Specialties such as orthopedics may require larger room sizes to accommodate patients with mobility issues. On the maternity floor, private post-partum rooms are being updated with hotel-like amenities, including storage in patient toilet rooms and lighting sconces in new beauty areas.
-Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are often bedridden and unconscious, leading some hospitals to eliminate the patient toilet and replace it with a soiled utility room with a flush sink for bed pan washing and a hand washing sink. This design decision results in a significant reduction in the space required in lieu of a full toilet room. However, as patient families are increasingly invited into the ICU, the incorporation of a full patient toilet room is often provided to accommodate the presence and convenience of the family.
It is well documented that the healthcare environment has a direct impact on patient healing. The location and design of patient rooms, and even patient restrooms, can contribute to a patient’s healing response. Patient restrooms located along an interior wall (inboard) frees up the window line for natural light and exterior views, features shown to help improve patient mood and health outcomes. While they offer more patient privacy, inboard restrooms also reduce the nursing staff’s line of sight visibility to patients. Exterior wall (outboard) restrooms are always specified for intensive care units.
-Outpatient clinics, and their associated toilet rooms, take a variety of forms. If a toilet room is used for specimen collection, it will require a specimen collection cabinet with pass-through adjacency to the testing lab. If a clinic handles drug testing, designers may configure the room to have only a toilet, with a handwashing sink located outside the room or an in-room sink with a remote shut-off water function to comply with government testing requirements.
These variations of clinical toilet rooms require understanding the unique programmatic needs of the individual departments and modifying the design to satisfy them.

Innovation in healthcare restroom materials and fixtures
While new products and technologies for restroom design become increasingly available, healthcare organizations can be hesitant to try something untested in the medical environment. Tile and grout may be tried and true, but grout is still a cleaning issue and tiles can pose a slipping hazard. New restroom materials and fixtures need to pass several standards – and expectations – for hospitality aesthetics, cleanliness, and safety.

For example, there is a growing interest in using prefabricated toilet modules for new patient rooms. Prefabrication in a controlled manufacturing environment provides a better-quality product that can also expedite a tight construction schedule. While the units offer compelling benefits, their use is typically limited to new construction, rather than renovations, due to the access through a building required to install them.

Minimal-seaming products for flooring and solid-surface walls continue to provide a combination of sophistication and functionality for healthcare restrooms. Smooth and seamless wall cladding and large-format porcelain wall panels can create a hospitality feel in the shower, while sheet flooring has become a great alternative to tile, providing a grout-free, easy to clean surface. One-piece seamless sinks with backsplash are a popular choice and offer an anti-microbial surface and sleek look. To reduce infection, automatic fixtures – such as touch- or hands-free faucets, toilets, urinals, and hand dryers – are a given. And while the new low-flow toilets are great for water conservation, old pipes may not have the adequate slope for the low flow fixtures so consult an engineer before installing them in an existing building. A final consideration is a recent rise in legionella cases that have been attributed to stagnant areas of the supply piping, which although not directly a design challenge for the toilet rooms, should be considered if renovating a significant portion of the building.

Bariatric units, as well as bariatric rooms on standard floors, require special consideration for their toilet room design. A bariatric restroom tends to be 20 percent larger than a typical healthcare restroom, allowing for larger clearance of patients and assisting nurses as well as fixtures and doors. A common mistake is that bariatric toilet rooms can double as ADA toilet rooms from a compliance standpoint; however, the bariatric clearances differ from ADA and additional provisions are required to comply. Due to weight load, bariatric toilets use floor-mounted, non-porcelain models with structural floor supports. Grab bars and sinks in bariatric restrooms need steel reinforcements, especially if they are wall-mounted. The introduction of a patient lift into the toilet room for these programs requires a transfer or a customized door frame to accommodate the lift track.

There are many variables in the design of healthcare restrooms, and their size, specifications, and materials will differ based on patient population and usage. Healthcare environments tend to provoke anxiety in people, so the trend toward hospitality design in healthcare spaces, including restrooms, will only accelerate. The choice of colors and finishes can impact patient comfort and satisfaction with a facility, and the choice of fixtures and materials can impact long-term maintenance and infection control. The design team would be wise to collaborate with facility management and environmental services to design patient restrooms that meet everyone’s goals.

About the author
Jason Costello, AIA, EDAC, is an associate principal and partner leading the healthcare studio at Margulies Perruzzi Architects. Consistently ranked as one of Boston’s top architectural and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi Architects services the healthcare, corporate, professional services, research and development, and real estate communities. For more information, please visit www.mp-architects.com.

Workplace strategy research and video series available on www.mp-architects.com

BOSTON – September 12, 2017 – Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA), one of New England’s most innovative architectural and interior design firms, today released a series of videos aimed at helping businesses utilize their workplace as a tool to become more successful. The five-part video series outlines the business and workplace transformation drivers that help create a productive and inspiring workplace , now, and for the future. MPA’s video series and research is available online at: http://mp-architects.com/wps

The workplace is an important physical asset that is fundamental in helping businesses achieve their goals. There is a clear business objective to creating a work environment that inspires, motivates, and connects employees, and it is important for employees to see a company’s mission, values, and culture conveyed in their physical space. While the design solution will vary by industry and company, research shows that there are common goals. There are three core strategies, which are covered in detail in the videos, for making the workplace an effective tool for any business that considers people to be their primary asset:

-Inspire creativity with collaboration and technology, support for mobile work, and creation of quiet space;
-Attract and retain talent by creating community, supporting social interaction, and promoting wellness; and
-Enhance mission engagement by crafting an image and increasing brand awareness.

MPA’s workplace strategy research has shown that there are specific design solutions that help a company express its culture, industry, and leadership while producing quantifiable contributions to the bottom line. Further, the key to creating a high performing workspace is to provide an environment that supports business objectives and prepares for evolving workplace trends. The workplace that a company designs today must support the workforce of the future. MPA’s video series closes with insight on four major topics that companies should consider as they plan real estate solutions for the future.

About Margulies Perruzzi Architects
Consistently ranked as one of New England’s top architectural and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi Architects creates buildings and interiors for clients who value the quality of their workplace. For more information, please visit http://www.mp-architects.com.

Media Contact:
Michele Spiewak
Rhino PR
617.851.2618
MPArchitects@rhinopr.com

Real estate investment trust takes space in Boston’s Federal Reserve Building

BOSTON – September 7, 2017 – Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA), one of Boston’s most innovative architectural and interior design firms, announced today the completion of a new office in Boston for AvalonBay Communities, Inc., a publicly traded real estate investment trust focused on high-quality apartment communities. MPA provided space planning and interior design services for AvalonBay’s new 15,000 SF regional office, which is ideally located on the 20th floor of the landmark Federal Reserve Building at 600 Atlantic Avenue.

MPA created an open, modern, and collaborative office that maximizes natural light and exterior views throughout the space. AvalonBay was committed to ensuring that all workspace and common areas had full visual access to Boston Harbor on the south side of the building and downtown Boston on the north. MPA’s highly efficient workplace design features a blend of glass-fronted offices and workstation clusters. To break up the glass-fronted offices, workstation clusters are staggered in breaks along the perimeter and aligned with internal open office areas to offer staff an easy connection to the window line. The mirror-image floor plan of the work area provides ample opportunities for both city and water views.

On entry from the updated elevator lobby, the public zone of AvalonBay’s office provides a branded and welcoming space with spectacular views. A centrally located reception area ushers visitors into an adjacent conference center on one side, and a café with adjoining training space on the other. Two retractable glass walls open the training room fully to the café, providing a multi-purpose space, with water views, to accommodate full-company gatherings and hosted events. With counter space for buffet-style catering and tables, bar stools, and banquettes for casual seating, the café offers a comfortable, well-appointed space for employee interactions and impromptu meetings. The public zone of the space is branded with beautiful photography of AvalonBay’s Boston projects.

“We are thrilled with our move to the Federal Reserve Bank tower. Our full floor layout accommodates our recent and anticipated growth, and the abundance of natural light and sweeping views it offers has energized our entire team,” said William M. McLaughlin, executive vice president of development at AvalonBay Communities, Inc. “From the beginning of our relationship, MPA understood that we needed a space that reflects our culture, fosters collaboration, and accommodates a variety of uses. MPA’s design provides us with beautiful and functional features that we will enjoy for years to come.”

One aspect of the design that is particularly striking is the treatment of the ceilings. To reinforce the size of the open spaces, ceiling clouds float below an exposed structure in many areas, creating a dramatic effect of height and a less traditional feel. Linear pendants with direct and indirect lighting illuminate the clouds and provide appropriate task light to workstations below. Coupled with stunning artwork and graphics, sparkling light fixtures, and subtle variances of color and texture, the office has a dynamic, airy effect.

The Federal Reserve Building at 600 Atlantic Avenue in Boston is a LEED Gold-certified building with a roof garden, cafeteria, and fitness center, located across the street from urban transit. AvalonBay’s new office is anticipated to achieve LEED Gold certification.

J.J. Vacaro, Inc. served as general contractor for the project, and Vanderweil Engineers provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services. Furniture was provided by American Office, and light fixtures were provided by Omni-Lite. Entegra Development was the LEED consultant on the project.

About Margulies Perruzzi Architects
Consistently ranked as one of Boston’s top architectural and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi Architects creates buildings and interiors for clients who value the quality of their workplace. The firm services the corporate, professional services, healthcare, science/technology, and real estate communities with a focus on sustainable design. MPA has designed high performance workspace for Iron Mountain, Zipcar, Boston Scientific, Philips, Cimpress/Vistaprint, Forrester Research, Hobbs Brook Management, and Reliant Medical Group. For more information, please visit http://www.mp-architects.com.

Media Contact:
Michele Spiewak
Rhino PR
617.851.2618
MPArchitects@rhinopr.com

New member-centered space promotes fresh brand, identity for vibrant business organization

BOSTON – July 18, 2017 – Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA), one of Boston’s most innovative architectural and interior design firms, announced today that it has completed a new office at 265 Franklin Street in Boston for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce (GBCC). For more than a century, the GBCC has helped drive economic growth throughout the region while building a vibrant business community of 1,400 organizations of varying size and industry.

“At the Chamber, our membership is more dynamic, innovative, and focused on the strength of the collective greater Boston business community than ever before,” said James E. Rooney, president and CEO, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. “We wanted our new office space to be reflective of the Chamber’s work today, and of our vision for the future of our organization. Margulies Perruzzi Architects demonstrated their ability to understand that vision, and made our new office space reflective of who we are and how we want to serve our growing membership.”

The GBCC was evaluating new office space and engaged MPA to assist in weighing options for staying or relocating. MPA provided programming and fit-plans for several locations, and assisted the GBCC in choosing to relocate to a higher floor within the same building. A primary driver for GBCC’s new office space was the ability to host their own events and offer touchdown workspace to their business members. The GBCC’s new office also dovetailed with a broader effort to reshape their image through the rollout of a new brand identity and website.

The new 11,000 SF space offers an abundance of natural light and sweeping views of the city. The GBCC’s new brand image is prominently featured through the incorporation of screen displays and brand colors, as well as wall graphics promoting the organization’s mission, purpose, and logo.

MPA designed the public event area to allow GBCC staff to flexibly reconfigure the space to suit event needs. The furniture can be arranged for classroom style lectures, theater-style seating, or emptied for networking events. By collapsing a glass wall, a corner conference room can be subdivided from the space. When an event is not in session, staff and GBCC members can avail themselves of the dining area or soft-seating collaboration space, above which the GBCC’s mission statement is proudly displayed. Telephone closets adjacent to the event space allow attendees to discreetly step away and attend to pressing business.

In the office area, the GBCC’s purpose statement is prominently visible, strategically placed at a height above the cubicle walls. In their new space, staffers enjoy modernized cubes, informal collaboration space, and sit-to-stand desks.

About the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is the region’s leading business association connecting 1,500 businesses of all sizes from virtually every industry and profession. We help Greater Boston-area businesses grow and succeed through strategic networking events, influential business advocacy, exclusive leadership development programs, and initiatives that foster the region’s innovation economy. For more information, visit www.bostonchamber.com.

Media Contact:
Michele Spiewak
Rhino PR
617.851.2618
MPArchitects@rhinopr.com

Photo by Gregg Shupe

New and expanded lab and office space in Salem, N.H. increases lab capacity by 55 percent

BOSTON – April 5, 2017 – Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA), one of Boston’s most innovative architectural and interior design firms, announced today the completion of a new 30,000 SF laboratory and office facility for Boston Analytical, the life sciences division of Alpha Analytical. Located in Salem, N.H., Boston Analytical’s new and expanded space houses high-tech chemistry and microbiology laboratories equipped with the most sophisticated and up-to-date analytical testing equipment. Boston Analytical’s testing services are used by pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and medical device companies worldwide.

Seeking to consolidate and expand its operations, Boston Analytical, a premier current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) compliant laboratory, engaged MPA to program and design the spaces in its new facility. Most of the newly outfitted space is production space for testing, including 20,000 SF of chemistry, stability, and microbial labs and 2,000 SF of ISO 8 to ISO 5 clean rooms. This expanded space with cutting-edge equipment has increased lab capacity by 55 percent and stability storage by 130 percent, with eight new chambers including a large capacity walk-in chamber. Additional space in the facility supports office and administrative functions, including reception, open and closed offices and conference rooms, and a kitchen/dining area.

“Boston Analytical is committed to providing the highest quality analytical testing services to companies and organizations in the pharmaceutical industry. With this mission, MPA understood that our new space needed to accommodate an escalating demand for our services,” said James Mich, general manager at Boston Analytical. “Our new ultramodern space has improved employee satisfaction by providing the latest in pharmaceutical testing technology in a new and attractive place to work. MPA’s lab design will allow us to successfully meet the needs of our increasing pharmaceutical client base.”

Built by Bowdoin Construction, interior features include new lab casework, fume hoods, epoxy floors, and a new energy efficient HVAC system with a high efficiency boiler plant. MPA coordinated closely with contractors to provide appropriate space for the specialized mechanical and support systems required to maintain the strict airborne particulate and cleanliness standards. Those systems include high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA), wastewater treatment, and reverse osmosis and deionization (RO/DI) systems. Adherence to the design/build schedule was key: Boston Analytical had to carefully move on a phased basis, concluding work in the existing space and then moving to the new space after it was validated and certified for production.

Boston Analytical provides a variety of the highest quality analytical testing services to support CMC for Drug Development and Release Testing, including complete Stability Testing, Analytical Development Testing, and Microbiology Testing.

Media Contact:
Michele Spiewak
Rhino PR
617.851.2618
MPArchitects@rhinopr.com

By Caitlin Greenwood.

March 17, 2017 – The Commercial Brokers Association (CBA) Achievement Awards were held last night at the Intercontinental Boston. We spent an evening celebrating the achievements of our commercial real estate broker partners. We were thrilled that our work, in collaboration with The Davis Companies and CBRE, at the Mount Auburn Hospital Renewal and Expansion was recognized as the Community Impact Award Winner. Congratulations to all the winners as well as all those who were nominated, it was great to see how the Boston commercial real estate market is continuously thriving!

Photo by Sabine Mueller

Firm designs energized, light-filled space that achieves both workday enjoyment and high productivity

BOSTON – February 8, 2017 – Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA), one of Boston’s most innovative architectural and interior design firms, is proud to announce that the firm’s high performance workplace design for The Predictive Index’s (PI) corporate headquarters has received a 2016 CoreNet Global New England Award of Excellence for Best New Workplace. Working with Lannhi Tran of Little Dragon Decor on the space planning and interior design, MPA designed PI’s 21,000 SF modern and collaborative open concept office space located at 101 Station Drive in Westwood, Mass. With gorgeous views of the nearby Blue Hills Reservation, PI’s energized, light-filled space achieves both workday enjoyment and high productivity.

CoreNet Global New England’s annual Best New Workplace Awards are given to projects that demonstrate innovation in design, use of real estate, functionality, and/or technology and have supported the organization’s mission and contributed to successful positioning in the market. Commodore Builders was the construction manager for the PI project, AHA Consulting Engineers provided MEP services, and STV|DPM was the owner’s project manager.

The Predictive Index is a fast-growing workforce assessment firm that added more than 30 employees in 2015 and a dozen more in 2016. Previously located in Wellesley Hills, PI needed a new, larger office, expressive of its brand and culture to help it attract and retain talent as well as flexible space to accommodate further expected growth. PI’s new headquarters was created to be reflective of the company’s commitment to employee engagement, collaboration, and teamwork and delivers on the company’s core values and brand.

“The new office space truly captures the essence of our brand and fosters collaboration and teamwork,” noted Mike Zani, CEO of The Predictive Index. “The energy and buzz around the office is palpable – the team is so proud to work here.”

The new headquarters includes open area and collaborative workspaces, massive expanses of whiteboard and glass brainstorming walls, and multiple gathering areas. A large percentage of the walls are demountable, providing more glass and writable surfaces than would be available with a traditional stick-built environment. The demountable wall system also allows for more flexible expansion options for the fast-growing firm. Huddle spaces in the café offer flexible meeting spots. Convertible desks move from a seated to standing position. The firm’s signature red brand color is splashed throughout the offices.

The office space features polished concrete floors in place of carpet, allowing employees to get around the office on scooters and skateboards. Ping pong and shuffleboard make for nice mini-breaks in the work day. Fun lighting, bean bags and rocking buoy chairs are scattered throughout to encourage unconventional thinking. Whiteboard surfaces cover most walls and tables, allowing work to get done everywhere.

“We believe a successful design is one that not only satisfies a company’s space needs, but also creates transformative experiences that change the way work is done,” said Dan Perruzzi, AIA, LEED AP, principal and senior partner at Margulies Perruzzi Architects. “MPA focuses on understanding the unique needs of every client, and then works through a collaborative process to express the client’s corporate goals, culture, and brand in an innovative workplace design. This award for The Predictive Index validates the influence of design in creating the workplace of the future.”

MPA repositioned and renovated the 101 Station Drive office building for National Development, which was completed in 2015.

About Margulies Perruzzi Architects
Consistently ranked as one of Boston’s top architectural and interior design firms, Margulies Perruzzi Architects creates buildings and interiors for clients who value the quality of their workplace. The firm services the corporate, professional services, healthcare, science/technology, and real estate communities with a focus on sustainable design. MPA has designed high performance workspace for Iron Mountain, Zipcar, Boston Scientific, Philips, Cimpress/Vistaprint, Forrester Research, Hobbs Brook Management, and Reliant Medical Group. For more information, please visit http://www.mp-architects.com.

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