Aspirations Materialize in a "Show Office."
Subject
Headquartered in Grand Prairie, Texas, Vecta designs, manufactures, and markets innovative furniture solutions for knowledge sharing environments.
Workplace Objectives
Vecta's 322,000 square foot headquarters houses corporate offices, a furniture showroom, and a manufacturing plant. When it came time for Vecta to renovate their 15-year-old building, the company wanted their space to reflect two important corporate goals:
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Create a different type of showroom - one that was available for use by prospective customers; another that was in use at all times. |
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Increase productivity by improving communication and efficiency. |
Solutions
To understand what it would take to achieve those goals, Paul Manno, Designer, and Dianne Martin, Business Interiors' representative, spent preliminary time with the executive team and the user groups at Vecta, asking stimulating questions, and brain-storming about the possibilities. Paul incorporated their ideas into the design of space, and Dianne integrated the furniture product.
"At Business Interiors, we ask how we can help our customers do what
they do
in a better way." DIANNE MARTIN - Business Interiors
Because Vecta is located in a suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth yet attracts customers nationwide, Paul recommended a non-regional design approach. And unlike the typical static showroom, Vecta's is an actual working space. Prospects may reserve and use space in the showroom for conferences or training sessions. The corporate office became a "show office," where customers are encouraged to make an extended stay and tryout real-life scenarios.
A cinder-block mezzanine (Vecta refers to as the "The Loft") connected to the manufacturing area and to the model shop (where new product prototypes are made). The Loft had been used for storage and as a storm shelter. It seemed to be the perfect location for the development and engineering team to access the actual production facilities. The initial brainstorming session resulted in the idea that marketing might also benefit from proximity to manufacturing, and, more important, product development would be beneficial to both.
"We created a visual link between the leaders of various Vecta groups."
PAUL MANNO
An architectural element was used to denote a " Leadership Circle " that connects the offices along the perimeter. The circle symbolizes equal accessibility for each group and fosters communication among the groups.
Results
The result was a new environment within an established workplace that functions better than the original one, an environment open to change and innovative breakthroughs.
The Show Office does more than demonstrate product for customers, it offers experiential application for them, as well as, supporting day-to-day employee work processes. The Loft renovated with a "comfortable industrial" appeal, produces a natural ease of communication between three key departments that require constant interaction in meeting corporate sales goals. The Leadership Circle also fosters communication by linking executives to one another and increasing overall accessibility to them.
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