What We Love in Toronto

Winter Village at the Distillery District

A classic holiday tradition in the city! We love to go and shop the holiday market, enjoy hot cider, food and beverages while taking in the holiday lights! This has become a staple holiday outing for many all-around Toronto.

Skating at the Nathan Phillips Square

What is more classic Canadian winter then putting on a pair of skates and skating at city hall? You can rent skates or bring your own and skate surrounded by the vibrant city life and can even pop into the Eaton Center next door for some holiday shopping after.

Seeing the Bay holiday display at the Eaton Center

Every year the Bay on Queen Street unveils their holiday window display. It is a site to be seen and this year they have even added a digital aspect. Around for over 100 years, the holiday window display has become a part of the Toronto holiday season.

Our Favorites in Vancouver

The Vancouver Christmas Market

An outdoor market where everything festive comes to life! Lights, music, food, and drinks bring the holiday spirit alive for the Vancouver Christmas Market. A holiday favourite for our Vancouver Team!

VanDusen Garden Festival of Lights

There is something so magical about the VanDusen Garden Festival of lights, especially during the holidays. With over one million lights that spread across 15 acres of their gardens, this is a beautiful holiday activity to get you in the holiday spirit.

Skiing at Cypress Mountain

Whether you love downhill, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, or snow tubing, Cypress Mountain is a great place to go and enjoy winter sports. It is a great spot to get outside with some fresh air and enjoy the mountains!

Halifax Traditions

Boston Christmas Tree Send Off

Every year Nova Scotia sends the city of Boston a Christmas tree to thank them for the help they provided after the Halifax Explosion which is then displayed on the Boston Common. It is a great send off, and beautiful to watch.

Wreath Making

We love family traditions, and one of our Halifax team members does annual wreath making in the city with her family at a flower shop. Making a fresh wreath to hang on your door always puts a smile on our faces.

Sledding at Citadel Hill

Who doesn’t love sledding in the winter? Citadel Hill is a popular spot in Halifax to bring your sled with some friends, pack a hot chocolate and have some fun for a few hours outside soaking up that cool winter air.

What are some of your favourite traditions to do around the holidays?

When a business is considering renovating their office, there is typically a series of contributing factors as to why they are looking for change. These factors can come from a variety of places. Their current space may be dark and closed off and they are seeking a more bright and vibrant space with more access to natural light. Maybe there is a lack of collaborative or hybrid workspaces within their office, and they need more space for their team to work together, or maybe the opposite, the client requires more quiet spaces for their staff to have meetings and have heads down focus workspaces.

Our goal as designers is to problem solve with our clients to ensure your objectives are met. We are a part of your process of growth and shifting to new ways of working or updating old ways of working to help guide and generate what the future holds for your new space. This process includes working alongside our clients, helping to develop spaces that promote employee satisfaction, efficient work settings, comfortable space for staff, and creating a unique look or feel catered to your individual culture and people. Throughout this blog we will look at 2 examples of previous client’s office spaces, pre and post design, and discuss how their goals were met.

Munich Re

SGH Design Partners was retained to design a fresh solution for the 36,000 square foot office at the Munich Re, Toronto Office. Philipp Wassenberg, the former Chairman of Munich Re sat down with SGH to discuss the renovation process, objectives, and success of the project. During our interview, Philipp discussed how the old space was closed off by cubicles and filling cabinets. It was a space that focused on individual privacy over everything else. To ensure a seamless process, carefully selected ambassadors from each team were a part of in-depth visioning sessions throughout the project. This unique connection between client and our Design Team provided for clear understanding of each team’s objectives and needs.

Philipp had a goal of an open concept space that would incorporate a “living room feeling” while keeping a modern design. Access to natural sun light was an important feature, which paired well with the light color selection and lots of Scandinavian design influence. The offices that required privacy had floor to ceiling glass walls which kept the private spaces connected with the rest of the team.

Workstations were selected to cater to flexibility, with an open concept, yet had enough structure that allowed employees to pin up pictures or place personal items on their desk to make them feel more at home. A true transformation from closed office to a welcoming and dynamic space that set the standard for future work with the firm.

When asked about what the space has achieved, Philipp stated that their new space has achieved a far higher level of collaboration, transparency, with people moving around throughout the space and interacting with one another. The space is flexible, which has led to staff becoming more innovative and creative, having a lot more fun in the space than previously. Employees are encouraged to explore the three floors. Unique spaces on each floor include: 21st floor, a multi-purpose training space; 22nd floor, boardroom complex; and 23rd floor, Games/Social lounge. All spaces were designed with the ambassador’s input and inspiration.

By aligning the workplace more closely to the Global brand we achieved strategic objectives for innovation and talent attraction. Previously, the office was set up as individual workspaces and segregated departments which forced people to work independently. The new space encourages sharing of knowledge and information between teams. Work areas visually connect employees and are well balanced with a variety of collaboration and social zones.

Wildeboer Dellelce LLP

Wildeboer Dellelce LLP is one of Canada’s leading standalone corporate finance law firms. This 23,000 square foot office space over three full floors underwent extensive renovations that modernized the office into a playful yet sophisticated space.

SGH started off working as a consultant for Wildeboer Dellelce LLP, helping decide which real estate would best suit their needs. Working as a trusted advisor for the Client during the real estate review process is how it was determined that the decision would be made to stay in their current office space and renovate.

The full three floors overwent extensive renovations that modernized the office into a playful yet sophisticated space. The 8th floor is client-facing, dedicated to meetings and events, and designed to make a lasting impression. When arriving on the reception floor, guests are greeted by a bright open space filled with light and texture that has been created by the sharp angles of the reception desk which contrast the soft colour palette.

Dark finishes and little collaborative space that represents a typical law firm was transformed into a modern layout with a colourful palette. Designed for efficiency, each of the three floors serve multiple purposes while creating seamless traffic flow and connections between lawyers and clients. A variety of furniture solutions were planned for each floor to encourage employees to move to different working environments throughout their day.

A bright, functionally efficient office that would resonate with their client base and employees while maintaining a strong design identity was imminent. The new design would meet all functional requirements and maintain a ‘wow factor’ all while staying on budget. This space needed to support a seamless connection between lawyers and clients across the three floors of their space. This law office is transformed into a bright open space filled with light and texture consistent with a radiant and transparent look and feel.

After completing the project SGH interviewed Kevin Dane, COO from Wildeboer, to discuss his opinion on the renovation. Kevin Dane, COO from Wildeboer, spoke about the importance of a well-designed office space, through the benefits he saw at his new space. Kevin stated the new office space is more efficient, collaborative, lively, and employee friendly.

At SGH we believe the office is more than a box we assimilate to complete a day’s work, it is somewhere that ideas are created, people interact, business is conducted, and where we live for many hours a week. Quite often clients will come to SGH, knowing they want to renovate their space, but don’t know where to start, our job as designers is to understand how your business works, the in’s and out’s and help solution and guide our clients to determine what strategy we can take to reach your goals. We do not take a one size fits all approach but customize the design process to align with your individual needs and desires for your new space.

The workplace landscape continues to evolve and emerging concepts like “employee experiences” and “destination offices” are reflective of a keen desire to get people physically together, to be able to collaborate, share, mentor and connect with one another face to face. There is value and an innate understanding that people working together in a shared space are more likely to build relationships that foster innovative collaboration.

How this translates into physical space is highly interpretive and with the cost of construction, technology infrastructure and the importance of climate initiatives, getting it right is critical. SGH continues to rely on our strategic research processes to ensure we gain a deep understanding of workplace culture and goals to lay the groundwork for implementing these evolving concepts.

The office should support four main human needs: focus, collaboration, connection, and community. First, the tone of these spaces should be established. Will the space be formal? Casual? Will it have a purpose for being a head’s down, driven space or one that offers more flexibility? These are all questions that will help to determine the driving factors of how to design a workplace that is worth going to.

At SGH it is our role as specialists in design is to deeply understand how recent changes have impacted our approach to designing office spaces. Reflecting on 2.5 years of pandemic learnings, we have heard that working from home or a “third place” is a desirable option.

Through our research and interviews with teams during lockdown periods, we heard loud and clear that many people prefer working from their own personal space. Many have been, and continue to work 50% or more on focused, heads down activities that generally require smaller interactions with one to two colleagues. On the other hand, many people felt isolated at home and have returned to their office space. These people claimed they missed working with colleagues, the social interactions, some did not have a proper working space at home, they were experiencing digital fatigue and found face to face allows for much faster spontaneous interactive meetings.

Prior to March 2020, approximately 87% of employees came into an office 5 days a week between the hours of 9 am to 5 pm with an assigned seat. Since that time up to 50% of companies are now ready to shift to a more flexible workspace but to varying degrees. SGH has created a work style spectrum that strategically gauges where companies are comfortable shifting towards. On one end is 100% assigned seating, and on the other end 100% agile, with no assigned seating and flexible work settings. Within this spectrum are the opportunities to provide ideal collaboration and focus areas that support people in productive work activities.

As flexibility and working in alternative locations continue to be a trend in the workplace, we have looked to other disciplines to draw inspiration from, like hospitality. Offices that provide welcoming visitor spaces adjacent to meeting areas and a collaboration cafe allow them to see others, connect easily and navigate comfortably through the space. This same energy can translate to full-time employees who will only work from this one location. What kind of shared spaces are you able to provide to bring something to each person’s day? The competition to get people to the office continues to rise as co-working offices evolve, off-site travel locations increase, and organizations vie for the best talent.

What we know through decades of research, is that human beings thrive on social connections and are happiest when they belong to a community. Running alongside this is an acknowledgment that we are diverse and that what may create a community for one person may not meet the needs of another. Remote work has given many people an opportunity to create their own spaces, carve out new rituals, and tailor their environment to allow them to be most productive.

To be destination worthy, the workplace must be a physical location that creates opportunities to build community through a variety of experiences that adapt and learn from the people using it. Spaces will be intelligent, fluid, and adaptive to support the needs of collaborative and heads-down work. Today, knowledge workers have more choices and can connect remotely anywhere part-time or full-time, depending on the work style of the organization. How this will work for your office will vary depending on several factors.

This shift has brought organizational leaders, industry experts, and designers together to reimagine the role of the office. A destination is generally considered a place that people will make a special trip to visit. It has a purpose and is a place that is worth the trip. Having a dedicated address that inspires people connects them with others, and gives them a space to get on with their work can give staff a sense of structure and routine.

Workplaces will continue to be the important central place your community will gather, connect, produce, and create. Whatever it is, the time and effort to plan your journey to creating a destination office will be worth the research and effort.

 

References:

NBER Working Paper Series, How Many Jobs Can be Done at Home? By Jonathan I. Dingel and Brent Neiman
News Release, Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey – 2021 Results
Statistics Canada, Working from home in Canada: What we have learned so far? By Tahsin Mehdi

SGH has proudly worked with several local artists to create unique, and creative murals and centerpieces for the companies we work with. Art can create a major impact in the workplace. It is a great way to express the company’s values, promote a creative environment, and many believe art in the workplace can boost employees’ productivity levels.

SGH has worked with many local artists with the goal of creating something unforgettable, that incorporates and expresses your company’s culture, values, and history.

Toronto Board of Trade, Toronto, ON

SGH worked with the Toronto Regional Board of Trade and local artist, David Rotsztain, to create a large mural of the city. The mural spans from the far left to right and illustrates Toronto’s past, present, and future.

The mural starts on the left showcasing old Toronto, it slowly builds to the right incorporating buildings like the CN Tower and the Rogers center, and as you approach the right side of the piece futuristic inspired towers, new forms of transit, and even a delivery drone are showcased.

This mural shows the history of this beautiful city and the goals to work towards.

FINANCIAL CLIENT, NANAIMO, BC

This financial client based in Nanaimo, British Columbia needed a space that would accommodate two different departments. One side of the space would be for the call center, the other would host as a quiet but still open workspace for the finance and accounting department.

The two user groups are buffered from each other through the creation of “collaboration avenues” which are defined by a change in flooring and a dropped wood slat ceiling feature to create refuge and visual breaks in between the open spaces. Fresh accent colors of spring green and ocean blues infuse a calming atmosphere in this open, bright, and modern space.

Large walls throughout the workstations and lunch area/café provide the introduction of art selected specifically to represent Nanaimo, British Columbia, and the rich indigenous community that the offices are located within.

MCCAIN FOODS, TORONTO, ON

We all recognize the name McCain Foods, but what are some things that come to mind when we say their name? Potatoes are one of them. SGH worked with McCain to create a workspace that would support and promote their corporate values and culture.

At the heart of the McCains, Toronto office is an open concept interconnected stair. To utilize this space an artistic centerpiece representing their roots, company culture, and history was designed. The centerpiece is a long spiraling structure meant to represent a piece of peeled potato skin. The inner layer of the structure is layered with images about the company’s history, the original owners, employees, and brand. It represents those who built the company into what it is today and is a unique piece just for McCain.

The artwork has made a major impact for each of these companies in representing their culture, values, history and where they look to go in their future. Integrating these custom designs from local artists with the values and culture of each company creates something incredible. At SGH we believe this combination builds something truly amazing and something that each company is proud to call its own.

IPSOS, TORONTO, ON

SGH Design Partners was retained by Ipsos in 2019, as a consulting role. During the early stages, SGH helped Ipsos contemplate relocating to a new office space or staying and renovating their current location to better suit their desire for a more collaborative work environment. After extensive evaluation, the decision was made to renovate their current space.

Inspiration can come in many forms and continuing to be inspired in new ways ensures the spaces we create for clients are unique and on the leading edge of design. As you can see above, Ipsos included a large-scale “leaf” installation designed by Cynthia Colby over their interconnecting stair with the goal of unifying the two floors and providing subtle references to their brand origin.

SGH designed a new space that encourages collaboration. Renovating the reception area, a cafe has been incorporated to foster connection among the teams. The office transitioned from a closed perimeter office space to a benching system. Their new space is a state-of-the-art workplace that met their budget and exceeded their expectations.

It is important for our studio to ensure that we are seeking inspiration not just from what has been done, but from abstract sources that drive design innovation.