GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS07.27.20

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07.27.20 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS

A Safer Workplace Series with Hollander Design Group - Air Quality

Last week, the first article in this series addressed the need for building trust and establishing strong communication channels to ensure the transition back to the office Post-COVID is smooth and safe. Why are we going back to the office? The need for social stimulation, continued learning and innovation. All of these reasons for going back to the office are group activities, so we must figure out how teams can work in close proximity. The nature of the COVID-19 virus directs our attention first to air quality. This week, we look at what can we do now to ensure better air quality, and what long-term investments will protect us moving into the future.

FULL STORY ON PAGE 3…

A Look at New Lithuanian Life / Cohesive Urban Plaza Design by German Architecture Practice 3deluxe

While our work-from-home status was alive and well this past week, our minds wandered to Lithuania, and a new urban development project located in that country’s pioneering city of Kaunas. The project site is the new home of a “hybrid skatepark, playground, and urbane living room” plaza, as German architecture firm 3deluxe describes it. The site, now called V-Plaza, is a thoroughfare of workspaces, cafés, and pedestrian life in modern day Lithuania.

FULL STORY ON PAGE 8…

Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: People Will Be People

The COVID-19 virus has led to lots of changes in how we work. The full ramifications of the virus for how we live and work will take some time to reveal themselves, and it is likely that short-term and long-term effects may not align neatly as the pandemic subsides. In the future, as in the past, people will have the same three basic motivations guiding their lives, at work and away from work, however. Sally Augustin examines research indicating that humans have a deep-seated psychological need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

FULL STORY ON PAGE 16…

CITED:“THE VALUE OF AN IDEA LIES IN THE USING OF IT.” —THOMAS EDISON (1847 – 1931), INVENTOR

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research

In our previous articles we have addressed the need for building trust and establishing strong communication chan-nels to ensure the transition back to the office is smooth and safe. We have not really asked the question yet why we are going back to the office. In talking to our clients and friends, there seem to be several drivers: need for social stimulation, continued learning and innovation. These are all group activities. If we accept that all forms of meeting will be a driving factor in why people travel to the office, then we must figure out how teams can work in close proximity.

Each issue that could potentially impact our health when we enter a building must be examined from two views – what can we do now, and what long-term investments will protect us moving into the future? The nature of the CO-VID-19 virus directs our attention to air quality. First, we’ll respond to the question, “What can we do to immediately begin improving our air quality?” Then, “What are the long-term changes we should be making for both existing and new buildings?”

A Safer Workplace Series with Hollander Design Group - Air Qualityby Jeffrey Hollander, Founder/President of Hollander Design Group, & Viveca Bissonnette, Founder/Principal of Hollander Design Group

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researchAir and mechanical systems play a large role in creating

safe work environments. Since the 1970s, building codes have focused on reducing energy usage and minimum fresh air quantities. As such building designs are incentivized to reduce the air flow that keeps us healthy. Did you ever wonder why meeting rooms get stuffy? Reduced air flow and reduced fresh air in favor of energy savings.

The technology behind energy savings is a great benefit, but have we gone a little too far in that direction, at the expense of our wellbeing? LEED and WELL have both pushed back on energy savings efforts, prioritizing human health instead.

Perhaps it is time to re-think some of these energy sav-ing practices in favor of more health promoting practices.

Healthcare environments, where minimizing infections is critical, require air change rates that are often double those required for office space. In operating rooms and high-tech clean rooms where limiting contamination is critical, high levels of filtration and careful engineering of the air flow ensures that patients and processes are washed with sterile air. For minimal extra cost, we can borrow some good practices from these critical environments to improve the health of the spaces we inhabit.

If we’re doubling the fresh air in a healthcare environment where sick patients are common, isn’t it reasonable to also do that in the workplace - a place we spend so much of our time each week? We accept bad, unhealthy air in our workplaces - by why do we accept it?

Right now, we need more fresh air inside our work-spaces, and few of us have the ability to open windows. There is good news for those of us living in a temper-ate climate, where most of the installed equipment was required by the energy codes to include economizer capabilities that pull comfortable outside air into the system. Doing this will sacrifice some energy efficiency and may cause interior temperature to fluctuate by a few degrees, but this is a point in time where exceptions might be appropriate.

General Recommendations for Immediate Changes>Adjust building management systems (BMS) to open

economizers. Most systems have excess capacity. Right now, we need more air filtration for recirculated

air in our workspaces. Like N95 masks, filters trap viruses being carried on water and dust particles. The good news is that it can be relatively simple to change out the filters in your existing systems with better ones.

>MERV 14-15 filters are roughly equivalent to N95 masks. >Current codes in California and other states already require

MERV 13 filters, but many older systems have lower filtration levels. Upgrade existing filters with a higher MERV value.

>Adjust fan motors and speeds to compensate for the pressure loss through dense filter material.

There are likely trust issues working within confined spaces, even with a reduced number of occupants, but meeting spaces are critical to the way we work. We can pro-vide some simple solutions to allow for the safe return of the removed seats. Because most conference rooms already have dedicated air conditioning zones, we can sterilize the air fairly simply.

>Provide wall mounted UV lights placed near the return air grilles to sterilize the return air before it gets recirculated.

>Increase filtration and the fan speed at the local fan coil or terminal unit for improved air changes and cleaning.

Right now, fresh air in restrooms is critical. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, smelly restrooms were the source of frequent complaints.

>Run the exhaust fan full time while the building is oc-cupied. Restrooms are typically stacked and served by a single exhaust fan on the roof.

>Increase fan speed and exhaust volume. >Prop entry doors open, assuming that line of sight is not

an issue.

Viveca Bissonnette, Principal & Vice President, and Jeffrey Hollander, Founder & President, Hollander Design Group. Images: courtesy of Hollander Design Group

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researchHelping office workers feel safe will require both cul-

tural adjustments and construction upgrades. We’ve looked at solutions to tweak existing air delivery

systems to make them as safe as possible with simple ad-justments or upgrades.

But, the design of air delivery systems will need to change for the long term. The remaining discussion here assumes some amount of construction that would typically be in-cluded in a refresh or complete build-out of space as leases expire or as companies determine that additional steps are desirable. Our firm intends to include these as “good de-sign” going forward. The costs are projected to be nominally more than typical construction costs. We anticipate that codes will evolve and catch up over time to include many of these items.

Recommendations for New BuildingsNew buildings should be designed taking cues from the

design of healthcare environments, increasing the number of air changes per hour will make the workspace healthier. Voluntarily increasing the volume of air that is being deliv-ered to each space beyond the minimums required by code will remove more contaminants from the air, including dust and vapor particles that carry viruses.

>Increase air changes from 6-8/hour (typical) to 10-12/hour (suggested).

>Increase the percentage of fresh air from 15% to 30%.>Provide additional air handlers to allow for additional

zones within a building. Segregate work zones and amenity zones to prevent cross-contamination between zones.

>Provide additional filtration and/or UV light sterilization.>Consider ducted return air in lieu of plenum return air.

Segregate return air zones to prevent cross contamination.Open Work Areas zoning and distribution of air within

zones should be re-considered.

>Segregate large open areas with multiple zones. Segre-gate plenum return to limit cross contamination.

>Deliver the air more strategically to bathe occupants in filtered or sterile air at the center of the space and carefully remove contaminated air from corners and perimeter.

Enclosed Meeting Rooms require special consideration, as the density of occupants is the highest in these spaces. As we stated previously, meeting rooms will become more important as remote work and part-time remote work in-creases. These will be the spaces that remote workers visit when they do travel to the office. Again, we can take some cues from clean rooms and operating rooms to make these spaces safe.

>Separate meeting areas into discrete zones to prevent cross contamination.

>Design a minimum of 12-14 air changes per hour.>Deliver the air over meeting tables where people are gath-

ered. Return contaminated air from corners, near the floor. >Duct the return air for each room and provide additional

filtration and UV light sterilization within the return ductwork.>Commission each room to confirm performance.Recommendations for Existing BuildingsExisting buildings are a bit more difficult. Increasing air

changes and fresh air volumes in existing buildings will be limited by the size of existing vertical shafts. In order to increase air changes delivered within a space:

>Increase fan power and filtration to MERV 14 for rooftop air handlers.

>Convert existing supply air shafts to tempered fresh air using existing air handlers.

>Provide additional cooling at each floor/zone. Consider a chilled beam system.

>Extend the return air plenum in order to install UV light sterilization. Provide access to service lighting on a regular basis.

There is no guide – no game plan – when you’re out ahead of the curve. We’re listening to medical professionals and the scientific community, and taking cues from other industries – most importantly, healthcare. Improving our health is the goal here. And it’s impractical to turn every office into a medical-grade air quality space. But, modifying our workspaces to lean more in the direction of human-healthy spaces is achievable. Most of the recommendations are common sense steps that balance the line of what’s practical – things we can all do within the limits of budget and time.

Special thanks to our partners at CGK Consulting Group, Inc. for helping us imagine new solutions. We can do this together.

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The structuring of the new V-Plaza, located in Kaunas, Lithuania, gives rise to pathways and to natural islands, which are enlivened in different ways. Designed by 3deluxe. Photo: Norbert Tukaj

This week at officeinsight, while our work-from-home status was alive and well, our minds wandered to Lithuania, and a new urban development project located in that country’s pioneering city of Kaunas. The project site is the new home of a “hybrid skatepark, playground, and urbane living room” plaza, as German architecture firm 3deluxe describes it.

The site, now called V-Plaza, is a thoroughfare of work-spaces, cafés, and pedestrian life in modern day Lithuania, and its project notes were too good to pass up without shar-ing them with you.

“In the midst of a newly designed building ensemble boasting bright facades and ultramodern workspaces, the German architecture practice has created a visionary plaza that is a celebration of contemporary mobility. Cyclists and scooters cruise along organically curved levels, between them oases of tranquility, water features, cafes, and restaurants.”

V-Plaza – An Urban Development “What was previously a largely unused space adjoined

by historical buildings is now becoming a new, inviting public amenity where you can casually enjoy a coffee in your lunch break or get some work done outdoors while children play in the water, young people skate and stu-dents relax in the sun.”

“This is certainly the new now in Kaunas, a city in Lithu-ania which, with the help of 3deluxe, has brought to life a future-oriented architectural concept that sets new impulses and is geared towards the communicative needs of a young and dynamic generation.”

“The history-steeped ‘Unity Square’ with its impressive buildings from different eras has been redesigned to reflect the innovative spirit of a country considered to be a pioneer of digitization.”

A Look at New Lithuanian Life / Cohesive Urban Plaza Design by German Architecture Practice 3deluxeby Mallory Budy

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V-Plaza is a hybrid of skatepark, playground and urbane living room. Photo: Norbert Tukaj

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“The extraordinary design sets off the extensive façades to bright and cheerful effect, creates modern workspaces, and uses organically shaped green spaces, curved path-ways, seating levels, and the latest technology to transform the space into inspiring terrain with an urban ambiance.”

“The real challenge was to preserve cultural heritage while creating space for social transformation. And the solu-tion was innovative architecture that caters to the needs of today’s society: bright, friendly, open and connecting.”

TECHNICAL SHEET

Title of project: V-Plaza – Urban Development

Discipline: Rebirth Project – Urban Development

Developer: SBA Group

Location: Vienybės aikštė, 44029, Kaunas

Start of planning: first quarter of 2015

Construction period: November 2017 – March 2020

Completion: May 2020

Plaza: 15 400 m2

Parking: 15 826 m2

Buildings: 16 862 m2

Cost: 40 Million Euro

The new corner building is an homage to Lithuania’s Art Deco heritage. Photo: Norbert Tukaj

Resting steps and a water element create an opportunity to gather, play, relax and recharge. Photo: Norbert Tukaj

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a&d“Back in 2016, 3deluxe was commissioned with the com-

plete transformation of the central square, together with the buildings that adjoin it on its eastern side – three new builds and two renovations, along with an underground garage that extends beneath the entire square.”

The Buildings and Façades: 3deluxe Meets the International Style of the Early 1960s 

“Here, 3deluxe is creating an exciting ensemble featuring various architectural interpretations of the different eras that define the city.”

“Hence, for example, the new corner building is an hom-age to Lithuania’s Art Deco heritage. With its rounded and organically shaped glass fronts and the elongated façade, the corner building is quite captivating thanks to its elegant simplicity and flowing forms. Here, the coming together of old and new building cultures is celebrated rather than con-cealed. Extensive glazing and unfussy design meet detailed window frontage featuring applied decoration inspired by the façades of the neighboring historical buildings.”

“The central new-build block reflects the city’s Bauhaus tradition and forges a clear link to the now modernized

The stylistic connection between all five buildings is their uniform, white-ren-dered façade, which enables all the buildings to merge into one radiant unit. Photo: Norbert Tukaj

A view from above – rounded architectural shapes and gathering zones at V-Plaza. Photo: Sascha Jahnke

The man who is funding the transformation of the square is a passionate skateboarder and wanted to offer skate enthusiasts a new home in the city. Photo: Norbert Tukaj

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a&ddual ensemble that so epitomizes the International Style of the early 1960s. The redesign of the façade picks up on the aesthetic simplicity to be found in this Baltic testimony to mid-century Modern, with a pronounced Cubist design vocabulary and clear lines.”

“An elongated roof pavilion covers both the newly built and the renovated structures and thus melds different styles to create a new whole. The roof pavilion incorporates a roof terrace that stretches the entire length of the complex – a green oasis offering a magnificent view of the whole city.”

“The stylistic connection between all five buildings is their uniform, white-rendered façade, which enables all the buildings to merge into one radiant unit.”

“The redesign of the interiors likewise emphasizes the idea of connection, since all the buildings are linked internally. Extensive lobbies, atriums, and open workspaces permit straightforward communication as well as concen-trated and creative work. Meanwhile, shops, cafés, and restaurants inject further life into this modern, agile world of work and the lively, urban leisure society.”

The Square: An Elevated Quality of Life Across 72,000+ Square Feet

“A historical square is transformed: 3deluxe initially developed two design levels that structure the entire surface as a grid made up of visible lines on the ground.”

“One is linear and forms the historical context, in which the existing axes of vision and movement are taken into account. The other level is designed to be organic and fluid, reflecting the natural flows of movement of passers-by.”

“This structuring gives rise not only to pathways but also to natural islands, which are enlivened in different ways: a green lawn for sunbathing, a skate park, a programmed fountain complex, or a modern event venue.”

Greenery within the skate park sets it apart. Photo: Norbert Tukaj A Splash pad creates the perfect venue for a young, dynamic society to grow. Photo: Norbert Tuka

The central new-build block reflects the city’s Bauhaus tradition and forges a clear link to the now modernized dual ensemble that so epito-mizes the International Style of the early 1960s. Photo: Norbert Tukaj

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“The natural result is an organic, landscape-like arrange-ment comprising dynamic thoroughfares, staggered seating and steps, and gently sloping green spaces and water fea-tures that connect the different height levels of the square in a seemingly obvious way. The materials used form a welcoming interplay of light granite, wood, and elaborately modeled elements made of white molded concrete. The choice of plants for the green spaces is based on the local flora. Native pine and birch along with insect-friendly grass-es and shrubs form the basis of the greening concept.”

“An artificial stream meanders through the organic concrete landscape with wooden islands, inviting visitors to linger and play, while an interactive fountain installation enlivens the large, flat open space in the square, which can also be used for events, festivals and markets.” 

“The man who is funding the transformation of the square is a passionate skateboarder and wanted to offer skate enthu-siasts a new home in the city, hence large parts of the square are laid out to be skater-friendly too. Specialists in skate park construction were therefore brought on board to help realize the challenging free forms developed by 3deluxe.”

“Another addition, lying opposite the new corner building, is a modern amphitheater, and the frontage facing it can be outfitted with a giant LED screen for public viewings when required.”

“On this basis, additional mobile elements will be used to bring further life to the square: a pavilion that can be planted in various ways as an urban gardening project, changing installations such as kiosks, food trucks, and mobile seating, and a temporary event stage.”

“All in all, it’s a square to bring people together, to create new opportunities, and to improve the quality of life for people in Kaunas.”

The 3deluxe architecture department specializes in icono-graphic architecture and is run by Dieter Brell. 3deluxe archi-tecture creates sustainable architecture that communicates. Architecture that expresses themes and aesthetic visions. Architecture that conveys brand messages. Architecture that produces intense and inspiring experiences. Or, simply put, architecture this world more interesting and beautiful.

For more than 20 years 3deluxe sets groundbreak-ing impulses when it comes to design, and more recently their position in the architecture world. In an international context, 3deluxe’ organic shapes and complex multimedia productions have proven to be Numerous architectural projects were honored with awards as well as with great at-tention from press Examples include the corporate architec-ture ‘Leonardo Glass Cube’, the redesign of ‘Zeilgalerie’ in Frankfurt, the corporate headquarters ‘Kaffeepartner’ and the complete design of ‘Noor Island’ in Sharjah.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGYPeople Will Be Peopleby Sally Augustin, Ph.D.

The COVID-19 virus has led to lots of changes in how we work. If we are not essential workers who need to contin-ue to work at company offices, we’ve become experts (if we weren’t already) at working from home, overcoming tech challenges and many others. The full ramifications of the virus for how we live and work will take some time to reveal themselves, and it is likely that short-term and long-term effects may not align neatly as the pandemic subsides.

In the future, as in the past, people will have the same three basic motiva-tions guiding their lives, at work and away from work, however. Funda-

mental aspects of human nature are consistent, from one millennium of our history as a species to the next. Self-Determination Theory (SDT), as reported on by Deci, Olafsen and Ryan in 2017, indicates that humans have a deep-seated psychological need for competence, autonomy, and related-ness. These needs guide how we inter-pret the situations that we encounter in our world and whatever steps we can take on our own to influence the conditions in which we find ourselves. Satisfying these needs is tied by Deci, Olafsen, and Ryan to psychological and physical wellbeing.

But what do psychologists mean

by “competence,” “autonomy,” and “relatedness”?

“Competence” relates to perfor-mance, skill and expertise; we like to do a good job at whatever we plan to do. The drive for competence is clear in workplaces every day as people try to work to their full potential and as they exhibit an inner drive to master tasks, processes, or whatever else their jobs require.

“Autonomy” is linked to feeling con-trol over the situations that comprise our lives. We can be overburdened by having to make a selection from many options, but choosing from a few, say four-to-six, has been shown to boost

07.27.20 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 17 OF 32

companiesour mood. Research also shows that when our mood improves, so does our ability to get along with others, solve problems, and think creatively, for instance. A person choosing from among several workspace options in an activity-based workplace is exercis-ing autonomy.

“Relatedness” is our drive for pleas-ant interactions with others, short-term and long-term, when we feel like being with others.

Deci, Olafsen, and Ryan (2017) report that “Anyone interested in improving the work context within an organization and thus the performance and wellness of its employees could evaluate any policy or practice being considered in terms of whether it is likely to (a) allow the employees to gain competencies and/or feel confident, (b) experience the freedom to experi-ment and initiate their own behaviors and not feel pressured and coerced to behave as directed, and (c) feel re-spect and belonging in relation to both supervisors and peers.”

The three fundamental drives identified by SDT have been directing human actions for many, many years and will continue to do so well into our future as a species. They are at the core of “human nature.” Future work environments, regardless of changes wrought by COVID-19, will need to rec-ognize and align with these drives, just as previous workplaces where people worked effectively (whatever definitions of “effectiveness” you’d like to apply) have done.

Edward Deci, Anja Olafsen, and Richard Ryan. 2017. “Self-Determi-nation Theory in Work Organizations: The State of a Science.” In Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, vol. 3, pp. 19-43.

Sally Augustin, PhD, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com). Research Design Connections reports on research conducted by social and physical scientists that designers can apply in practice. Insights derived from

recent studies are integrated with clas-sic, still relevant findings in concise, powerful articles. Topics covered range from the cognitive, emotional, and physiological implications of sensory and other physical experiences to the alignment of culture, personality, and design, among others. Informa-tion, in everyday language, is shared in a monthly subscription newsletter, an archive of thousands of published articles, and a free daily blog. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Archi-tecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Do-ing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwith-science.com.

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r-d connectionRESEARCH-DESIGN CONNECTIONWorking Undergroundby Sally Augustin, Ph.D.

Dunleavy and colleagues have deter-mined that humans find working un-derground a more positive experience than might have been anticipated. Sur-veying people living in Singapore who worked either above or below ground ,the team investigated “the prevalence of psychological distress…over time in aboveground and underground work-spaces…workers in similar aboveg-round and underground workspaces were followed-up in three assessments

over 12 months…Perceived IEQ (air quality, temperature, noise, light) in the workplace were collected…[analy-ses] did not show any association between working underground and psychological distress…Underground workspaces were defined as work environments that are below the street level, while aboveground workspaces were on or above the street level. Un-derground workspaces did not contain a window view of the outdoor environ-ment, while workers in aboveground workspaces varied in their distance and view of a window. Individuals in underground workspaces worked comparable job types (administration, control room and workshop) to those in aboveground workspaces.”

Gerard Dunleavy, Ram Baipal, An-dre Tonon, Kei Cheung, Thuan-Quoc Thach, Yuri Rykov, Chee-Kiong Soh, Heinde Vries, Josip Car, and Georgios Christopoulos. “Prevalence of Psy-chological Distress and Its Association with Perceived Indoor Environmental Quality and Workplace Factors in

Underground and Aboveground Work-places.” Building and Environment, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106799

Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive sci-entist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesigncon-nections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest re-search findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psycho-logical Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychol-ogy for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwith-science.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.

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view,” said Tim Straker, Chief Marketing Officer for Herman Miller. “The main feedback we received was they wanted more variety.” The researchers found that players took a variety of postures in chairs without noticing the negative impact it had on their performance and potential damage to their health over time. “This in-depth research convinced us that we needed to modify a current offering to improve lower back support, increase forward leaning, provide a greater ability to swivel, and better adjustments for tables and monitors,” continued Mr. Straker. “The Embody Chair set the benchmark for pressure distribution, natural alignment, and support for healthy movement, so it was the perfect choice to be modi-fied to meet these needs.” In addition to the Embody Gaming Chair, the companies also introduced the Herman

Miller Motia, Ratio, and Nevi Gaming Desks, which encour-age regular movement and allow users to switch between different postures. These enhanced desks feature a matte black anti-smudge and anti-glare finish, which can be found only on the gaming desks. Both products can be paired with the matching Ollin Gaming Monitor Arm, which supports a range of monitors and laptops of various weights and sizes. Read More

>Landscape Forms expanded its collaborations with Loll Designs with the introduc-tion of three new products: Americana, Glide, and a new standing-height bench to pair with the standing-height Harvest table. Americana is a refinement of the clas-sic Adirondack-style chair, seen through the lens of Landscape Forms and Loll. It uses 100% post-consumer recycled plastic for the seat and back, providing a long,

3form Flek: New colors

Herman Miller and Logitech G: Embody Gaming Chair

07.27.20 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 20 OF 32

officenewswirelow-maintenance life. The rust-proof commercial grade cast and extruded aluminum supports and understructure are finished with Landscape Forms’ proprietary powder-coating that resists fading and chipping. Americana’s form factor is both wider and taller

than a traditional Adirondack chair to enhance comfort, offer a wider range of seating positions, and aid ingress and egress. Accessories for Americana include a hanger underneath the arm for se-cure bag or purse storage and an optional tablet arm, provid-

ing a wider surface for food and beverages or to serve as a functional work surface. The Glide bench, another new Landscape Forms prod-uct designed in collaboration with Loll, is a modern backed bench crafted from 100% post-consumer recycled plas-tic for the seat and back, with powdercoated rust-proof com-mercial grade metal supports. Equally suited to stand alone or pair with Landscape Forms’ Harvest dining-height table, Glide benches can be speci-fied with or without arms. The new backless standing-height Harvest bench expands the Harvest collection, which centers around bringing people together. It is the right height to enable most users to rest their feet on the Harvest table’s metal understructure and can be specified with optional bag hangers under-neath the seat of the bench. Read More

>Poltrona Frau reissued the Kyoto table by Gianfranco Frattini (1974) on the oc-casion of the launch of the 2020 collection: Future Her-itage. The Kyoto table, in the permanent collection of the Design Museum at the Milan Triennale, features simple Japanese elegance and the

tactile richness of solid wood, underlined by expert dovetail joints. From the very start of his career, architect and designer Gianfranco Frattini displayed a great preference for wood, a material that features heavily in all of his projects. This passion, with close attention focused on details and joints, was trans-lated into tangible objects also thanks to his collabora-tions with many artisans from Brianza, most notably expert carpenter Pierluigi Ghianda. His close partnership with Pierluigi, which over the years transformed into a fraternal friendship, led to the creation of the Kyoto table. The two got to know each other in the early 70s during a trip to Japan to study the work of the local craftsmen. Visiting the workshops of Kyoto and inspired by the aesthetics of these places, Gianfranco Frat-tini came up with the idea for the joint that would form the basis of the table of the same name. Read More

>Steelcase on Jul. 20 announced a relationship with Mattiazzi, an Italian furniture brand and manu-facturer. Steelcase will offer customers access to Mat-tiazzi’s complete catalogue of

Landscape Forms: Americana, Glide, and Harvest Poltrona Frau: Kyoto table

07.27.20 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 21 OF 32

officenewswire

hand-finished wood furniture with immediate availability in North America. Mattiazzi specializes in combining traditional craft with state-of-the-art machinery and an environmentally-friendly, energy-efficient infrastructure. Brothers Nevio and Fa-biano Mattiazzi founded the company in 1979 as a wood workshop specializing in the production of top quality wooden chairs. By combin-ing uncompromising design with high-quality process-ing, Mattiazzi has become a celebrated brand now offering more than 20 designer col-lections of chairs, tables, lounges, benches, outdoor furniture and more. “As work-ers return to the office now and in the future a range of informal spaces will be even more desirable as people look for collaborative settings that support their emotional and physical wellbeing,” said Allan Smith, Steelcase VP of global marketing. “Mattiazzi designs are innovative and offer a fresh aesthetic that works well in a range of indoor and outdoor spaces and are easy to clean.” Read More

>Unika Vaev’s Scala sound-absorbing Panel and Screen Collection by Anya Sebton embraces the time honored principle of Form Follows Function. Finding inspira-tion in Icelandic construction methods, Scala provides a softer soundscape wherever it is used, while also promoting the idea of ‘separate but to-gether’. Designed with fabric upholstered on a molded sound-absorbing polyester core, the Scala Collection is available in two solid fabric

finishes with a total of 107 colorways. It includes: -Scala Floor Screens, with support hardware available in black or white lacquer finish to reinforce the industrial look of the design, are available in multiple widths and achieve an NRC rating of .60. -Scala Wall Panels in either portrait or landscape orienta-tion and hung on concealed brackets mounted to the wall, are available in five different sizes and achieve a NRC rat-ing of .80.

-Scala Ceiling Tiles float freely and are available with or with-out an integrated LED light fixture. All mounting hardware is included with each tile. Scala Ceiling Tile achieves a NRC rating of .65. -Scala Hanging Screens, upholstered on both sides, float seamlessly wherever you desire, with all hanging hardware is included and installation a snap. Scala Hanging screen achieves a NRC rating of .65. -Scala Table Screen collection offers a versatile solution to create a personal workspace. Available in multiple sizes, aluminum tubing supports the screen and is available in a black or white lacquer finish. Scala Table Screen achieves a NRC rating of .70. https://offi-ceinsight.com/officenewswire/unika-vaevs-scala-visually-and-acoustically-pleasing/

Steelcase: Mattiazzi

Unika Vaev: Scala

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officenewswireNOTEWORTHY>DIFFA launched a fun new fundraising campaign, “Zoom No More.” Instead of hosting a festive Zoom gather-ing to raise a little money for a good cause, they’ve decided to raise money by NOT host-ing one instead. So if you’re suffering from virtual burnout, rejoice! DIFFA’s established a new model, enabling those who want to give back to their community an op-portunity to do so from the comfort of their own home – sound and video OFF. At a time when support for those with compromised immune

systems, including individu-als affected by HIV/AIDS, is more important than ever, it is hoped that this fun initiative will inspire many to donate. Individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS are particularly affected by homelessness and the economic turmoil of the mo-ment as well as the significant loss of healthcare cover-age experienced across the country over the past several months. As always, dona-tions to DIFFA will be granted to organizations across the country supporting individuals and communities impacted by HIV/AIDS. Read More

>Applications are open for SaloneSatellite 2021, the emerging design section of Salone del Mobile.Milano. Since 1998, SaloneSatellite has discovered and promoted young talent. Over the years, many internationally well-known designers have been discovered at SaloneSatel-lite. 2021 marks 60 years of Salone…so the Satellite is sure to make a splash. The application deadline is Aug. 31. Read More

>The Society of British and International Interior Design issued the final call for en-tries in the SBID Awards. Set to celebrate design excellence for not only the designers of

interiors, but also the prod-ucts that go in them, the SBID Awards now includes the newly launched SBID Product Design Awards, alongside the globally-renowned SBID Inter-national Design Awards, with 17 diverse interior categories to enter in each awards pro-gram. Submission deadline is 5pm BST on Friday, Aug. 14. The Awards ceremony is planned to take place as scheduled on Friday, Oct. 23; in the event that it is not safe to so, all SBID Awards winners for 2020 will be an-nounced online. Read More

SaloneSatellite

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officenewswirePROJECTS>ASID published the latest case study in its Impact of Design Series: M Moser As-sociates Living Lab, designed by M Moser. A winner of the 2020 ASID Outcome of Design Awards in the “experi-mental impact” category, the New York project explores fresh ways of working with an entirely new workspace that speaks to its dedicated focus on post-occupancy research. The Impact of Design series puts a spotlight on projects that utilize evidence-based design, and M Moser’s “Living Lab” puts this into action with a flexible, agile workspace that continually accommodates for client and employee needs. M Moser employed various design solutions to overcome challenges and achieve their goals, including: -Dynamic Work Environ-ment: The M Moser team is empowered to choose how and where they need to work each day. With a clean desk policy, the office is equipped with individual lockers for each person. The office plan provides a variety of space types for various work needs

(focus spaces, conference rooms, lounge areas, quiet/wellness rooms, phone pods, VC rooms, standing desks, sitting desks, collaboration zones, etc.). M Moser moved into the office with around 30+ people and has nearly doubled its staff to 50. -Mobility & Flexibility: With mobile battery power packs, the team is more agile without being tethered to desks or outlets. By focusing efforts on the digital strategy, the team developed an office app, which enables visitors and staff to book conference rooms, provide feedback to other team members, engage with the community board and locate places of note in the neighborhood. The design team engineered flexible desk furniture and incorporated additional moveable furniture and users are encouraged to adapt areas based on their unique requirements, without restrictions. The rolling desks can be rearranged within min-utes. Large mobile screens allow staff to create desktop-like environments anywhere in the office. Green walls on wheels create greater flexibility with biophilic elements.

-Healthy Encouragement, Air Quality & Sustainability: Circadian lighting, low-impact gym equipment such as TRX bands and a trampoline, air quality monitors, biophilia, plants, water filtering, healthy food and healthy materials allow for the team to leave work healthier than when they came in. The new office achieved RESET Certification and has been designed to meet WELL Platinum Certifica-tion. M Moser has also been recognized with the “Ocean Champion Badge,” the highest level of The Oceanic Standard (TOS), for adopting a holistic approach to sustain-able operating practices, with a strong focus on eliminating single-use plastics. -Future Focused Technology: The office is equipped with a VR Lab to work design solu-tions, a 3D printer to prototype architectural elements and an Innovation Lab to strat-egize with clients that creates a future-focused approach

to creativity. Technological upgrades include high speed, trading-level Wi-Fi, a fully cloud-based network, a U Rack server and a biometric fingerprint reader entrance. -Living Lab Approach & Experimentation: The whole workspace embodies the spir-it of freedom and experimen-tation, empowering people to adapt and innovate. Users are encouraged to adapt areas based on their unique requirements, without restric-tions. The team is able to test out and trial design solutions within their own workspace for clients. Read More

EVENTS>Humanscale this Tuesday, Jul. 28 will present “Designing a COVID-Safe Office: Is it still up in the air?” with Dr. Alan Hedge. In this latest installment of Humanscale’s “Return To Work” webinar series, expert Dr. Hedge will break down key

ASID case study: M Moser Associates Living Lab

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officenewswirefindings from the latest research surrounding the airborne trans-mission of COVID-19, which now shows that six feet of sepa-ration is not nearly enough. He will also share measures that can be taken both within office floor plans and HVAC systems to bring employees back to the office safely. Following the pre-sentation, the conversation will open up for Q&A. To accom-modate international attendees, there will be two sessions. The first will stream at 11am EST (4pm London) and the second at 9pm EST (Wednesday, Jul. 29 10am Tokyo | 11am Syd-ney). Read More

>IFDA NY’s Enlightenment Series continues today, Jul. 27, with “The Magic of Currey & Company,” 10:00

a.m. Eastern Time. IFDA NY Chapter Co-President David Santiago will moderate a panel discussion between

Cecil Adams, Sasha Bikoff and Barry Goralnick, the talents and masters of lighting at Currey & Company. Read More

>IFDA NY this Wednes-day, Jul. 29 will present a conversation with Scott Kravet, Chief Creative Direc-tor of Kravet Inc., via Zoom, 11:00am-Noon Eastern Time. From exotic marketplaces, to mills across Europe, Mr. Kravet will show how his travels inform Kravet Inc.’s design. He will share his

personal travel photos and review some of the latest product at Kravet Inc.to see the connection. He will also share an insider’s look into the Kravet Inc. archive. The family business was founded by his great grandfather in the early 1900s. Read More

>IIDA NY’s mentorship com-mittee this Wednesday, Jul. 29 will present a Zoom webi-nar, “Navigating Your Design Career Through COVID,” 5:30-6:30 pm Eastern Time. A panel of leading design pro-

IFDA NY.Scott Kravet

IIDA NY.Panel Moderator Elsie St. Leger and Speakers (clockwise from top left) Sascha Wagner, My An Le, Shannon Crump Cochran, Ed Baust

07.27.20 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 25 OF 32

officenewswire

fessionals will share insights into topics including best interview & resume practices, resources for your job search, and career path options. Elsie St. Leger, Interior Designer with NYU Langone Health will moderate the discussion; which will feature speakers Sascha Wagner, President & CEO, Huntsman Architectural Group; My An Le, Director or Recruitment, 52X Consulting; Shannon Crump Cochran, VP of Creative, Patcraft; and Ed Baust, Executive Vice President, Office Resources. Read More

>ILFI is partnering with Metropolis in this week in its symposium Metropolis Perspective: Sustainabil-ity 2020, Jul. 27- 29. The symposium is virtual this year, allowing members of the architecture and design community in North America and around the world to participate in deep, forward-looking conversations around sustainable practice. This se-ries tackles new technologies for sustainability, the power of reuse, and strategies for designing with water. Leaders from SRG Partnership, BNIM, DPR Construction, HKS, ILFI, Perkins and Will, WRNS Stu-

dio, and other organizations will speak during the event, which will include keynote presentations, discussions, and tool demonstrations. Lisa Petterson, ILFI Board Mem-ber and SRG Partnership Principal, will keynote the Water panel on Wednesday, Jul. 29. Read More

>Mohawk Group announced the fall/winter edition of its R&R CEU Series. The new schedule includes classes in

August, September, October, and November. Replays of past CEUs are also available, as are session replays of the company’s recent virtual design summit, including an insightful roundtable featuring Trend Union’s Philip Fim-mano and The Ohio State University Department of Design’s Rebekah Matheny, along with Mohawk Group’s own Royce Epstein and Mark Page. Read More

Mohawk Group: CEUs

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businessBUSINESS AFFAIRS>AIA reported the Architecture Billings Index score for June was 40.0 compared to 32.0 in May. The May ABI score indicates that a significant share of architecture firms still saw their billings decline from May to June; however the share reporting declines slowed significantly. Index scores for new project inquiries and new design contracts also showed signs of stabilizing, posting scores of 49.3 and 44.0 respectively.

“While business conditions remained soft at firms across the country, those with a multifamily residential specialization saw the most positive signs,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker. “Unfortunately, conditions at firms with a commercial/industrial specialization are likely to remain weak for an extended period of time, until hospitality, office and retail facilities can fully reopen, and design demand for this space begins to increase.”

Regional three-month moving averages: Midwest (36.8); West (36.8); South (35.9); Northeast (34.2). Sector index break-down: multi-family residential (44.7); institutional (38.9); mixed practice (35.3); commercial/industrial (30.1). www.aia.org

>HNI Corp. on Jul. 22 reported its second-quarter fiscal 2020 results (dollars in millions except EPS):

3 Mos. Ended 6.27.20 6.29.19 %Ch.Net Sales $417.5 $526.0 -20.6%Gross Profit $150.9 $192.6 -21.7%SG&A $136.1 $168.4 -19.2%Op. Inc. $14.8 $23.2 -36.2%Net Inc. $12.6 $15.8 -20.3%EPS (dil.) $0.29 $0.36 -19.4%

6 Mos. Ended 6.27.20 6.29.19 %Ch.Net Sales $886.2 $1,005.5 -11.9%Gross Profit $326.9 $362.3 -9.8%SG&A $303.1 $334.3 -9.3%Op. Inc. -$8.9 $26.9 -Net Inc. -$11.3 $16.8 -EPS (dil.) -$0.27 $0.38 -

Non-GAAP net income per diluted share was $0.20, compared to $0.38 in the prior year.

Second Quarter Highlights

-HNI delivered solid profits and increased second quarter op-erating cash flows by $20 million or 49% versus the prior year despite pandemic related top-line

-Residential Building Products segment operating profit increased, and segment operating margin expanded on a year-over-year basis in the second quarter

-Workplace Furnishings segment generated second quarter 2020 operating profit of nearly $8 million, despite a 25% year-over-year contraction on the top

-Quarter-ending debt levels were $183 million, equal to a gross leverage ratio of approximately 0.8x. Liquidity, as measured by cash and borrowing availability, at the end of the second quarter was $392 million.

“Our members did a great job of managing through challenging second quarter conditions. We aggressively managed costs and drove productivity—offsetting much of the impact from lower

7.24.20 7.2.20 4.3.20 12.27.19 9.27.19 6.28.19 %frYrHi%fr50-DayMA

HMiller 23.0 22.3 17.8 41.6 45.9 44.7 -53.9% -2.9%

HNI 30.4 29.0 21.8 37.4 35.4 35.4 -29.3% 3.2%

Inscape 0.5 0.4 0.8 0.8 0.7 1.7 -63.1% -2.4%

Interface 8.1 7.6 6.7 16.5 14.6 15.3 -54.5% 0.9%

Kimball 10.9 11.3 9.6 20.7 19.4 17.4 -51.2% -3.1%

Knoll 11.7 11.5 8.6 25.4 25.3 23.0 -58.5% -2.8%

Leggett 35.9 34.3 22.7 51.2 40.9 38.4 -35.2% 2.3%

Mohawk 85.0 99.2 62.0 134.4 123.6 147.5 -44.5% -7.5%

Steelcase 11.2 10.3 8.2 20.6 18.4 17.1 -51.5% -3.2%

Virco 2.3 2.8 2.2 4.4 3.8 4.7 -50.3% -12.6%

SUM 218.9 228.8 160.4 352.9 328.0 345.1

DJIndust 26,470 25,827 21,053 28,645 26,820 26,600 -10.5% 1.0%

Industry Stock Prices

07.27.20 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 27 OF 32

businessvolumes,” stated Chairman, President, and CEO Jeff Lorenger. “Our teams stayed focused on our customers—generating and seizing market opportunities. The strength of our strategy, including our diverse revenue streams, price point breadth, channel reach, and lean operating model, along with the dedi-cation of our members, helped demonstrate again what makes HNI unique.”

Salary adjustments

Compensation for HNI members and Board of Directors are be-ing restored to levels existing prior to the reductions announced on April 22. “Our members responded in an outstanding man-ner to this environment, and I am pleased we are able to take this action 60-90 days earlier than we originally anticipated,” continued Mr. Lorenger.

Debt Level Update

As of June 27, 2020, the Corporation’s net debt totaled $157 million (as defined as gross debt of $183 million less cash and cash equivalents of $26 million). At the end of the quarter, HNI had $366 million of borrowing capacity under its existing $450 million credit facility. On a gross leverage basis, the quarter-ending level of 0.8x remains well below the Corporation’s debt covenant of 3.5x. “We generated strong free cash flow in the quarter and further enhanced our already strong balance sheet. We have the financial strength and cost structure to suc-cessfully weather this crisis for a prolonged period,” said Mr. Lorenger.

Second Quarter Summary Comments

Consolidated net sales decreased 20.6% from the prior-year quarter to $417.5 million. On an organic basis, sales decreased 21.2%. The impact of acquiring residential building products distributors increased sales $2.9 million compared to the prior-year quarter.

Gross profit margin decreased 50 basis points compared to the prior-year quarter. This decrease was primarily driven by lower volume, partially offset by price realization and net productivity.

Selling and administrative expenses as a percent of sales increased 60 basis points compared to prior- year quarter due to lower volume, partially offset by lower core SG&A spend and net productivity.

Non-GAAP net income per diluted share was $0.20 compared to $0.38 in the prior-year The $0.18 decrease was primarily due to lower volume, partially offset by lower core SG&A spend, net productivity, and price realization.

Non-GAAP EPS in the current quarter includes an effective tax rate of 32.5%, compared to a GAAP tax rate of 2.7%. The higher non-GAAP tax rate is related to timing of the tax impact

from one-time charges recorded in first quarter 2020.

Workplace Furnishings (dollars in millions):

3 Mos. Ended 6.27.20 6.29.19 %Ch.Net Sales $308.1 $409.5 -24.8%Op. Income $7.8 $18.7 -58.5%

6 Mos. Ended 6.27.20 6.29.19 %Ch.Net Sales $646.5 $763.0 -15.3%Op. Income -$25.4 $17.0 -

Workplace Furnishings GAAP operating profit margin de-creased 210 basis points versus the prior-year quarter, from 4.6% in 2Q19 to 2.5% in 2Q20. On a non-GAAP basis, seg-ment operating margin decreased 230 basis points year-over-year (from 4.8% to 2.5%), driven by lower volume, partially offset by net productivity, lower core SG&A spend, and price realization.

Residential Building Products (dollars in millions):

3 Mos. Ended 6.27.20 6.29.19 %Ch.Net Sales $109.4 $116.5 -6.1%Op. Income $14.4 $13.4 7.5%

6 Mos. Ended 6.27.20 6.29.19 %Ch.Net Sales $239.7 $242.5 -1.2%Op. Income $35.0 $31.0 12.9%

On an organic basis, sales decreased 8.6%. The impact of acquiring building products distributors increased sales $2.9 million compared to the prior-year. Residential Building Prod-ucts operating profit margin expanded 160 basis points, from 11.5% in 2Q19 to 13.1% in 2Q20, driven by price realization, lower variable compensation, lower core SG&A spend, and net productivity, partially offset by lower volume and unfavorable mix.

Concluding Remarks

“The HNI culture remains the foundation for our success. To-gether, our members, dealers, suppliers, and communities will continue to overcome the challenges presented by this crisis,” said Mr. Lorenger. “Pandemic-related uncertainty continues to limit visibility and our ability to provide guidance. However, we are seeing a seasonal uptick in sales and do expect third quarter sales and profit to track ahead of second quarter 2020 levels. We have demonstrated we can adapt our cost structure quickly, and our balance sheet is strong. More importantly, we have developed new and better ways to operate our businesses that will serve us well in the future.”

The full text of HNI’s 2Q20 earnings release, including all tables, along with a replay of the company’s Jul. 23 conference call webcast, including presentation slides, may be accessed at http://investors.hnicorp.com

07.27.20 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 28 OF 32

business>Knoll, Inc. released its first-quarter 2020 financial results on Apr. 27 (dollars in millions except EPS):

3 Mos Ended 6.30.20 6.30.19 %Ch.Net Sales $274.1 $367.3 -25.4%Gross Profit $95.8 $140.7 -31.9%SG&A $97.3 $106.8 -8.9%Op. Profit -$10.1 $33.9 -Net Inc. -$9.6 $21.6 -EPS (dil.) -$0.20 $0.44 -

6 Mos Ended 6.30.20 6.30.19 %Ch.Net Sales $614.1 $700.1 -12.3%Gross Profit $218.0 $264.5 -17.6%SG&A $200.5 $201.3 -0.4%Op. Profit $1.3 $63.1 -97.9%Net Inc. $1.3 $39.6 -96.7%EPS (dil.) $0.03 $0.80 -96.3%

Highlights:

-Strong work from home results and channel diversification help to mitigate workplace declines

-Implemented $50M of annualized operating expense reduc-tions

-$164 million preferred stock issuance closed on July 21, 2020, enhancing liquidity and reducing debt

Second Quarter Highlights vs. Prior Year:

-Net Sales decreased 25.4% to $274.1M

-GAAP Gross Margin decreased 340 bps to 34.9%

-Adjusted Gross Margin decreased 310 bps to 35.2%

-GAAP Net Earnings decreased $31.2M to ($9.6M) or (3.5)% of net sales

-Adjusted EBITDA decreased $22.8M to $25.6M or 9.3% of net sales

-GAAP Diluted EPS decreased $0.64 to ($0.20)

-Adjusted Diluted EPS decreased $0.29 to $0.19

For this earnings release, Knoll provided a detailed letter signed by Chairman and CEO Andrew B. Cogan and Senior Vice President and CFO Charles W. Rayfield. Here is the letter in its entirety:

To Our Fellow Shareholders:

The second quarter of 2020 was unlike any quarter we have ever experienced. It was a true test of our people, culture, agility and strategy. In that context, we are pleased to report solidly profitable adjusted second quarter results as well as the progress we have made responding to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on our communities, our people and our clients.

Our Covid Game Plan

From the start of the pandemic, our focus was four-fold.

First, keep our people around the world as safe as possible while maintaining as much of our operational capabilities as government mandates and safe working practices would allow.

Second, protect our financial position, maximizing liquidity and scaling the business to ensure we remained profitable and cash flow positive.

Third, lean into the marketplace challenges in front of us with the thought leadership and product support to help our work-place clients retrofit and reimagine their offices for return to work and work from home.

And fourth, leverage our brand reputation, broad product offering, multichannel platform and marketing capabilities in the residential space – in short, taking advantage of the pivot to work from home and the increased focus on residential life resulting from our working, schooling and exercising where we live.

We believe that those businesses with a brand reputation like Knoll, founded on the belief that good design transcends rigid boundaries of where we live and work – backed up by a broad and growing range of products and price points, with multiple physical and digital paths to market and lean agile cost struc-tures – will be the ultimate victors during this unique time.

It is also an interesting moment where more fluid and afford-able contemporary live-work brands like Muuto and Fully can thrive. For the past three years, as we rode the wave of resimer-cialization of the workplace in North America, we focused, with great success, on driving Muuto through our contract dealer channel. Earlier this month, we expanded Muuto’s reach through our own direct-to-consumer e-commerce channel at knoll.com, pairing the brand’s crossover designs with an expanded range of Knoll products for the home office as well as living and dining spaces with free shipping in 1-3 days. Both Fully’s position and the Knoll + Muuto initiative also enable us to take these brands’ direct-to-consumer ergonomic offerings to our corporate clients, providing their employees with online access to the right furniture for working from home. However the future plays out, we think we are uniquely positioned to succeed with our range of brands and price points.

Keeping Our People Safe While Maintaining Our Operational Capabilities

Today, across our manufacturing and distribution operations, we are 100% operational. What started with supply chain chal-lenges in China eventually became plant shutdowns in Italy and then disruptions in North America. While our principal North

07.27.20 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 29 OF 32

businessAmerican plants remained open, our HOLLY HUNT opera-tions in Texas and Illinois were the most affected this quarter, as was DatesWeiser in Buffalo. Today, all of these facilities are back online, and we are working through a decent backlog in these businesses. Perhaps most impressive was our opera-tions team’s terrific work in completing the closure and sale of our Grand Rapids, MI facility while moving the operations to our plants in Muskegon, MI and East Greenville, PA during the pandemic. By implementing safe working practices, including masks, social distancing and temperature checks, we have been able, with a few exceptions, to keep our manufacturing associates safe and well.

Our showrooms globally were also mostly closed during the second quarter. Our sales teams made extensive use of web conferencing, supporting clients, the design community and dealers with virtual rendering tools and material samples from our warehouses. Today, most of our principal showrooms and our Knoll Home Design shop in New York are back open, in many cases by appointment only. Our sales teams are also in the process of transitioning back to our offices where allowed by government mandates. The good news is that we can now accommodate client visits around the world, and we have seen a nice improvement in orders activity and mock-ups consistent with these reopenings.

Maximizing Liquidity and Scaling Knoll to Ensure We Remain Profitable and Cash Flow Positive

We took immediate action at the start of the pandemic to maxi-mize our liquidity and protect our free cash flow. These steps included aggressive use of furloughs where we were unable to operate, salary freezes, suspension of 401k contributions and ultimately the elimination of approximately 400 positions across Knoll. Together with reductions in T&E and other programmatic spending, we reduced our run rate costs by approximately $50 million. Additionally, to maximize liquidity, we reduced our dividend by 76%, lowered planned CAPEX by approximately $20 million, worked with our landlords to defer rent payments and offered our dealers enhanced credit terms to maximize receivables. We also took advantage of CARES Act provisions, including payroll tax deferrals and the Employee Retention Credit, and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidies.

While we were confident that these actions would have a mean-ingfully positive impact on our financial position, on June 23, 2020 we also announced an agreement to issue $164.0 million of convertible preferred stock to a subsidiary of Investindustrial VII L.P. This preferred stock carries a 4.5% dividend and an initial conversion price of $16.75, a 45% premium to our then thirty-trading day volume-weighted average price. With this additional capital, we have over $350.0 million in liquidity and our leverage ratio on a pro forma basis, utilizing the proceeds

of this investment to reduce debt, would have been approxi-mately 1.94:1 at the end of the second quarter, well below our 4.0:1 covenant that runs through the August 2024 expiration of our credit facility. This transaction closed on July 21, 2020, positioning us with a fortress balance sheet such that we are confident that we will continue to have the resources to execute our strategic plan in the face of an uncertain macroeconomic environment.

Helping Our Clients Retrofit and Reimagine Their Offices for Return to Work and WFH

We believe that the death-of-the-office story has been told many times over the years, and yet the workplace has always and always will play a pivotal role in how businesses organize their activities. Post 9/11 we were told that no one would work in skyscrapers again. Over the past few years, the common wisdom has been that we would operate out of co-working spaces – and today, we hear that we are going to be working from home forever.

Simply put, there is no alternative that can replace the mix of culture, connectivity, creativity and community that the office enables. We think Lucy Kellaway’s recent commentary in the Financial Times captures the importance of the office perfectly. She writes: “The most important thing – which should make the office less an employer’s white elephant than its biggest bargain – is that it gives work its meaning…meaning comes largely from physical proximity to your colleagues.” Without an office, she continues, “it is hard to know how a company could ever create any sort of culture or any fellow feeling – let alone loyalty.”

And we all know now from personal experience the limits of working from home, including the social isolation, breakdown of any work/life boundaries, physical discomfort and the exac-erbation of social inequality. It’s no wonder many of the surveys we have seen show the vast majority of office workers crave a return to the workplace.

The workplace in a Covid-19 environment will no doubt be dif-ferent, but it will still be there. Over the past three months our workplace sales, marketing, design and product development teams have quickly pivoted to engage with and support our clients, dealers and the architecture and design community, virtually leveraging investments we have made in digital visual-ization technologies and rapid product development.

First, we have helped clients pivot to work from home solutions for their employees by offering special access to Fully’s height adjustable tables, ergonomic chairs and accessories.

Second, we have engaged with clients to retrofit their work-places with screens and other products to support safe return to work tools and layouts.

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businessAnd we have offered thought leadership through innovative multi-day virtual events like our online Knoll Design Days that connected with over 17,000 unique visitors, well in excess of the number of folks who visit our Chicago Fulton Market space around our annual industry trade show.

Finally, we are helping clients reimagine what the workplace of tomorrow will look like, integrating workplace strategies ranging from work from home to satellite offices and co-working spaces to headquarters. This includes utilizing a mix of physical fur-nishings like our Rockwell Unscripted soft architecture, which creates open ceiling and socially distant and healthy meeting spaces in combination with digital tools for remote workers, creating what we are calling the “phygital” workplace. The one thing we do know is that change has always created demand for our products in the long-term, and we see this time as being no different – with the opportunity to furnish more typologies of spaces than ever before.

Leveraging Our Brands and Omnichannel Capabilities to Sup-port Work from Home and Investments in Domestic Spaces

For the past few years, the home has increasingly influenced workplace design. Now the workplace is influencing the home as our bodies suffer from the lack of ergonomic furnishings we have grown accustomed to in our offices. Like never before, these previously disparate realms are coming closer together. Our history and brands bridge and inform both worlds in a way that is singularly unparalleled. A case in point is the explosive growth we have seen in our e-commerce business led by last year’s acquisition of Fully. In the second quarter, Fully saw a more than 200% jump in traffic to its Fully.com web site and a 148% increase in e-commerce orders as consumers moved quickly to set up ergonomic home offices with height adjustable desks and chairs. Encouragingly, traffic and dollar growth has remained strong through the quarter and we see real legs here as work from home increasingly is part of the workplace mix.

As we noted, on July 6 we launched a dramatic enhancement to our own Knoll.com website, complementing our brick and mortar showrooms and New York and LA shops with free 1-3 day delivery of a broad range of height adjustable desks, ergo-nomic chairs and accessories plus the North American online premier of Muuto, making this brand now directly accessible in 1-3 days. Combined with in-stock KnollStudio offerings, we can help consumers with their home offices at good, better and best price points and also furnish living, dining and outdoor parts of the home as well.

Furthermore, we are also well positioned with residential fur-nishings moving up consumers’ discretionary ladder with HOL-LY HUNT and KnollStudio. In fact, today with work from home

e-commerce representing approximately 10% of our sales and our high design residential brands representing another 15%, we are as diversified as we have ever been.

Financial Results

The benefits of all these initiatives are clearly visible in our second quarter financial results where our revenue declined less than the industry and we remained solidly profitable on an adjusted basis. On the top line, sales of $274.1 million were down 25% versus the prior year as early quarter weakness, driven by the shutdown in Italy and at HOLLY HUNT were par-tially mitigated by the explosive growth in our Fully e-commerce work from home division and our own Knoll.com sales platform. Office segment sales declined by 19%, or 29% organically, bolstered by the inclusion of the full quarter of Fully’s work from home e-commerce sales. Lifestyle sales declined 35% as near total shutdowns in Europe and at HOLLY HUNT impacted our ability to manufacture and deliver product. From an end market standpoint, Residential sales, which represented ap-proximately 25% of this quarter’s sales, including Fully, were a highlight only declining 3% compared to a 30% decline in Workplace activity.

As anticipated, we experienced negative deleveraging of 47% on the gross margin line, as we were impacted by absolute closures in some locations, and 24% on the adjusted EBITDA line as stringent operating expense controls kept us in the range of our 20-30% deleveraging expectations. This helped us keep adjusted EBITDA margins just under 10%, and lever-age at 2.93:1 compared to our 4.0:1 covenant. Adjusted EPS of $0.19 was solid given the magnitude of the disruption we experienced due to Covid-19.

After brutal incoming orders declines in April and May, we saw a nice sequential and across the board improvement in June in terms of both a reduction in the rate of decline and an improvement in absolute orders dollars. This also validated trends we saw develop in the quarter where the contract office business has understandably been the weakest performer with orders declining at a rate of 30% plus. Our residential business has steadily improved as stay in place orders were lifted and individuals focused on improving their home environments, declining in the mid-single to low teens, and then e-commerce performing the best as work from home online demand has popped, growing 130%.

We expect these trends to remain in place for the balance of the year. Looking ahead, this suggests a back half sales decline of approximately 20% over prior year for Knoll, Inc., thanks to our strong residential and work from home mix and channel diversification, continuing to outperform contract furniture data.

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technologyCommitment to Diversity

Let us close by commenting on our commitment to diversity and inclusion and creating opportunities for associates of color at Knoll, building on our leadership in LGBTQ equality. Modernism in design was born as a means toward social good, and Knoll was founded on the principal that modern design could make a difference in improving the quality of the way we live and work. By extension, good design is agnostic about the color of one’s skin, responding to the universal desire for utility, joy and beauty. With so many suffering, we are taking this mo-ment at Knoll to recommit ourselves to leveraging the power of design to build a fairer world and a Knoll that is more reflective of the communities where we live and work. We look forward to working with our Knoll Diversity and Inclusion Council to make meaningful progress here in the months ahead.

In Closing

Across our constellation, Knoll associates are demonstrat-ing their commitment to teamwork and client service, many in ingenious and new ways. We deeply appreciate how hard everyone at Knoll is working and want to thank them for all they are doing. Be safe and thank you for your continued ownership and interest in Knoll.

Andrew B. Cogan

Chairman and CEO

Charles W. Rayfield

Senior Vice President and CFO

Business Segment Results (dollars in millions)

3 Mos Ended 6.30.20 6.30.19 %Ch.Office Net Sales $180.3 $223.2 -19.2% Op. Profit $0.8 $14.3 -94.4%Lifestyle Net Sales $93.8 $144.1 -34.9% Op. Profit $9.1 $25.6 -64.5%

(The Office segment includes a complete range of workplace products that address diverse workplace planning paradigms in North America and Europe. These products include: systems furniture, seating, storage, tables, desks, and accessories as well as the international sales of Knoll’s Office products. The Office segment includes DatesWeiser, known for its sophisticat-ed meeting and conference tables and credenzas; and Fully, an ecommerce furniture brand selling height-adjustable desks, ergonomic chairs, and accessories principally for individual home offices and small businesses. The Lifestyle segment includes KnollStudio®, HOLLY HUNT®, Muuto, KnollTextiles®,

Spinneybeck® (including Filzfelt®), and Edelman® Leather. KnollStudio products, which are distributed in North America and Europe, include iconic seating, lounge furniture, side, café, and dining chairs as well as conference, training, and din-ing, and occasional tables. HOLLY HUNT® is known for high quality residential furniture, lighting, rugs, textiles, and leathers. The KnollTextiles®, Spinneybeck® (including Filzfelt®), and Edelman® Leather businesses provide a wide range of custom-ers with high-quality fabrics, felt, leather, and related archi-tectural products. Muuto® rounds out the Lifestyle segment with its ancillary products and affordable luxury furnishings to make the Lifestyle segment an all-encompassing “resimercial”, high-performance workplace, from uber-luxury living spaces to affordable luxury residential living.)

The full text of Knoll’s 2Q20 earnings release, including all tables, and a webcast replay of its Jul. 23 conference call and 2Q20 Investor Presentation are available at the Knoll Investor Relations web page. https://knoll.gcs-web.com/

TECHNOLOGY>Configura’s July CET Designer User of the Month is Ashley Wire. As an architectural designer for Intereum Inc., a Herman Miller certified dealership in Plymouth, MN, Ms. Wire designs and specifies Maars Living Walls. “I love envisioning the way a space could look and bringing that vision to life,” she said. “It takes a specific skill set to be a designer and what I find most rewarding is stepping foot into a space created from a vision.”

Ms. Wire’s passion for design began as a child when she was always drawing floor plans and elevations of residential homes.

CET Designer User of the Month Ashley Wire

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technologyShe continued to pursue that passion throughout her educa-tion and when it came time to apply for college, she knew she wanted to become an architect who designed buildings and spaces for people.

She earned her bachelor’s in architecture with a second major in environmental studies from Iowa State University. After graduating college, she landed a job with an architecture firm in downtown Minneapolis and worked there for three years where she learned about a variety of building types. At the end of her time in the architecture and design world, she knew she wanted to be an architect focusing on a specific product at a smaller scale. That’s when she found Intereum Inc. and began working with CET Designer.

“I had this vision that I wanted to impact people in their day-to-day lives with my talents as a designer and here I am today doing what I love,” she said. “While I am no longer drawing buildings at a macro scale, I have been successfully designing spaces at a micro scale with Maars Living Walls.”

Ms. Wire has been a CET Designer user for three years. She has become efficient in creating renderings for proposals and says Photo Lab is her best friend because it creates beautiful images quickly. When it comes to creating deliverables before

winning a project, she uses CET Designer to draw, specify and render Maars product. After winning the project, she uses the software for product ordering.

“Coming from the architecture and design world, I was working in Revit and AutoCAD every day, so I was a little nervous to switch to a new program since it was outside of my comfort zone,” she said. “I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I picked up CET Designer and I am still discovering new things in the software today. The biggest challenge of transitioning to CET Designer was learning new keyboard shortcuts.”

What she enjoys about using CET Designer is she can chal-lenge herself to try new things within the software. She says there are parts she hasn’t explored yet and enjoys being able to stretch her comfort zone within the software. Next on her list is to explore fly-through video capabilities in CET Designer to help her clients working from home visualize projects.

“Fly-throughs could be very powerful to help them visualize a space without being there physically,” she said. “I believe CET designer has the capabilities to support the virtual presenta-tion world because of all the different features we as designers have access to within the software, making it feel like anything is possible in this program. CET Designer is a one-stop shop for design and helps produce successful projects.”

Her best CET Designer trick is using the thin wall tool to quickly make film appear on Maars glass walls for renderings. She does this by drawing a thin wall in front of the glass wall, sets it to the desired height, applies a material and/or color and turns down the opacity. She says it works like a charm every time for her renderings.

“My favorite thing about CET Designer is how it keeps devel-oping and how quickly one can develop a design,” she said. “Whether it’s presentation drawings, a 3D visual or a file simply for pricing, CET Designer keeps getting better and better with new features and tools that continue to be released.”

When she isn’t designing spaces, you find Ms. Wire spending time with her three children. Her family enjoys spending time outside and the seasons of Minnesota. During the spring you can find her and her family in their garden, in the summer boating on nearby lakes, in the fall hiking along the north shore of Lake Superior and in the winter, sledding and playing in the snow. Read More

CET Designer rendering by Ashley Wire

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