About Place

As more business leaders recognize design as a core business strategy, the designers they work with have become strategic collaborators and deep experts in every facet of their organization. In this episode, Cheryl Durst, Executive VP and CEO of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), unpacks today’s multi-faceted notion of the term “designer,” and how these place makers can help organizations unlock the value of their workplace.    Guest: iida.org/board-member/cheryl-s-durst-hon-fiida   Host: news.millerknoll.com/Ryan-Anderson   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast    Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

The workplace is more than a destination for work to get done. It’s an experience that should evoke the natural comfort that enables people to work their best and have meaningful experiences. Our guests at Design Days share their thoughts on this changing template for office design.   Guests: Laura Beth Mertz: pdrcorp.com/about-us/our-team/designarchitecture-team/laura-beth-mertz Brady Mick: linkedin.com/in/brady-mick Rex Miller: rexmiller.com Derrell Jackson: linkedin.com/in/derrell-jackson Keiji Takeuchi: keijitakeuchi.com/   Host: https://news.millerknoll.com/Ryan-Anderson   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast    Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

At MillerKnoll, VP of Interiors Chris Leong designs spaces that put our research and insights on the workplace into practice. Listen in as he joins us from the new MillerKnoll workplace to discuss its design, differentiators for the well-planned workplace, and why architecture should be a little... strange.   Guest: news.millerknoll.com/Chris-Leong   Host: https://news.millerknoll.com/Ryan-Anderson   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast    Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

For more than three decades, Colebrook Bosson Saunders has been creating award-winning ergonomic tools that seamlessly connect people and technology at the office and beyond. In this episode, ergonomics and workplace design expert Steven Souter dives in to the three facets of ergonomics and the invaluable role that each plays in the places we work.    Guest: linkedin.com/in/stevensouter/colebrookbossonsaunders.com   Host:   linkedin.com/in/ryaningr/    For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast    Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/  

We kick things off with archivist Amy Auscherman in a conversation about the evolution of modernism and the ways it has shaped how we live and work. Hear little-known stories from early Herman Miller collaborators and about the indicators that Amy’s watching to gauge the future of workplace design.   Guest: instagram.com/acid_free/ millerknoll.com/about/archives   Host: linkedin.com/in/ryaningr/    For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast    Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

Sociologists sounded the alarm on technology’s more negative effects on people and places many decades ago. In season 4’s final episode, we revisit the past to chart a new way forward for the workplace. Listen in to discover how space planning can rebalance our relationship with technology and prioritize human interactions to create workplaces where people want to be.     Host: linkedin.com/in/ryaningr/   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast   Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

Innovation at work happens when we feel safe to fail, but how can we feel safer with our teammates in an era of distributed work? In this episode, sociological researcher Caitlin Begg and Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmonson deepen our understanding of psychological safety and discuss how spending more time together as teams can enable smarter risks and unlock innovation.   Guests: authsocial.com instagram.com/caityb/ hbs.edu instagram.com/amycedmondson/   Host: linkedin.com/in/ryaningr/   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast   Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

This season, we've tapped into the ways organizations are innovating to support new ways of working and people coming back to the office. For this episode, we turn to Sara Klinges, Head of Real Estate and Workplace Effectiveness at Genentech, to find out how social, technological, and place-based strategies can fuel workplace effectiveness long term. Listen in as we discuss the perks of team-based agreements, ways to catalyze workplace effectiveness, and more.   Guest: Gene.com   Host: linkedin.com/in/ryaningr/   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast   Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/  

Enticing Office, a workplace study authored by environmental psychologist Nigel Oseland in collaboration with MillerKnoll, revealed key factors that attract people to the office, even when they have the option to work from home. Now Nigel joins us for an episode that dives into the topic of making workplaces desirable. Learn insight-driven and sometimes surprising ways designers and organizations can make the office a place where people want to be.   Guest: https://workplaceunlimited.com   Host: linkedin.com/in/ryaningr/   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast   Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/  

As a field that studies the effects of aesthetics on how people think and feel, neuroaesthetics can be a valuable tool for designing workplaces that make everyone feel comfortable and enabled to do their best. In this episode, Joseph White, Director of Design Strategy at MillerKnoll, and Suchi Reddy, Architect and Founder of Reddymade Architecture and Design, cover what you need to know about this emerging field and its impact on the future of workplace design.   Guests: https://reddymade.designinstagram.com/cbredesigncollective/ https://news.millerknoll.com/Joseph-White   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast   Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

The demands of design for healthcare environments can teach us multitudes about creating healthier, more efficient workplaces. For this episode, we’re joined by Michelle Ossmann, PhD, MSN, Director of Research at MillerKnoll, in a conversation on the innovations advancing design for healthcare environments and how to apply them in your next facility project.   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast   Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

CBRE’s Workplace360 concept produces vibrant offices for the commercial real estate firm’s global workforce. Listen in as Peter Van Emburgh, Senior VP and Global Head of Real Estate and Karen McCallum, Managing Director of CBRE Design Collective, share the strategy behind Workplace360, how they keep the concept fresh across a global portfolio, and what organizations can learn from their progress.   Guests: CBRE.com instagram.com/cbredesigncollective/   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast   Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/      

A new mixed-use retail and office space in Bentonville, Arkansas is redefining work and play in the mountain biking capital of the world. Apart from a six-story indoor bike path and art installation, Ledger includes places to shop, gather, work, and move — refreshing notions of what an office building can be. Listen in as architects Christian Callaghan and Haruka Horiuchi dive into a discussion on Ledger’s design and take a deeper look in our article on the Ledger project.   Guests: callaghanhoriuchi.com   For more on Ledger, visit: millerknoll.com/articles/project-profile-ledger   Connect with MillerKnoll:   Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/   LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

Workplace strategy experts Domino Risch and Kirsten Brown share how companies in Australia are layering workplace hospitality, new technologies, and a “give-it-a-go" attitude to guide workplace innovation and catapult the market into one of the most progressive in the world. And as flexible space outpaces commercial real estate as the new office go-to, they discuss what it takes to integrate authenticity in workplace design.   For more About Place, visit: millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast   Connect with MillerKnoll: Instagram: instagram.com/millerknoll/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/millerknoll/

Designing the perfect operational model gets easier when organizations prioritize their stakeholders in the process. In this episode, Assal Yavari, VP of Global Real Estate and Safety at Workday, shares how rigorous feedback systems help prioritize employees—and drive successful return-to-office rates. We also learn how the team uses “centers of excellence” to nurture talent.

What does workplace planning look like at a global company in the business of play? Timothy Ahrensbach is LEGO Group’s Global Director of Workplace Innovation. Listen in as he shares intuitive models for planning workplaces that are inclusive, productive, and of course, a bit playful. Plus, learn about the developments powering the LEGO Office 2.3 concept.

In this season of MillerKnoll’s podcast, we’re deepening our focus on the impact of the workplace on organizational outcomes—and our lives. What new ideas or practices are making the places where we work and live better around the world? How can we all apply them? We get into it in this season of About Place. Start listening.   millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast  

Two experts from MillerKnoll’s Global Research and Insights team recap last episode’s conversation on the Harkin Institute’s inclusive design, before revealing new insights from our Global Workplace Assessment and examining the current state of work location policies. Next season, we’re reshaping the podcast to examine the future of work, plus our clients’ most pressing near-term needs for supporting new ways of working. 

The road to inclusivity stops for many buildings at ADA compliance, but two architects for The Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement at Drake University are charting a different path. Listen in as they discuss replicable design principles of the institute, which combines sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity for people with an array of disabilities.  

Thirty years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), there’s one research institute still pushing for more inclusive spaces for all. The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement at Drake University was created to deliver lasting support for social justice issues such as disability advocacy. Listen in as its founders, Ruth Harkin and former U.S. senator Tom Harkin—who authored the 1990 ADA—revisit the fascinating makings of the ADA and share about the institute continuing its legacy.