Once nicknamed the Gopher Hole
because it was so dingy, the student lounge on the University of Minnesota’s St.
Paul campus reopened as the Gopher Spot last fall after a redesign of its
interior. Party bookings increased by 84 percent, revenues from the bowling
alley jumped 32 percent, and convenience store sales rose 50 percent. What’s
more, the designers of the space won a 2007 Interior award in the Sports and
Entertainment category from Contract magazine.
The designers of the new
space were the three founders and principals of Studio Hive, a Minneapolis interior design and architecture firm.
Studio Hive principals Shawn Gaither (an architect), Shari Bjork (an interior
designer), and Janice Linster (ditto) left the Minneapolis-based architecture
firm Ellerbe Becket three years ago to start their own firm. “Our focus is
primarily interior architecture, and not a lot of firms focus on that,” Linster
says.
To be sure, the relationship between space design and ROI isn’t always as quantifiable as it is at the Gopher Spot. But design can also influence employee retention and productivity, Studio Hive principals assert. “A lot of it has to do with overall employee satisfaction in the space,” Bjork says. “You’ve given [employees] better tools to be able to do their jobs.” Good design, she suggests, is about more than pretty colors. It also involves better ergonomics, more efficient flow between departments, and better air flow to combat respiratory illnesses and allergies.
For the past three years, Studio Hive’s revenues have doubled each year and the company now has nine full-time employees. The firm’s list of clients includes the Minnesota Twins, commercial real estate developers Opus and United Properties, and Lawson Software. Studio Hive’s 2006 design of new office space for graphics and branding firm Little & Company in downtown Minneapolis won an International Interior Design Award in the small-firm category.
“We are designing for multigenerations working in the same facility,” Gaither says. “Work styles are different. For an older generation, the goal was getting a corner office.”
Millennials, by contrast, “have higher expectations regarding types of spaces and amenities that are provided within a building,” Bjork says. These amenities include not only an attractive space, but also technology tools and other conveniences that increase “their ability to perform efficiently.”
All told, Gaither asserts, “Whether a business owner’s goals include increasing revenues, attracting or retaining employees, or improving the overall work process for an entire organization, great design is good for business.”
