It’s hard to imagine two things more opposed than architecture and yoga. The goal of the former is to construct buildings that are sturdy and couldn’t move an inch if you wanted them to. The latter is about movement and flexibility as a way of improving the body’s mobility. So it’s a rather odd experience to walk in to the basement of Manasc Issac Architects in Edmonton, to see people practicing their down dog and warrior positions. Every Tuesday and Thursday a yoga instructor comes to the office for an hour long session for anyone who wants to attend.

It’s one of the cool perks employees of the Edmonton architecture company have in their office. The yoga studio isn’t the only room that seems out of place in their office. To get to the studio employees have to pass through the jam room, where charcoal grey drum kit sits on top of carpet samples, and guitars hang on the wall. Any employee is allowed to play the instruments, and every so often a few of them will get together for a collaborative jam.

Aside from the yoga studio, the office has other ways of promoting the health of its employees. They provide a $30 reimbursement on employee gym memberships. On top of that, there is indoor storage where bicycle riders can store their wheels. There is a pretty nice shower setup for employees who bike or jog to work too.

The folks at Manasc Issac pride themselves on the efficiency of their designs and their care for the environment. Plaques and awards for efficiency hang on the brightly colored wall in reception area alongside scale building designs of upcoming projects. A smart car is parked outside for employees to travel to job sites. Efficiency initiatives aren’t just for other buildings though; the office boasts some of its own efficient solutions to problems as well.

For those whose desks are near the back of the building, the bright midday sun was an annoyance, but not anymore. The industrious people at Manasc Issac came up with a nifty solution: they set up sunshades above the windows which line the back of building. It doesn’t sound like anything special until you see that the sunshades are made out of solar panels, which now supply some of the building’s power and occasionally kick excess power into the electric grid. When a worker at Manasc Isaac uses the microwave to heat up their lunch, if the sun is up those electrons came from the solar panel sunshades.

Donating blood can be a bit intimidating. A typical mobile donor clinic could be an unused office space, packed to the brim with medical staff, blood donors on chairs, veins open with little blood filled bags rocking back and forth as the hiss of pumps keep up a low but constant decibel level.

With a constant stream of story about the miracles of medical science it’s easy to forget about the importance of donating blood. It literally saves peoples lives. It’s also a fundamentally altruistic act; you’ll never meet the person who receives your blood but you can be sure they’re grateful that you donated.

So how does this relate to cool and interesting office spaces? Canadian Blood Services just recently unveiled a renovated, expanded permanent clinic in Red, Deer Alberta.

“Overall, it has a more modern, fresher design. There is lots of natural light coming into the clinic. It’s still a clinic space but we’ve done a lot to make it more welcoming and friendly. The old clinic, when you came into it, you could stand at the front door and see absolutely everything,” says Candace Korchinsky, a spokesperson for Canadian Blood Services.

It’s also been intentionally designed to move donors through the space with a maximum of comfort and privacy. It achieves this with more individual stations and seating as well as private rooms.

“It’s not going to look as clinical as it did before,” says Korchinsky. ““No one loves getting a needles but if you’re getting one you may as well have a nice environment to look at.”

Space was a big constraint in the old clinic with donors and staff crammed cheek by jowl. The renovated and upgraded clinic jumps from 2220 square feet to 3862 square feet. Staff now have their own meeting room, a larger break room and more storage space.

With an extra screening room they will be able to process more donors. The renovations cost $420,000. Construction started in August 2010 and the new space launced Jan. 17 2011.

With better visibility and improved signage they also hope to attract more walk-ins.

While all of these improvements should help the clinic get more donations it’s up to you to take the 30 to 60 minutes out of your day to donate. It’s easy and simple and it could save someone’s life. Give blood today.

Subtle signs of the once bustling days of commerce remain at the corner of 99th Street and Jasper Avenue in downtown Edmonton, even though the longtime bank building is now occupied by new businesses, including a restaurant.

From the metal spandrels marked with the logo of the Imperial Bank of Canada on the building’s exterior, to two bank vaults that have been repurposed as private dining rooms, Ruth’s Chris Steak House has embraced the storied history of the building it now calls home.

“We get a lot of ‘wows,’” says Brian Welsh of customers’ reactions to dining in the former bank vaults located in the restaurant’s basement level. When Welsh, general manager of the Edmonton franchise of Ruth’s Chris Steak House, first saw the vaults before the restaurant opened in October 2006, his feelings of claustrophobia outshone any envisioned potential for the space. By tearing out the ceilings to add height to the rooms – not an easy task considering the 24 inches of concrete with rebar reinforcement every three inches – the vaults were repurposed for use as two separate private dining spaces.

Original details from the class 10 vaults remain (a designation due to the fact that they were safe enough for gold bullion), including a six-tonne bolted door, complete with self-closing mechanism, time locks and an escape hatch.

While the vaults provide a unique dining experience for customers, the overall feel of Ruth’s 10,750-square-foot space is one of authenticity. “This was the epitome of what a steakhouse meant,” says Welsh, seated in the main floor’s lounge and gesturing around a space characterized by alabaster shades and wood and leather furniture in deep, rich colours. Welsh describes the restaurant, designed by Rob Dingman, as one with a very luxurious feel. The spot above a massive fireplace hosts a large black and white portrait of restaurant founder Ruth Fertel, while high ceilings and an expansive staircase are part of the upscale decor designed to put a person in a relaxed state.

That sense of grandeur is mirrored in the building, which housed the former Imperial Bank of Canada. Construction on the building as it stands today began in 1951, but the bank’s presence on the location goes back to 1893, when it was the first bank to open a branch in Edmonton. The building, listed on the Register of Historic Resources in Edmonton, illustrates a modern classicism architectural style, with details like black granite trim finished with Indiana limestone creating a powerful presence on Jasper Avenue. The location, which now houses the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce as well as Ruth’s, served as a Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) branch until 2000.

Welsh and the rest of the management team maintain a fine balancing act inside the building, operating a place that is a refuge from the office for dinners and also an office for restaurant employees. Employees have to understand there is a job that has to be done and done properly every time, says Welsh, noting there’s no second chances in the restaurant industry.

The dining areas, including the main dining room with capacity for 70 people, 40-person lounge and five private dining spaces spread out over two levels, are where service staff work. A kitchen and communal office with four workstations round out the space. “It’s a very busy place,” says Welsh of the office, used mainly by managers. “It can be annoying at times because you have to listen to other people’s conversations. But it also helps you stay in tune with what’s going on.”

Despite his stiff suit and the grandeur of his surroundings, Welsh maintain an easy, relaxed confidence as he tours the restaurant. “This is a very comfortable place for me,” he says. “I love every wall, I love every seat, I love everything about it. I saw it being built from the ground up. It’s not just a workplace for me, it’s my second home.”

“In fact,” he adds as an afterthought, “I probably spend more time here than I do at home.”

At the heart of Calgary’s burgeoning “cultural district” lies Art Central: a visual arts complex with the express purpose of providing creative types a unique workspace. As a sort of incubator for the arts, the building is home to artist studios, galleries, the Calgary Arts Development offices, an architecture and design firm, and even a bistro and a coffee shop.

The building itself sits two stories above ground with extensive basement levels accessible from within. While the café and bistro inhabit the main level, galleries and artist studios are interspersed throughout the building.  One particularly innovative section, dubbed the Art Loop Gallery, is a conglomeration of 19 artist studios that also double as mini galleries. This set up not only provides an interesting experience for potential customers, it also fosters creative intermingling with the various tenants. Axis Gallery owner Rob Mabee says that “because most galleries and artist are selling different products, I see more cooperation rather than competition.”

Nothing jubilant about the building’s previous incarnation, the Jubilee Building

Swirl: Fine Art & Design owner Tracy Proctor comments that the design of the building artistically “leads to greater things” between tenants. Proctor’s gallery has been open since 2006 and has seen how the building has evolved and grown. She says that the building has a powerful concept and a fantastic location despite minor misgivings about the management.  A few residents want Encorp to increase their contributions to group advertising but Mabee disagrees. He says that “I don’t want Encorp to presume to market for my business, at the end of the day, each artist has to promote their product individually.” Another perfectly suited resident is the Calgary Arts Development: a foundation that is responsible for assigning government grant money and promoting the arts. Few other workplaces can claim such convenient in house link to government support.

The buildings developer and management, Encorp inc., has done a lot with what was once the grotty and suspect Jubilee building. In 2004, the pawnshops and convenience stores that made up the previous tenants were replaced with redesigned and sophisticated spaces, unified by a large common area. The building has really taken the idea of centrality to heart as a massive skylight features prominently in the centre. Ignoring the sky’s the limit”metaphors that spring to mind, the design unifies the building’s various levels around a striking shaft of light. “Restoring historic buildings and sustaining timeless spaces is Encorp’s mantra,” says their marketing director Kait Kucy.  Given the state of the block previously, it’s safe to say they succeeded.

“First Thursday,” Calgary’s monthly arts & culture festival has been a real boon to Art Central during the recent recession. Proctor noted that in the last two years “First Thursdays have brought in a high percentage of my clientele.” While complimentary drinks have been cut back after disagreements with the Alberta Liquor Board, Proctor’s best clients “come for the art, not the refreshments.” Kucy comments that “We [Encorp] always tries to encourage our tenants’ to do some community outreach.” This outreach has taken the form of free workshops, live music, and family oriented events which have all drawn customers into visiting the downtown location. “They are great evenings for exposure” says Rabee, but he also comments that “I’ve done ok because I’ve adapted to the new conditions” rather than rely on events alone. Contests have also been a successful way of generating buzz, and with prizes such as a building wide shopping spree it’s no wonder.  Collaboration with the local entertainment newspaper, Swerve, has brought recognition to the building as the paper is distributed with the widely read Calgary Herald. At a time where people are wary of purchasing non-essentials, the extra effort has allowed many galleries and artists to stay afloat.

Office space at the Alberta Conservation Association can be a sight reminiscent of mankind’s earlier roles as hunter/gatherers.

Wildlife biologist Shevenell Webb’s office is filled with natural artifacts she found during her field work in Alberta’s wild lands. There’s a bighorn sheep skull next to her computer monitor and full grouse tail feathers decorating her whiteboard.

“It’s a conversation piece,” she says, noting that other biologists like her find items on trails. Surrounding Webb’s desk, pine marten, badger and eastern coyote pelts hang from the walls which she says inspires curiosity in the people who visit her indoor workstation.

The ACA is a not-for-profit with eight offices across the province from St. Paul to Lethbridge to Cochrane. Webb’s indoor office is in Sherwood Park. The associaiton’s long-term research projects are funded in large part by levies put on hunting and fishing licenses which allow the ACA to publish studies on the health of wildlife populations.

For every wildlife biologist, Webb says, there’s a necessary division of time between the data entry of the chair and desk and the research work in the province’s mountains, forests and rivers. She laughs as she says that she’d rather be outside, “We obviously get into this work we like being outdoors.”

You’ll find her other office – her outdoor office – shelved neatly in the console of a truck, a helicopter or a small six-wing Cessna airplane. Webb might also work out of a tent trailer for longer stints in the field. These highly mobile outdoor offices for wildlife biologists require clipboards, filing folders, compasses and binoculars. Everything, she says, needs to be wrapped with brightly coloured flagging tape: “We’ve all lost pretty much everything in the field that you can lose.”

With a laugh, she adds bear spray to the list. She has seen every type of animal in her work, including the very shy ones like wolverines and the Canada lynx. During a bird survey a few years ago, she came within 30 feet of a black bear which, she says, was a bit too comfortable spending time near her group.

ACA biologists like Webb mix their time between the indoor and outdoor office through every season. Webb conducts bird surveys in the early morning hours of the spring and works on interpretive trails and vegetation surveys through the summer. During winter, her office goes aerial as she climbs aboard helicopters and small planes to count ungulate populations – definitely one of the cooler parts of her job.

Data entry and analysis, however, is done behind a computer screen at a conventional desk. It’s the other half of her job, which means coming down from the mountain top and doing the hard science on Alberta’s wildlife populations.

Offices like Webb’s show what happens when an outdoorsy worker is cooped-up inside. The shelves are filled with books on wildlife and photos taken in breath-taking mountain ranges. Much of the typical office grey is replaced with green as the artifacts and their stories get carried in from outside.

Webb, who will be going on maternity leave in September, will return to ACA to work both indoors and outdoors. “That’s ultimately my connection and why we have passion for what we do,” she says of her own work and that of other ACA biologists.

“If you lost your connection with the field, then you might lose that connection with how things work in the environment, so it’s important to get outside.”

A high-tech network of micro-offices sits unassumingly behind the 19th-century façade of a downtown-Toronto heritage building.

The MaRS Incubator is 20,000 square feet of office and wet lab space across two floors in Toronto’s Discovery District. Designed to aid business start-ups, the incubator is truncated into a series of smaller offices that provide new – primarily science- and medical-based – companies affordable rent and access to lab facilities. The minimum size for an office in the incubator is 160 square feet.

Passing by renovations to the heritage Toronto General Hospital on his way to work in a nearby university lab every morning, Jason Sharpe, one of three founders at AXS Biomedical Animation Studios, decided on the MaRS Incubator’s office space as platform to launch a new business.

Sharpe’s studio began as a 300-square foot operation within the incubator in 2005. He calls it “A huge convenience for a company that’s starting out.” For small companies that can’t afford the large and lavish offices hawked by commercial realtors, the incubator provides a convenient place to grow a business in downtown Toronto. “We moved in and the office was set up. We had Internet, phone, desks, lighting, power – we didn’t have to worry about any of that and we could just focus on our business right from the start.”

Right now, there are 20 small businesses renting subsidized office space in the incubator which is part of the larger MaRS Centre – a public-private partnership aimed at connecting science research with the business community. “MaRS itself is a global address, so it gives [small companies] a cachet, a boost, to be located here,” says Linda Quattrin, the centre’s director of communications.

While the MaRS Centre also leases to major players like the Royal Bank of Canada, Quattrin says the highest demand for MaRS space is in the incubator, which fields applications from five to 10 companies at any one time. She says that the incubator is a place where small companies have “accidental collisions” with other start-ups; shared lab space for science firms, shared meeting rooms for service companies and shared kitchen, photocopying and common areas for all give the incubator’s 20 companies ample opportunity to interact.

Sharpe’s studio for instance collaborated with two other incubator clients, Octopz Inc. and Constab Pharmaceuticals Inc., on marketing and visual design. Octopz is a software company and Constab is a science-start up. Sharpe says that AXS’s studio worked with both companies with marketing and to help them visualize their products. He adds, that while “the idea there is to break down silos” MaRS is still learning to encourage the connections between companies in the incubator. “These are science companies; some get in there, put their blinders on and get to work.”

The incubator’s location within the greater MaRS Centre – and MaRS’s complicated network of links with the University of Toronto, city hospitals, government and businesses – gives small companies access to subsidized legal advice, entrepreneurial workshops as well as heavyweight marketing and professional relations, like Buzz Aldrin’s well-publicized visit to MaRS in May. The collection of small tenants within the incubator –as well as the larger blue-chip tenants in the larger complex – collectively forms a larger identity which translates to more visibility for a small company.

“Being in that building gave us instant credibility with clients and potential clients,” Sharpe says. AXS has now outgrown the incubator space at MaRS and had to move into a mid-sized office elsewhere in Toronto. The company has grown to six people and continues to attract new clients, like Splice, a movie starring Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley.

The ESRI Canada head office looks like any other tower along the busiest commuter route in Toronto: nine storeys encased by banks of shiny glass windows.

But way up above the Don Valley Parkway, on the eighth floor roof, a green oasis awaits staff, complete with a herb garden, shrubs, grasses, an outdoor boardroom and plenty of space to sit.

The roof at the ERSI Canada office wasn’t always a lush garden space. When the geographic information systems software company moved into new digs – two floors of a shared office building north of downtown – its ninth floor space included an 8,000-square-foot deck paved in concrete tiles. It was accessible to staff, but not that appealing.

Company president Alex Miller saw big potential.

“We’re an environmental company,” Miller says, noting that ESRI stands for Environmental Systems Research Institute. “Our business is building geographic information systems for our customers. We wanted to set an example of what a company could do, for a relatively small amount of money overall, at improving the sustainability of our surrounding environment.”

ESRI doesn’t own the building. It’s a tenant. So, Miller worked with the landlord to install a temporary rooftop garden. Vegetation was pre-grown on trays three feet long, 18 inches wide and about six inches deep. Contractors installed the roof greenery over two weekends in spring 2009. If ESRI moves to another building, it can pack up, green roof and all.

Green roofs are gaining popularity in Toronto, where the city provides green roof grants, largely because the vegetation helps manage rainwater runoff, taking some of the burden off aging sewer systems. This roof, and others like it, also helps mitigate the urban heat island effect, where cities are often hotter than the rural areas surrounding them because of all the concrete. As a bonus, green roofs insulate, and can cut down on heating and cooling costs.

At ESRI, the architect who designed the space used shrubbery, other plants and paving to mirror the internal office design. There’s even an outdoor boardroom surrounded by planters and shrubs that can be used for formal meetings, at least when the weather co-operates.

“You don’t want your paper blowing away, off the ninth floor,” Miller says. “We’re more likely to use it for lunches and things like that.”

As an added bonus, office workers who used to look out onto concrete have something a little more appealing to gaze at. Even in the winter, tall grasses poke out from under the snow.

“These tall Prairie grasses wave in the wind,” Miller says. “Even a little bit of wind makes them wave back and forth. As a result, you get a sense of what the weather is like outside. Not just the sun and the clouds, but you actually see the wind.”

The green roof isn’t the only environmental initiative at ESRI. Working with the landlord, ESRI is retrofitting the ballasts on the old light fixtures and has already cut electricity consumption by about 30 per cent. Server room overhauls aim to further reduce energy use.

There are big plans for the roof this summer, including two customer receptions. The company will also add more furniture and benches, allowing the staff of 200 to take full advantage of the space.

Check out this video ESRI made about their experience with their green roof.

“It’s all about the people, so why not give them the best views? The principals are entitled to offices but when we moved into the space, they decided to sit out in the studio close to the windows and be a part of the team,” says Dean Matsumoto, a principal with Kasian who directed the interior design of the office.

Their democratic approach to office space helps promote equality and team building while making it easy for people to move around after projects are completed.

Built in a soft loft style with around 20,000 square feet, the architecture, interior design and planning firms’ Toronto office is a light-filled collaborative space. The walls are free from fancy prints and motivational sayings. Instead every wall in the office is magnetic, whiteboard or tackable and covered in the work of the moment.

“We’re always pinning up work to look at it, study it. The walls serve a purpose.”

A favourite feature of Matsumoto’s is the “Touchdown” area. It links the boardroom to the reception area with a long glass table. A multi-use area, one day it could be home to a standup project presentation, another it might double as “the best bar in Toronto.”

The first thing you see when entering the office is the view of downtown Toronto.

It’s located west of downtown, near the trendy and newly converted to mixed use Liberty Village. Surrounded by artists and fellow creatives, Matsumoto is very happy with the location.

“There is lots of live-work space around us. It’s a very vibrant neighbourhood. It’s helped us to attract people.”

The open kitchen is incorporated into what Matsumoto calls the “marketplace.” You’ll find the copy machine, fax, printers and office supplies as well as the research library all in the same place. If you have to go up and get some “stuff,” this is where you’ll be going.

Matsumoto, who designed the space, loves how it came together.

“The fact that it’s so bright is energizing right off the bat. One thing about our office is that there is nowhere to hide because it’s so open. The people that you’re working with are immediately accessible.”

The Montreal headquarters of Switzerland Creative Services would make Ikea addicts cringe.

It’s not that the creative boutique, which boasts satellite offices in Toronto and the Bronx, N.Y., isn’t deserving of a second look. It’s just that operations director Ben Pobjoy and creative head Shawn Butchart favour an esthetic that leans toward taxidermy, vinyl LPs and a healthy assortment of vintage junk over the mass-produced, ergonomic furniture popular among firms who trade in type.

“There’s the stereotype of a lot of design offices that are really clean and modern,” Pobjoy says over the phone from the company’s Montreal workspace. “Our office tends to be a lot more Pee-wee Herman in nature.”

Antique tin cans pasted with yesterday’s advertising slogans, pop artwork, prints of old typography, photography and yes, stuffed animals, fill out the space, which doubles as an art gallery come summertime. “There’s a grouse on the wall, which is really wicked because it’s flying, and I think a mallard duck and a pheasant above where we keep cutlery,” Pobjoy says, rhyming off the oddities, which also include a set of mounted antlers (whether moose, elk or deer, he’s not sure).

The strange surroundings belie the hardworking set of artistic entrepreneurs – a graphic designer, illustrator, photographer and visual artist, respectively – that make up the Swiss team. Their current abode is a former ground-level loft that serves as the headquarters for three separate entities: Switzerland Creative Services, the Emporium Gallery and a software development venture called Red Tree.

Recent projects include branding and design work for New York City-based cinematographer Nadia Hallgren, whose credits include the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning film Trouble the Water, as well as Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. 

Pobjoy says his firm’s clubhouse-feel – the office doesn’t have a boardroom, and there’s no secretary to mind the phones – and throwback décor are both intrinsic to the in-house creative processes. The relaxed approach also reflects a business model that’s increasingly nomadic, he notes. “Physical space is important for face-to-face collaboration, but I feel as though it’s less and less important in terms of its traditional use.”

Business these days is conducted wirelessly and increasingly in transit. “That’s how it’s evolved. [The office] is more of a place just to charge your computer than anything else.”

Still, there are pleasures unique to the Swiss digs. “We’re one of the few offices that have at least five or six hundred LPs on hand,” Pobjoy says. (The selection runs the gamut from Hank Williams Sr. to Run DMC).

What constitutes a typical day? “I would say a lot of coffee, a lot of vinyl, a lot of work and a lot of smokes would sum it up.”

By Craille Maguire Gillies | Photography by Pete Aspros, Grip Limited

There is nothing like a big orange slide plonked right in the middle of an office to obliterate hierarchy between upper management and everyone else. But then Toronto creative agency Grip Limited, home to that big orange slide, has never been a place for hierarchy. Grip, whose clients include Acura, Lululemon Athletica and Labatt, has an unusually linear team, with an astounding 11 partners. David Crichton, one of eight founding partners calls it a “flat structure” in which partners work directly with clients, and therefore with their own designers, writers, interactive and technical staff who put together campaigns. “There’s no corner office mentality. There isn’t actually a corner office,” Crichton says, adding that newly hired president Harvey Carroll has the worst digs in the space – a small, drafty office that no one else wants.

Grip’s office – designed by the folks at Johnson Chou and featuring the agency’s signature orange logo – is  spread over two and a half floors, and reflects the open attitude of the agency. (And the fireman’s pole in the atrium is great when you’re running late for meetings.) Crichton spoke with Unlimited about breaking down barriers – and walls.

+ Every Thursday, many of the company’s 100-plus staff gather in the atrium for a 4:30 beer-fuelled news briefing. (It counts Labatt as one of its longtime clients.) “On Thursdays we open up the draft taps and play foosball,” says Crichton. “The atrium is basically stadium seating for announcements.”

+ The company has events called “What’s your story?” when anybody in the company – from someone in the production studio to a creative director –  can present new ideas.

+ They notice the little things. White Astroturf lines one of the boardrooms. “It deadens sound,” Crichton says, “but it’s also not expensive. We like to do things creatively that don’t involve spending a lot of money. It sends a message to clients that you can be creative without being excessive.”

+ That working-class ethos turns up in Grip’s logo, a bright 1960s-style orange circle meant to show the company’s working-class roots. “I would say the culture here is pretty peer-oriented. Our partners work on a client’s file directly, so that means we worked directly with everyone here,” Crichton says. (Click to see a TV reel of some of Grip’s work.)

+ The non-linear structure of the company lets employees move between departments for rare wholesale career changes within the same company. For instance, a longtime studio manager became a designer and later an art director. One former IT staffer went on to become a multimedia editor/producer at Grip’s in-house production facility. The strategy is to “let people make a career change and then keep them in the company. At the end of the day, [the happiness of] a bigger paycheque only lasts two pay periods. If you provide a place where people like to work and are respected, they’ll be happier and more enthusiastic.” U