Voice of the Customer

Different trends inform corporate, education, healthcare and hospitality design projects, but during a “Voice of the Customer” panel discussion at the recent BIFMA 360º leadership conference, design representatives from each sector found common ground: Great spaces put people first, regardless of whether they are working, learning, healing or relaxing. Every project begins with the human using the space. For panelist Kim Sauvageau, global workplace experience architect at Shell, that means creating spaces that work for employees in 70 countries around the world. The offices she designs must take into account all of its 80,000 employees and the cultural norms that are vastly different, people that work differently and spaces that work from Denver to Dubai. She starts any project by putting herself into the shoes of those working in any one of those locations. “You walk through somebody’s day and all of a sudden you’ve experienced the hurdle that you …