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By Joe Boomgaard | MiBiz
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Progressive AE brought on Eric Herman because he had a non-traditional background in processes and systems at various local companies. With Herman’s different perspective on board, CEO Brad Thomas, and Director of Design Bryan Koehn, set out to implement a new performance-based design business model at the architecture and engineering firm. COURTESY PHOTO

GRAND RAPIDS — When architects design buildings, they’re looking to provide clients with the best possible solution for their needs given range requirements and limitations. But how does an architect know when her design actually performed as intended and helped clients meet current and future needs?

Progressive AE has been stewing over that question for some time, and they’ve come up with a plan to implement performance-based design that links facility design to clients’ business strategies. CEO Bradley Thomas said the shift in Progressive’s model comes at a time when clients struggle to find financing for facilities or building projects.

“What we’re acutely aware of is that in the decisions around capital allocation, we need to speak a language of return for clients,” Thomas told MiBiz. “Where we’ve begun to focus is to look at the challenges clients are facing and trying to find or identify opportunities to help them be successful. The key is performance-based design and linking business strategy with design. Space matters and design matters, but how do you prove it? We brought in some new capabilities to see how we can measure performance and (the effectiveness) of design.”

The new approach challenges architects to move beyond the familiar, traditional design process and think more about clients’ strategic needs and how a space impacts the performance of clients’ businesses. If clients want to expand and grow their capabilities, a building must work for the company, not against it.

“The big difference is that we’ve always talked about the human experience … but now we tie that into the business objectives,” said Bryan Koehn, AIA, principal and director of design at Progressive AE. “Businesses look at space not just as a capital investment, but as an investment in the future. We need to create more of a livable strategy. We always talk about flexibility, but we must design a way for them to find success on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.”

The space a company occupies also must help retain and attract employees, which are a huge investment in any industry. Importantly, those human resources are called on to innovate and drive the success of the company. While it’s easy to measure employee retention, recruitment and sick days, Koehn said no one really measures how well a building helps facilitate innovation, which has an impact on whether the space works or not. For example, what should be measured, he said, is how quickly businesses are making decisions in the space and whether the building enables collaboration and good communication.

Those are questions that can only be answered after a client occupies a new space. Gone are the days when a client’s relationship with Progressive ends the day their facility is completed, Thomas said.

“We’re coming back after they’re occupying it and validating that the goals are achieved. It allows us to learn — as part of continuous improvement — how the designs are impacting the company and whether it was successful or not,” he said.

These concepts might not be new in the manufacturing realm, but they are for architects. As a result, Progressive looked to people with non-traditional backgrounds, like Eric Herman, director of business performance solutions. Herman brought with him years of systems and processes experience at local manufacturing and healthcare organizations to apply measurement systems to architectural design.

“We don’t just look at the facility. We want to understand how the technology integrates, how people integrate in the environment and how processes and equipment integrates. It’s a systems approach to looking at clients’ needs,” Herman told MiBiz. “With performance-based design, really before we jump into a solution, we need to find out what’s the business system of the organization. You have structure, process and communication loops. People interact every day with all these systems. We need to clarify what those systems are, their domains, and overlay that perspective on clients and better understand their needs — and then make a decision based on data. … We partner with a client to intimately understand their business. We can solve the piece of the pie that’s the architecture and engineering slice and integrate those pieces together in a way that creates measurable outcomes.”

The new initiative is perhaps most noticeable in Progressive’s healthcare practice, where several employees have achieved Evidence-based Design Accreditation and Certification. Healthcare organizations have been the early adopters of evidence-based design, in which architects comb research to create healthcare environments that studies have shown will meet the patients’ and doctors’ needs.

Progressive has undertaken 16 case studies on facilities the firm recently completed for clients in various industries. One study showed that a Progressive-designed facility helped a client gain market share and improve unit cost, which helped them be more competitive, Herman said.

Koehn said the follow-up validation process is really an extension of the work designers put into the up-front planning process to learn about a company, its culture and how it works.

“Design jumped and embraced (the new model),” Koehn said. “They’re interested in doing ideal solutions. To prove or measure good design can make a difference. Design can bring an ROI. It’s not makeup. It’s not just aesthetics. It’s the DNA of an organization.”

Koehn said bringing Herman — who didn’t have a design background — into the process allowed the architects to hear a different perspective. While they are trained to have a “broad look” at the information given to them, they don’t necessarily mine the clients for in-depth insights on the systems involved in their businesses.

“What we do here is control a good chunk of how employees work and feel and how employees are productive,” Herman said. “The industry is so ready for changes and transformations.”

Thomas said if the market isn’t demanding this sort of thinking from design firms, it soon will.

“We’re recognizing the challenges they’re facing and bringing solutions to impact their bottom lines,” he said.