you don’t judge the intelligence of a dog by it’s bark; why judge the intelligence of a man by his words
getting back to the “office”
May 2021
Back to the office. Back to the traffic, the messed up subway, the childcare, the fast past morning routines, the always on attitude, the work lunch, the “I don’t see you at your desk” mentality. Let’s forget the old office. Let’s not thinkg about how to go back.
I’m a designer and I don’t know how to go back to the office. I never liked the rush and crowded Metro; sweating in 100 degree weather just walking a few blocks to get there. I never liked being rushed when I got into the office; I need a good hour to melt into office mode. One thing about going back? It was a change of scenery.
Scenery. Something we all need now. And now, as places open up, we can have that, while working from home! We can go out to lunch, we can go to the gym during lunch, we can take our dog on a longer walk, we can do a multitude of things now out of the house!
I don’t know how to go back to the office and I design them. Let’s be emotional about it.
2018 OPXhibition - Everyone Has a Tail to Tell
2018 / from OPX website Solve for X. | OPX (opxglobal.com)
Everyone had a “tail” to “tell” this year at the OPXhibition! On October 18th, OPXers, friends, and supporters, gathered in the Atrium for a fantastic night of food, drinks, and a live auction. The goal was to raise money for City Dogs Rescue, a local non-profit which rescues dogs and cats from being euthanized by placing them in foster families.
OPXers created artwork telling the “tail” of an adoptable dog. Starting with an 8×8 canvas, OPXers painted, felted, “wood-worked,” and drew the story of their adopted dog. The works of art were auctioned off for up to $160!
In addition to generous food donations from local Dupont Circle establishments, our auction raised over $1,500!
All donations went directly to City Dogs Rescue and City Kitties so they can continue to find dogs and cats homes. If you weren’t able to attend and would like to make a donation, please do so here:
https://www.citydogsrescuedc.org/donate.html
We would like to offer our gratitude and appreciation to everyone who attended our annual OPXhibition.
You can find more photos on our Facebook page below and Instagram account.
https://www.facebook.com/OPXglobal/
https://www.instagram.com/opxdc/
Wellness Week - Not Just About Wellness
2018 / from OPX website Solve for X. | OPX (opxglobal.com)
During the week of April 16, OPX held its 2nd Annual Wellness Week. Each day focused on different “well-beings:” Mindful Monday gave us the chance to meditate as a group and reflect on what’s important to us. For Foodie Tuesday, we shared healthy recipes with each other and enjoyed homemade fruit smoothies together in the afternoon. On Ergonomic Wednesday, our friends from Steelcase came in and schooled us on the intersections of physical, cognitive, and emotional wellbeing. For Social Thursday, we brought in childhood photos of ourselves engaging in fun physical activities of all kinds and laughed about these (and our old haircuts) during an end of the day happy hour. We capped off the week with Physical Friday where we totaled our step counts and water consumption for week and offered our best workout tips to each other. Peppered throughout the entire week, we engaged in quick (and funny) physical challenges around our desks. Do you want to have a good laugh during the day? Watch your colleague drop next to his or her workstation and give you 20!
We created this week, in part, to encourage camaraderie with each other. To create some breaks during the day. When we sit at our workstations most of the day, we can easily get wrapped up in the latest project, spreadsheet or budget. It’s easy to forget to take a break! You become one with your machine. But we are not machines, we are humans! We require social connections, physical activity, access to nature, human touch, and regular movement. In this sense, Wellness Week was less about remembering to drink water or get up from your desk during the day and much more so about building human connections alongside the people we see the most!
Creating positive social connections tends to lead to happier, more engaged, and more productive workers[1]. Some say that work is what you do in order to enjoy your hobbies. If you take the 24 hour cycle, you could say that most of our awake time is spent at work or getting to and from work. But, what if you actually enjoyed work? What if you loved coming to work?
With the influx of social media and the humble bragging phenomenon, we are inundated every day with the ideals of what it takes to be perfect, in personal and professional life. Society pushes us to towards perfection – through diet, physical activity, getting to work on time, writing that email, and creating that fantastic design, and living each minute as the most perfect self.
Of course, however, none of us are perfect, and our annual Wellness Week helps us to 1) remember this important fact and 2) embrace our mutual imperfections and 3) ideally, help each other elevate our individual and collective wellbeing. When we become connected by our imperfections, we see each other as more than work colleagues, but as real, fallible humans. The more we see each other in this light, the greater connection we can feel, and the more we can see our workplace as not a place for struggles, but as a place to belong.
[1] http://fortune.com/2015/10/29/happy-productivity-work/
Guiding the Environmental Design Dialogue
From OPX website Solve for X. | OPX (opxglobal.com)
In a year of diving deeper into our values at OPX, this month we’re focusing on one of our core values, Protect the Planet. Earth Day occurs every April as a call for continuing the effort to protect our planet in various ways. It’s a reminder of how far we’ve come, and how much further we have to go to ensure we leave our planet better off for the next generation.
The environment. It can be a discussion, especially in Washington DC, that can become politically divided, right down the line. The mention of climate change can send the political parties into a boxing match. As such, and as far as I could go down the path of defending the existence of climate change; I’ll focus my attention on the impact it’s had on the building industry and the workplace.
In March of 2014, Washington DC, along with many other jurisdictions, adopted the 2013 Green Construction Code. This code integrated the International Green Construction Code, as well as a few local additions and modifications. With this adoption, the District is requiring the building industry to step up its game to lessen the impact of building on the environment. This has been a largely welcome regulation, as it underscores the importance of a more environmentally friendly building approach to clients and developers.
When congress passed the first draft of the American with Disabilities Act in 1990, it helped to create a new dialogue on the importance of “everyone has the right to…” The regulations provided us all with insight into the daily lives of those who have physical challenges. Yes, we all deserve to have the ability to open a door, we all deserve the ability to go from one sidewalk to another, we all deserve the ability to use the sink, and so on. The ADA has helped to provide a more level playing field for everyone.
Similarly, environmental building regulations help level the green playing field.
Level the green playing field? Yes! So, we have to lower the lighting energy by 20%. Why? The client asks. Because it’s code. See? This exchange helps to create a dialogue with the design team and the client on the need to lower lighting energy, its impact on the design project, and the environmental reasons for doing so. With these regulations, it creates a conversation with the client on environmental design, which may have been a non-starter otherwise. These codes and regulations help the design team, the client, and other constituents have a discussion on how their project can now contribute to a more environmentally responsible future and create a healthier interior environment. And with this new dialogue, the client may have an expanded view and excitement about further steps to take. And isn’t that we all want? More informed clients and clients who feel better about their space.
At OPX, we make good companies work better. We help our clients understand the impact of materials, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, and recycling, to name a few. We encourage the LEED process, as we feel it’s a great way to help manage the process and expectations of an interior renovation that leads to a more environmentally friendly design. Despite some of LEED’s shortcomings, it has transformed the way the building industry has set aspirational goals of being more “green.”
As we continue to explore Protect the Planet at OPX, we hope to continue to have these discussions with our clients, whether formal regulations are in place or not. We want to encourage and excite our clients about greening their space. And isn’t that our jobs as designers? To provide enthusiasm around bettering our clients’ work environment?