CoStar Group
If your mission is to build the commercial real estate industry’s most comprehensive online database, the only good way to do it is to comb every street.
CoStar Group, the leading provider of information to commercial real estate professionals, is in the process of doing just that. In addition to operating dozens of research centers, the company also employs a small army of field researchers to scour the country—photographing, measuring, and documenting every office, industrial, apartment, and retail property they can find.
That’s a lot of driving. But CoStar minimizes its environmental impact by using a fleet of more than a hundred gas-spurning, technology-loaded, yellow-and-black Prii (yes, that’s the plural of Prius).
The hybrid fleet is one of the more visible manifestations of CoStar’s zeal for wellness, a passion that encompasses not only its planet, but also its people and place.
The place in question is CoStar’s recently renovated headquarters. Just a few blocks from the White House and within walking distance of four Metro stations, the glass-encased, LEED-certified building is awash in natural light, recycled materials, and the latest techniques for conserving water and energy.
There’s even a green roof with an expansive view of the city—a favorite spot for lunch and meetings. And if employees need to go off-site for either, they can check out company-provided Segways or bicycles to get where they’re going without contributing to D.C. congestion.
Then again, with yoga classes three times a week, a gym on the ground floor, and free healthy snacks available all day, there’s not much incentive to leave the premises.
“It’s fair to say that wellness is a priority here,” says Kathy del Rosario Watson, LEED AP BD+C, the CoStar project manager who oversaw the headquarters renovation. “It was important that our headquarters space support our corporate values.”
GREEN DATA FOR PLATINUM PERFORMANCE
With sustainability a vital part of its wellness philosophy, CoStar assigned its headquarters project to Perkins+Will, a global architecture firm with more than 100 LEED-certified buildings to its credit.
The majority of the furniture is from Herman Miller, in no small part because of green credentials that helped CoStar bolster its LEED application. The building earned LEED Gold, while the interior was awarded LEED Platinum.
“We supplied ecoScorecard data for all the products CoStar ordered,” says Patty Marshall, Account Executive with American Office, a Herman Miller dealer that serves the capital region. “Their furniture had to go easy on the environment—it was a core requirement.”
CoStar’s Watson recounts other attributes the company wanted from its furniture. “An open environment, privacy without blocking natural light, superior ergonomics—the business revolves around technology, so employees are using their computers all the time.”
SETTING THE STANDARDS
CoStar selected Canvas Office Landscape to anchor its open workstations. The low-slung profile of Canvas permits light to flow and makes it easy for colleagues to stay connected. “We like the lower height because you can see clear across the floor, yet still have seated privacy,” Watson says.
With the Canvas workstations arranged in a zigzag pattern, CoStar employees are nudged to interact with one another as they traverse their workspace, the kind of spur-of-the-moment communication that would be less likely in a linear layout.
To further promote this culture, CoStar incorporates lounge areas and collaboration zones on each of its eight floors. Adjacent to many Canvas clusters, for instance, is an open meeting area consisting of an Eames Table surrounded by Eames Aluminum Group Chairs.
“Every morning, I see work teams gathering informally in these Eames areas to get ready for the day,” Watson says. “The whole building is conducive to teamwork and constant communication.”
Marshall of American Office points out that the versatility of the Eames Aluminum Group persuaded CoStar to give the chairs prominent play elsewhere as well. “Their ability to look modern and timeless at once earned them a featured spot in both the boardroom and auditorium,” she says.
CoStar’s few private offices are outfitted with Tablet Casegoods from Geiger, a Herman Miller company. The architecturally clean aesthetic of Tablet captures the light, progressive flair that permeates the entire building.
Work chairs in both private and open areas are Aeron, one of Herman Miller’s high-performance seating lines. The ergonomic virtues of Aeron also work well in the dispatch area, where field research managers sit and scan monitors for hours at a time, keeping track of their hybrid fleet.
In furnishing its headquarters, CoStar also set the standard for 36 satellite offices around the country and abroad. Boston and New York got a facelift concurrently with the D.C. headquarters, while Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, and San Diego have been renovated since. In all cases, the furniture foundation is similar, with a preponderance of Canvas Office Landscape and Aeron Chairs.
To make the process seamless no matter which location comes next, American Office has been overseeing each project through Herman Miller’s ServiceNet program.
“With ServiceNet, companies like CoStar that have multiple locations get one point of contact, along with the assistance of local dealer resources in each market,” Marshall says. “Projects that might seem cumbersome suddenly become simple.”
Credits: Perkins+Will, project designer, and Eric Laignel, photographer
Company Informations:
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