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Lawyers will be lawyers, which means they will always lean toward dark cherry wood bookshelves lined with leather-bound volumes. But with San Diego’s economy taking on tech dimensions, the interiors of San Diego offices have new looks. Even some attorneys are choosing options on that Old Boy Classic.
"I’ve seen office styles go through quite a few phases," says Terry Tosher, production manager at Cleator Furniture, the 27-year-old office furnishings firm founded by the late San Diego City Councilman Bill Cleator, now run by his son Robert. "Back then, everyone wanted oak and walnut, now everyone wants cherry and maple. Customers don’t seem to be overly specific. There's a whole range of manufacturers who offer everything from extreme contemporary to extreme traditional. We’re middle of the road, leaning toward contemporary."
Much of the difference in today’s offices is more than mere style. With the preponderance of start-up software, communications and Internet companies, many of San Diego’s younger firms want interior plans and furnishings that can expand and change as their companies grow. While your average 22-year-old entrepreneur isn’t overly concerned with high style, there seems to be an overall inclination for newer contemporary elements that capture the '90s pioneering spirit.
"There's a real trend in our industry to move in a high-tech direction," says DeLinda Anderson, principal of the new San Diego office of Irvine-based Workplace Interiors. Anderson can barely contain her excitement for a new office system out of Canada called Teknion that she believes will revolutionize the business. She has exclusive San Diego rights.
Teknion's flexible system can be easily reconfigured to meet a business' needs.
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"Teknion was developed in the '80s, but prices dropped in the last six or seven years to where Cisco, Netscape, Yahoo and other hot new Silicon Valley companies really plugged into this product line. They were starting out without much money and they wanted a system that could easily expand. They also want to access electronic and data connections at work-surface height. They want to reconfigure at the drop of a hat."
The revolutionary thing about Teknion, besides cool materials like hammered metal and sparkly glass, is the way their work stations can be configured to meet an office's business, social and technological needs.
Whereas most modular office cubicles come in the form of standard panels that only fit together certain ways, Teknion uses adjustable tracks and connectors that allow users easily to create infinite variations of individual or group work areas.
"If their office furniture is on casters," Anderson says, "they just slide panels over, add in another station, and roll the furniture in. They can reconfigure in a snap.
"In a modular system, if panels are 4-foot, they can only hang shelves four feet overhead. In Teknion's system, you can have two 5-foot panels, a 3-foot overhead, a 3-foot work surface, and you can quickly reroute data and electronics lines. It kills companies to pull data and electronics cables out of panels and rewire stations. They don’t want to have the down time. They have to order new furniture, get in a team of installers, have employees move out."
Apparently Teknion has been burning up Silicon Valley like some of those hot new start-ups, and Anderson senses the same hot market in San Diego.
"They came into California six or seven years ago and they now do $60 million to $65 million there," she says. "They went into Los Angeles two years ago and they're just entering Orange County and San Diego. I have two partners in Orange County, and in six months they've done about $3 million in business. In San Diego, I put out bids for about $3 million in the first month." Anderson plans to open a showroom in Solana Beach this fall. She also offers Kimball, a traditional office system.
While young techies may have hipper leanings, traditional sectors such as law, accounting and banking evolve their tastes at a more moderate pace.
"Law offices haven't changed as much as other fields, but there are changes because of the technology," says Roi Jossy of Jossy + Carrier Design Group. "Their libraries are getting smaller, with more online information. More and more, everyone gets a computer, whereas it used to be there were just a few word processors for the secretaries.
"The idea the law firms are Old World or stodgy is actually just a perception. Each firm has an image they would like people to perceive. Some want to remain traditional, but others say, 'My clientele is high-tech.I want to look high-tech or avant garde.'"
For the law firm Hayes, Simpson & Greene, Jossy + Carrier just designed new offices that take the entire 17th floor at the America Plaza tower on lower Broadway.
"It’s done in warm, neutral colors — grays, beige," Jossy says. "I used cherry wood for built-ins, glass partitions and the reception desk has a glass transaction counter. I also used granite accents leading into the conference room and offices."
Because of the confidential nature of their business, attorneys don’t make much use of panelized work stations.
"They need privacy, right down to the paralegals," she says.
One element on which Jossy concentrates is lighting. She tries to take the atmosphere away from the typical dizzying and disorienting field of fluorescent light.
"At Hayes, Simpson, I used cove lighting in the reception area and conference room," she says. "I used wallwashes for art work, and sconces in the elevator lobby. We want to give a good overall light level, then highlight specific areas to get a variety of moods, so it’s not all flat lighting." Building codes require energy savings, which dictates a fair amount of fluorescent. But as long as overall wattage consumed is within limits, warmer incandescent lights and low-voltage spotlights can be used to move away from the monotonous white glow.
 When it comes to furniture, business folk are much like residential clients. Some want to keep much of their old furniture, which can sometimes be tough to incorporate into new surroundings. Others, especially young start-ups, don’t want to spend much initially, so they rent furniture from San Diego companies such as Cort Furniture Rental or Business Office Outfitters — the latter leases and sells brand-name (Paoli, Hon, Kimball, Jasper, Jofco) furniture, desks and partition systems.
While renting and leasing conjures images of battered office chairs, the sky — or, actually, the Aeron — is the limit.
"Aeron" is the cool ergonomic office chair by Herman Miller that you've seen advertised in high-end business publications. It looks like something from NASA; it has a seat and back that "breathe," and it can be adjusted for just about any worker-droid, from pint-size to Michael Jordanesque.
"They retail for $750 to $1,300," says Pam Dutra, district sales manager for Cort, a national leader in office interior rentals, with more than 120 stores. Cort, the only San Diego company that rents Herman Miller, will let you have an Aeron chair for $125 a month — or less for longer-term arrangements. A youthful start-up may not have $5,000 to spend on cool chairs, but they probably can come up with a few hundred to make their quarters look good from the start.
Desks from Cort's showroom behind the Pyramid on Miramar Road rent for $30 a month up. In addition to more modest up-front cost compared to purchasing, customers like the flexibility of renting, Dutra says.
"If you order new furniture, the wait can be six to eight weeks," Dura says. "With us, we can have a complete setup delivered within 48 hours, including lobby, office and lunchroom furniture."
Cort offers complete services including space planning. For instance, they just set up an office with 40 Herman Miller work stations for Premier, a health care company, including partition panels, work surfaces and overhead storage units.
And for those in search of the really good deal, Cort has a Clearance Center on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.,where used furniture is sold.
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