GenNext Seminar Showcases FUEL Space

Participants in a seminar called “Best of the Workplace Makeovers” toured the FUEL studio to learn how FUEL renovated its space to create a more design-centric, collaborative environment for its staff.

The seminar was one of three roundtables sponsored by Management Resource Group (MRG), a human resources consulting firm, to provide information and advice about recruiting and retaining the next generation of young leaders.

MRG teamed up with Mary Segriff, owner of the commercial interior design firm kôr, to lead the seminar. The event featured a roundtable discussion on the role of well-designed physical spaces in hiring and retaining talent, followed by a tour of FUEL’s studio. FUEL owner John Moes participated in the roundtable discussion.

In 2007-08, kôr worked with FUEL to reexamine its workspace and design an environment that would encourage collaboration and productivity. “The point is understanding how an organization works and laying out a space that is conducive to people getting their work done,” explains Segriff.

    “At FUEL they do a great deal of collaboration. They need to be able to lean back and look at each other’s computer screens, but they also spend a lot of time at their computers, so they need ergonomic spaces suited to that. It was about balancing high collaboration and high concentration.” Under kôr’s guidance, FUEL’s inherited offices with vintage metal desks gave way to collocated work spaces with custom-designed lighting and furniture.

    “FUEL is a place that is developing people who are artistic. Their new environment is interesting, contemporary and youthful, and those are the kinds of people they attract,” Segriff says.