Commercial Interior Design: Sydney Moeller of Baker Barrios Architects On How To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In

Know your culture. Too often we have worked with executives who have been enchanted by unique office solutions that one might associate with Silicon Valley, only to find that when implementing something similar to their organization if falls flat. Our team stresses the importance of understanding a company’s culture and tailoring solutions and messaging to help CEO’s meet and exceed the expectations of their team and attract new talent.

As part of our series called “How To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sydney Moeller, WELL AP, Director of Workplace Strategies, Baker Barrios Architects.

Sydney leads the BBA Workplace Strategies division, infusing creative storytelling and authentic branding into every project she oversees. She expertly guides a project from visualization to completion, which includes change management strategies and communications and the assurance the corporate culture and overall vision for the space remain supported. Her desire to design workplaces with the whole person in mind has resulted in numerous award-winning, forward-thinking office spaces. Sydney is driven by the knowledge she and her team are creating the next generation of the workplace, with sustainability and wellness at the core.

Sydney earned her Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from the University of Cincinnati, is currently pursuing WELL certification, and is a member of CoreNet Global.

Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

When I was a kid I’d build these elaborate forts around our family room. Picture every kitchen table chair, the sofa, sidetables, arm chairs…anything I could manage to move was relocated and draped with blankets to create multi-room forts with varying visibility of the TV for optimal Saturday morning cartoon viewing. This early fort-building coupled with the countless art classes I took over the years helped my parents identify Interior Design as a possible career path for me. They encouraged me to think not only about how spaces were delineated, but also how those spaces made me feel and the experiences those spaces were meant to support — ultimately leading me to my career today.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

One of my first jobs out of school was working with a major themed entertainment employer. This employer would create new attractions and encourage their team to assist in early playtesting of the attraction experiences before they were formally launched to the public. One attraction I was able to playtest had good intentions of encouraging healthy eating and exercise, but in execution led participants to feel fat-shamed. While it never launched to the public, watching a large corporation get it wrong and find a way to creatively bounce back taught me to be resilient and that failure isn’t fatal.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

This quote acts as a daily reminder to me to consider the people with whom I connect as people first and as their role second. At the end of the day so many of us just want to be treated with basic dignity, respect, and kindness. Regardless if I’m meeting with a Fortune 500 CEO or a college student seeking mentorship, I try to find and celebrate our shared humanity first and focus on more technical needs second.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have many wonderful mentors; one who has particularly helped me advance my career is Chad Byerly. He was my boss for several years before I moved into a leadership role and took the time to mentor me in all aspects of the business from the technical to soft skills. Pragmatic and optimistic, he helped me leverage my strengths, improve on my weaknesses, and acted as an advocate for my growth and advancement within our company.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

One of the most exciting new projects we’re tackling is the renovation of Limitless Solutions, a non-profit, college-start up through the University of Central Florida manufacturing cost-effective, expressive bionic arms for children. Historically very costly to manufacture, founder Albert Manero partners with UCF students to program, design and build bionic arms specifically for children by leveraging 3D printing technology. With the rapid growth rate of this demographic, the cost-effective solutions that help children obtain full mobility with eye-catching, superhero-inspired designs manufactured by this team are transforming the lives of patients. Our team is honored to be developing a space and bionic-delivery experience that captures the transformative essence of this organization while also creating a transitional workspace for students on their way to professional careers.

Thank you for that. Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “Five Things You Should Do To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1 . Know your culture. Too often we have worked with executives who have been enchanted by unique office solutions that one might associate with Silicon Valley, only to find that when implementing something similar to their organization if falls flat. Our team stresses the importance of understanding a company’s culture and tailoring solutions and messaging to help CEO’s meet and exceed the expectations of their team and attract new talent.

2 . Purpose is powerful. Organizations can have the most compelling mission statements in the world, but if the work environment doesn’t reflect this purpose the people will walk. More than simply a mantra mounted to the entry wall, it’s important for the purpose of your company to be infused into the workspace. Our team helped the Electronic Arts Studio in Orlando, FL do this effectively, taking their digital roots and ability to make their games immersive and life-like and designing custom lighting solutions that blended rigid, pixel-like angular elements with natural finishes and organic shapes. The resulting space demonstrates a fusion of the digital and natural worlds that EA gaming designers masterfully weave throughout their world-class gaming portfolio.

3 . Wellness is a winner. Companies can offer competitive benefits and pay, but most noticeably since the pandemic the talent pool of today places a higher value on a company that demonstrates through policies and spaces that they take their team’s wellness seriously. Providing a variety of work style solutions (that suit the culture) with appropriate lighting and acoustics can enhance an employer’s case for return to work. Additionally, spaces for respite and decompression are growing in significance as our society is prioritizing the importance of mental health in all aspects of our lives.

4 . Communication is key. While this may sound obvious, anytime a workspace change is anticipated, it is critical to engage the team and strategic change champions to help communicate the change and act as advocates for their peers. This may sound too time-consuming for traditional top-down organizations, but every organization we have worked with that strategically engaged change leaders and created a sense of ownership and buy-in from the team yielded a more successful, positively-received work environment. Change can be challenging at any age and for any role. Minimizing disruption with regular communication leaves less room for the office rumor-mill to run and fosters a stronger sense of value amongst the team.

5 . Ergonomics are essential. Back when adjustable task seating and sit-to-stand desks first launched on the market they were the shiny toys of their time and came with a hefty price tag to boot. Now more readily available than ever, the supply/demand curve has righted and your team expects adaptable working solutions that support their physical health. Once it became apparent that the pandemic wasn’t ending in two weeks, our leadership encouraged our team to take their office chairs and monitors home to assist with a more ergonomic WFH arrangement. Substantially better than craning over a singular laptop screen while on a barstool at the kitchen counter, this foresight on the part of our leadership helped minimize potential injuries and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affiliated with poor workstation configurations.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

We’re living in an age with an overwhelming amount of stimuli. While well-intentioned to keep us informed and entertained, too often technology and media create opportunities to exist “in a vacuum” surrounded by those echoing our thoughts, beliefs, and fears. I’ve recently been inspired by a local organization, The Dinner Party Project, that brings together eight strangers for a delicious meal to talk about a variety of topics in the world and share their views. I’d take this movement to a community level, offering round tables for small groups to meet over a meal to foster dialogue between those of different perspectives and backgrounds. Through relationship-building and nurturing understanding, I think we could combat some of the over-stimulus in our world and make more thoughtful, meaningful changes in our communities.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them :-)

I have followed Simon Sinek’s work for years and continue to be inspired by the leadership wisdom he shares. I was an early fangirl of his Start with Why TED talk and novel and have used that principal to develop a new service offering within our company and encourage those on my team to think of their bigger picture. His latest work The Infinite Game has changed my mindset in how I approach work, connections, and future possibilities and inspired me to look beyond the competition and challenge what our industry has typically accepted as “impossible”.

How can our readers further follow your work online? www.bakerbarrios.com

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!