10.01.14
Meet WestEdge Panelist Elizabeth Burow
IIDA SoCal is pleased to partner with WestEdge Design Fair this year! We’re sponsoring a panel discussion on Friday, October 17th, 2014 on workplace design. The panel will be moderated by Edie Cohen, Interior Design Magazine and will feature a lively discussion with Elizabeth Burow, HLW; Tiffany English, Ware Malcomb; Michelle Ives Ratcovich, AECOM and Alan Young, Gensler. Cocktail hour following the panel discussion.
Elizabeth Burow from the HLW New York office will be one of the panelists during the WestEdge evening presentation discussing current workplace issues. We sat down with the HLW Design Strategist to get to know her a little better.
Elizabeth received her masters from MIT and has been an architect in New York for the past 10 years. When presented with the panel topic “Why Do You Hate Work” her response was in definite disagreement because she truly loves her profession, but when it comes to the customer there is the need to create spaces that make her clients not hate work. Factors like retention, excitement to come to work, activity level, and inspiration are all topics that go into creating a dynamic space for clients. She pointed out that at the core an employee might dislike work because of their role, but creating an exciting physical space can help improve that sentiment. Elizabeth then pointed out that the HLW office is developing and experimenting in their own space by rearranging teams, testing sit-to-stand areas, and discussing possible arrangements with the entire staff rather than a small group, with her team leading the charge.
On a more personal level Liz gets her own inspiration from the infographics of Edward Tufte because she enjoys how he can communicate complex concepts in simple ways. Her role as a design strategist allows her to take a similar approach when she is trying to communicate the vision for a project. On the weekends you could find her running in the park or visiting a farmers market. She is also a museum enthusiast and regularly visits the Whitney for its scale and the Tenement museum on the lower East Side. She also travels a lot for pleasure locally and internationally, sighting Japan as one of her top destinations. The cultural shift is so apparent there and it is one of the few places that surprises her when traveling. This fall Elizabeth will be holding a workshop in San Francisco around service design.
Make sure to come by the WestEdge panel discussion on October 17th to hear more of Elizabeth’s thoughts as well as the entire panel discussion.
Jaclyn Giuliano, IIDA
Herman Miller
