For nearly 40 years, Design Collective has been providing design services for corporate, educational, hospitality, healthcare and retail clients.

Upon entering Design Collective Incorporated's Web site, visitors see an empty box, which the company describes as "empty, but full of possibilities." Finding the innate possibilities of a client's interior space is what Design Collective does best, according to Principal David Cooke. He says the company's guiding principle can be summed up in two words: "Space matters."

"This is a theme that we use as we sell to our clients," Cooke says. "It is a theme we use as we design internally for our clients. "At Design Collective, this philosophy that we deal with empty boxes and that all of these boxes have possibilities to be more than just space is the link around all of this," Cooke adds.

For nearly 40 years, the Columbus, Ohio, firm has been providing design services for corporate, educational, hospitality, healthcare and retail clients. Cooke says the company follows a mission statement that was developed with the input of every staff member, and uses an approach that integrates three main disciplines.

Design Collective was founded by Bob Valentine in 1969, the company says, out of a desire to focus on projects "designed from the inside-out." Cooke joined as an equity partner in 1972, and Principal Eugene McHugh joined the firm in 1993.

The company has designed interiors for many high-profile clients in recent years, including Lane Bryant, Colliers International and upscale restaurants. Cooke says these and other projects demonstrate Design Collective's dedication to maximizing the potential of a client's "empty box."

‘One Common Voice'
When it came time for Design Collective to develop its mission statement, Cooke says, the firm decided that it would be best to take a collaborative approach. Cooke says collaboration is a major component of what the firm does, and it wanted every member to be able to articulate its purpose with clarity.

"This was created as a group activity, and we felt we needed to have one common voice [that] not only the principals but any staff member could say to the client that would tell them who we are and what we do," Cooke says.

The process began with the collection of many key words that the staff thought were indicative of Design Collective's philosophy. Those words were written on index cards and tacked to the wall. Over the course of a few weeks, Cooke says, staff members rearranged the cards until the most important words were assembled. Cooke says the firm came up with three key elements: design, teamwork and crafting.

Stylistic Choices
As an interior architecture and design firm, Design Collective believes in creating a space that gives the client functionality but also represents a connection to its internal culture.

"We believe we do not live in our spaces;' our clients do," Cooke says. This means that Design Collective has no set "house style" that characterizes all of its work. From the casual style of Blake's Seafood in Westlake, Ohio, to the collaborative open space at Progressive Medical's offices in Westerville, Ohio, Design Collective lets the client's needs and desires color the process. "The nicest compliment you could give us is that you didn't know we had done the project we were showing you," Cooke says.

One example of the firm's fusion of a client's culture with functionality is the work it did for the headquarters of women's clothing retailer Lane Bryant in Columbus. Design Collective focused on fashion when designing the space, including fully dressed mannequins in the main lobby and other public spaces. The firm says it followed a general theme of "office as retail" that expresses itself with two mock-up stores in the offices. It also features a color palette based on cosmetics, with flesh tones and neutral colors.

The collaborative nature of the work done at Lane Bryant is accommodated by a cafe-inspired space outside several meeting rooms. This common area features several tables and chairs for employees to gather for informal meetings throughout the day. "Sometimes the term is ‘drive-bys,'" Cooke says.

Team Effort
As shown in the firm's approach to its mission statement, teamwork is an essential element at Design Collective, Cooke says. A healthy collaboration among architecture, interior design and environmental design is what leads to the best results, he says. "When they work in collaboration … the best work comes forward."

A major part of ensuring the best collaboration among all stakeholders is communicating with clients. "If we're asking questions that match our work toward solving our clients' business objectives, we create the best interior spaces," Cooke says. This allows Design Collective to consider the architectural, interior design and environmental design of each space as parts of a whole, guided by the input it receives from clients.

"We believe the strength of this firm is that all three of those disciplines touch every project that we do," Cooke says.

Working together with clients on their interior spaces has given Design Collective insight into what clients in different businesses require. For example, Cooke says, Design Collective has helped many law firms design spaces that include some kind of informal meeting area where lawyers can hold public meetings or outreach events.

The firm has also designed spaces for healthcare clients that include private spaces for communication between doctors and patients' families, which allow doctors to talk to family members in a more intimate setting than a waiting room.

Quality Counts
Craftsmanship is something Cooke says Design Collective reminds itself about every day. In a time in which many interior spaces look mass-produced and are focused almost solely on cost, Design Collective strives not to let the aesthetics of the business get lost. "We're still crafting," Cooke says. "We still believe we're artisans."

Maintaining creative solutions is something Cooke says Design Collective works for in every project, and attitudes about what is most important for interior design are changing slowly.

Although in the past cost was the driving factor in many projects, many clients are beginning to recognize the value a properly designed office interior can have for them in the long run. "Many clients realize that work environments are important tools for recruiting and retaining staff," Cooke says. Even though cost remains an important factor for many clients, human concerns and needs are being considered more frequently by clients. "We can't let cost be the sole driver of good projects," he adds. To gain perspective on the needs of clients and fuel creative thought within the firm, Cooke says Design Collective is on a "constant drive to observe and see as many projects as possible."

Going Through Changes
Just as clients' attitudes about their interior space are changing, their needs are beginning to change, as well. Cooke says Design Collective has seen many clients alter their spaces in response to changes in their industries. He says Design Collective's policy of looking at as many projects as it can helps the firm stay in step with these changes.

The firm accomplishes this through site visits, monthly staff meetings to discuss projects and through trade publications. For example, Cooke says, real estate firms have started to move away from holding closings in mortgage offices to holding them at brokers' offices. This means an increase in public space as well as increased emphasis on comfort for homebuyers. "All of a sudden, the spaces that were used 10 years ago don't support the current sales methods of the more aggressive national real estate firms," he says.

Cooke says the firm wants to ensure that clients get the most out of their interior spaces, even long after Design Collective's work is finished. The company is conducting post-occupancy studies that Cooke hopes will provide it with a quantitative measurement of clients' satisfaction with their interiors. The firm hopes to apply what it learns from the studies to future projects, he adds.

In addition to changes in its clients' interior needs, Cooke says the commercial interior design market itself is changing due to a number of new players inserting themselves into the mix. "More people are trying to enter our niche," he says. "So we have large architectural firms who feel that offering interior design services would be a logical extension, even though they might not have expertise or be trained in those areas."

The added competition has made it necessary for Design Collective to take a more direct approach to its self-image, which leads back to the firm's streamlined mission statement.

In Good Hands
Cooke says the future of Design Collective is in good hands. The firm recently announced the appointment of four associate-level staff members: Marcus Brewer, AIA; Ralph Napletana; Brent LaCount; and Michael Lindner, LEED AP. Cooke says all four were promoted from within the firm, and provide it with a solid foundation of leadership for the future.

"I see the company allowing the new leadership to expand on four decades of a solid client base [and] core principles of design, and I'm optimistic that the future is strong because of the leadership that we have in place," Cooke says.