Six Years of SPACE
by Hal Matthews, Principal, SPACE

In Chicago, Illinois, six years ago this summer, Jean Bellas left her position as head of interiors for an international design firm. Jean set out not just to found a new firm but also to redefine the way the corporate workplace is planned, and for that matter to redefine the way that professional consultants deliver solutions to Corporate Real Estate organizations. She succeeded indeed.

Jean knew that interior design and architecture created purely with aesthetics as its goal was the common practice. Typically, the final product was out of sync with the corporate client's business goals. Her vision of building a firm that delivers professional solutions for the workplace that are business based in their conception became a reality in June of 1995.

Jean quickly assembled an outstanding team of architects, engineers, strategic planners, and business specialists. Together they set the framework for the SPACE Matrix, which is still the guiding delivery model of SPACE today (Fig 1). SPACE attempts to initialize every engagement with a strategic planning element, which provides for a discovery process aimed at getting to the business issue.



In these six short years, SPACE has grown from a dream of "doing it better" to a global organization, providing complete corporate real estate planning, design, implementation, facility management, and technology services from 10 locations in the United States, Mexico, Europe and the Asia Pacific. Additionally, the SPACE Matrix will take on even more significant dimension during 2001.

"It is very gratifying to know that we have participated in the planning and execution of some of the most innovative corporate real estate projects during the past six years…but the most significant work is just beginning." Legacy thinking in corporate real estate management is changing and SPACE is responding. Industry altering work for such clients as Cisco, Sprint, AT&T, Lucent, Avaya, Microsoft, Qwest, and Prudential continues to grow.


Photos clockwise from top left: Prudential, Microsoft, Cisco, Qwest

The Chicago team, still the cornerstone of the SPACE organization, moved to new headquarters this year at 520 W. Erie. Gary Bazzoni, Co-Managing Director of SPACE Chicago, is one of the original team members and is joined by long time SPACE Member, Ray Irmer in continuing to build the Chicago program. Ray recently returned from a long-term client assignment in Europe. Clients such ARC, Dow Chemical, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint are managed by the Chicago team, but SPACE is truly a virtual organization, and as such client work is produced at the most appropriate location for the client. SPACE locations are not single profit centers, but rather virtual extensions of the whole for the best of class services for SPACE clients.


Photos: Chicago, SPACE Office

The other SPACE offices include Seattle, Washington, under the direction of SPACE Principal, Shawn Rush, managing major clients such as Microsoft. Morrie Spang, Principal, and one of the originally assembled members leads the Atlanta, Georgia office. The New York and New Jersey locations are managed by Scott Daniels, servicing major clients such as Prudential. The Oakland, California office is co-managed by Tracy Wymer and Jim Stefanski. Jim is another original member of Jean's initial team.

The Oakland, California office is Co-Managed by Tracy Wymer and Jim Stefanski. Jim is another original member of Jean's initial team. The Oakland office manages global work for clients such as Cisco Systems. Juan Carlos Baumgartner is Managing Director of the Mexico City office. Juan Carlos and his team have produced internationally recognized and award winning work for major clients such as Coca Cola de Mexico and American Express de Mexico. SPACE Japan is led by Kenji Hirao with assistance from Motoo Kumagai for major Japanese companies, as well as managing U.S. SPACE projects in the area. Rob Parker manages the balance of SPACE Asia Pacific work from his location in Sydney, Australia-and Jan Ellisen leads our efforts in Europe with SPACE affiliate, Saarberg Partners of the Netherlands.