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Welcome to another episode of laying the foundation.
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Welcome back everybody to another episode of the laying the foundation podcast. My name is Skylar Gorsett.
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I'm the host for today and joining me is Shelby, one of our amazing interior designers here in the Sioux City office to talk about the Sioux Honey project.
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So Shelby, I mean, I'll just have you kick us off with telling us about what Sioux Honey is.
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Who are they? What do they do? How did we get approached for this project? All that good stuff.
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Yeah, so Sioux Honey is a super iconic business here in Sioux City. If you're from here, you've heard of it. You've seen it.
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They've been around for over 100 years and it started just as a small group of about five beekeepers.
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They have like a co-op of over 150 nationwide. So pretty big business, produced a lot of honey.
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So initially, you know, we sat down with the client and it was really obvious that they had some like big dreams and they had some ideas, but they're very, very forward thinking, which is awesome.
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That's good. Yeah.
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Yeah. And they had some really good ideas, but they were open to us kind of looking at things and seeing if we had better thoughts or better ideas on how to do some things.
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You know, they were really looking to upgrade their space and match the company brand, but really allow for future growth. That was a huge conversation that kept coming up.
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Absolutely. I mean, and that's good. That's a good mentality to have is like, what are we going to do 10 years from now? Where are we going to be at?
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Mm-hmm.
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So you kind of had like a view of their facility. You got to tour the facility, which is really cool. What did it look like in there?
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Like, I've never been inside. I drive past it all the time. It's pretty, it's huge. It's a pretty big facility. So like, what even goes on in there?
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Yeah. So I toured it. It was like end of shift. So there weren't as many people in there and there wasn't as much going on, but they truly have even outgrown this, their plant space as well.
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But there's forklift traffic going everywhere. There's barrels of the honey coming in and then just really big equipment where they cook it and they filter and everything.
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But to me, I thought the actual like bottling system was really kind of cool to watch so quick and like how the labels go on and stuff is just kind of fascinating.
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It's like watching an episode of how it's made like live, right in front of you.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, no.
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Did it smell really like sweet in there too? Like, could you kind of?
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Yeah. Yeah.
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It wasn't like overbearing by any means, but yeah, no, it was pretty cool.
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That's awesome. That's so cool.
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Like I said, like anyone from Sioux City has probably seen this place and I would imagine most people are probably curious what goes on in there.
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You imagine just like bees flying everywhere, which I'm assuming probably.
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Wait, but like a lot of people think that.
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Yeah, exactly.
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There's no bees on site.
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Oh, that's good. As someone that's allergic to bee stings, like that's good. I could safely take a tour.
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Yeah.
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So that's really cool. Awesome. So they've got this massive, and they had offices. Do they have offices at that facility too?
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Because I know that's kind of a part of all of this too.
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There's just a couple in there that kind of are, you know, plant managers, that kind of thing.
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But their main corporate office is just across the parking lot right now.
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Oh, okay. Okay. So I guess that kind of goes into the next.
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What all kind of was encompassed in this original plan, this renovation project that they kind of wanted to do?
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Were they trying to bring it all together? Were they trying to just change the looks or change the layout?
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What was planned here?
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Yeah. So the original plan was for their existing corporate building, which is right next to the plant.
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Right.
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It's a very unique shape, and it's a very unique building, but it hasn't been touched since like the 70s or 80s.
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Right.
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And so while it's been maintained, like to the nines, it is impeccable. Like, it's just dated. You know, there's mauve colors.
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There's a lot of burgundy in there. And then what we were told was the original design was to be kind of like a beehive.
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Oh, okay. So we're really continuing that theme. That's great.
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Yeah. It's kind of maze-like in there right now. There's a lot of like smaller rooms and corridors and that kind of thing,
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which makes it hard for collaboration. And it does make it hard to really create that welcoming feeling for visitors,
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but also your employees and really getting everybody engaged with each other. So that was kind of one of their main goals there,
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is really to update, but then also maximize space so they do have room for future growth.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. And you had mentioned too before, in the information you had given me previously,
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that culture was like a really big focus for them. They really wanted to find ways to develop more opportunities for some like company culture for collaboration,
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like you said. So what did we kind of like, what was kind of the plan that we were thinking about originally to kind of help enhance that?
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Yeah. So we were going to take down a lot of the walls.
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Sure. Yeah.
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You know, open things up. They were really interested in having workstations versus offices, which is a big adjustment for a lot of companies.
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It's very intimidating. But typically we see after it's done, employees are happier.
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Yeah. So, you know, it allows natural light for everybody. It allows for collaboration, really that connection people need.
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Also, through COVID and a few other things, they had divided some things up throughout their office and they had compromised their employee like lounge and break room areas.
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So that's not a space they currently have. So really wanting to provide that for their employees, because it's important for them to be able to have a place where they can kind of get away.
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They also have some nice outdoor areas. They have a pollinator garden that their employees put together. So just kind of bringing that all together.
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They had a lot of good visions and a lot of good ideas, just not a facility that would really support it.
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Right. Right. And that kind of led to a little bit less of just renovation and they were thinking about doing a slight expansion, weren't they?
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Yeah. So with the existing building footprint, it was probably the hardest puzzle I've tried to figure out.
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Fair enough.
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Brent and I worked on it together and there was one day we just looked at each other and we had nothing.
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And so we went back to the drawing board, took a couple of days and then it all of a sudden clicked.
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We looked at their program and we really wanted to meet all their needs.
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The reality of it though was we weren't going to be able to do that with the square footage that they had and with the layout of the original building footprint.
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So there was an opportunity to square off a corner of the building. It's actually a very high traffic corner.
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So really it maximized some branding opportunity there, making it really visible.
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But there was an opportunity there to add a few more offices.
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It would have been beneficial, but still smaller in scale.
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So there was some compromises that were going to have to be made throughout the design.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that really leads nicely into sort of the big plot twist here.
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So you guys were, had all this design work completed, I think you said like 95% of the design work was good to go, approved.
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Things are ready, almost ready to get shipped off. And then the client came to you with something big.
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What happened? They did. So they called us and they wanted us to come look at a potential new building location.
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Oh my gosh. So, yep. What is it like to get that call?
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It's kind of hard to process all at once. It's like, okay, we're so far in, you're invested.
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But we were literally days away from delivering drawings to the contractor.
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And so we had to slam the brakes quick. We also had to be kind of quiet about what was going on.
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Right, absolutely. Because it was just a possibility and their employees didn't even know.
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So it caught us off guard, but after learning what the new location could offer,
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it really was intriguing to learn more about what could be done there.
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Kind of just explore the options.
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And I guess for this new facility that they were looking at, what were kind of the key factors?
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Because I'm guessing square footage was probably an element of it since that was a pretty limiting factor.
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Yeah, square footage was a big element of it when it comes to our scope of work and what we were looking at.
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But when you look at the big picture for Suhani, they have different warehouses located throughout Sioux City.
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So they would be able to consolidate and bring everything to one location, which is huge.
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There's also opportunity around there with empty land that was for sale.
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So the ultimate goal would be to build a plant in that location and have a campus where everything operated in one location.
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Very cool. Awesome. Yeah, bring it all together. I mean, that makes a lot of sense, right?
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It's going to cut down on a lot of costs and things, I'm sure along the way.
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So definitely a lot of pros there, a lot of opportunity for growth,
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which is obviously something they're really focused on.
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So, no, that's fantastic. That's awesome.
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You know, obviously a little bit frustrating to have to lean away from everything that had already been created,
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but so much opportunity to now bring all those things that you mentioned that you guys had to compromise on, which is really exciting.
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Yeah, yeah. You know, there's a lot of benefits for this space as well.
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The office space literally is a blank canvas.
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So there's minimal demo work that needs to be done and it's not in odd shape.
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So that's nice. It's a rectangle so we could get things to fit in it a lot easier.
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Sure, sure.
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But the function and flow of this space and like how we could really get the departments to be in the right locations, huge benefits there.
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Absolutely. And it's going to emphasize that collaboration again, kind of having everybody together,
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which is going to be, again, something that they were really looking for.
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And I think that's going to be a great opportunity there.
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Yeah.
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[Music]
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So obviously old kind of out new is in.
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We've got this big new facility.
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We've got all these new opportunities.
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What about their like their history, their company history?
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They obviously have a hundred years, you know, that they've been doing this and they've had some really cool,
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like the roots where they started and how it's developed into this massive, you know, honey company.
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What are we doing to help them kind of ensure that they're not losing that by moving facilities?
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Yes, that was one thing that the president, Kevin, really wanted to make sure we carried over.
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And they have a ton of memorabilia and items that are historical.
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And so Sue Honey is super proud of their history as they should be.
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And there's lots of opportunities throughout the space to really display items, you know, on the wall as artwork and things like that.
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But Kevin, their president really had the idea of having an almost museum like area.
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That was just going through my mind.
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Yeah.
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And there's a really great opportunity right when you walk in the building where we're kind of going to have a company experience.
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So you can kind of see where it started and where it got to.
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So just really providing that kind of museum like area for them to work with and put their items in.
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And I know that earlier you had mentioned like their old facility didn't have a lot of people came into like experience again.
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Like what what do you guys do or, you know, meet with people because we see a lot of that too, right?
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Like they have customers and clients that they like to meet with and bring into the office.
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And this is such a cool opportunity for people to walk in and see all of their their history and their growth and everything like that right there firsthand.
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Yeah. And so the one thing when you walk into their existing building now when you walk right in their old logo, which is their girl is what they call her is their girl.
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Sue, she is prominent and she's right there when you walk in.
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So we'll take Sue and we'll bring her over and make sure she's right when you walk in the front lobby here because that is the iconic symbol of Sue Honey if you're from this community.
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Yes. And then so another element obviously that we talked about a couple of times now they're they're very culture focused.
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They want to emphasize collaboration.
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What are we able to bring back some of the because I know they talked about they wanted to bring back their like meeting spaces and things like that,
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which had kind of gotten lost as they expanded. Are we finding ways to bring those in?
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Are we adding anything else that kind of helps build that that culture opportunities there?
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Yeah. So this new office space is great because we really don't have to compromise or give up on any of their wants or needs.
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Got all the space now.
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Yeah. So, you know, we now can kind of have a typical office size and a typical workstation size.
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Whereas before we were kind of just squeezing things in where we could.
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They were functional, but you know, we just kind of made do with things.
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So in really looking through some of the opportunities opportunities we had to bring culture throughout first, there's a huge skylight and existing buildings.
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Oh, nice.
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So bringing that natural light in and everybody gets to experience it, it really lights up the space.
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So that's a great benefit for all of the employees.
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There's going to be a nice large break room for gatherings and it's a little bit set away from some of the offices, which is great.
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It encourages employees to get up and move and kind of be able to get away from their desk and really just have a time out for a little bit.
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Absolutely.
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There's also going to be a large community training room or board room on the upper level and this space literally will display the company's mission on wall graphics.
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Oh, very cool.
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Yeah.
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So it's right there and it's really visible for anyone using that space.
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One thing that's really cool about Suhoney is they have their mission framed and in every office.
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So it is there for everybody to see at all times.
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Awesome.
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Awesome.
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Yeah, definitely.
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Again, keeping that sort of company, what our focus is, what our goal is and making sure that it's prominent throughout is obviously super key.
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Yeah.
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And then there's a handful of spaces that are devoted just for collaboration.
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You know, they don't have room for that now and it is important.
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So just really carving those spaces out and there's just kind of sprinkled throughout the building.
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So different departments have access to different types of spaces.
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Awesome.
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Yeah.
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No, super key.
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And again, super glad that they're focused on that concept, right?
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Building that company culture, building those collaborative opportunities.
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You mentioned the skylight, you know, it goes back to, we always joke about, you know, Lee's constant talking about bio-feeling design and things like that.
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Bringing in those natural elements and that's going to be huge.
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That's going to be so great for everybody's mental health.
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Yeah, but also creating a beautiful environment where their employees want to be, you know, they'd be more than comfortable to bring in any future partners or clients and then also their members as well.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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It's just, yeah, it's going to make a beautiful space for everybody to experience.
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You had a lot, I'm assuming you had a lot of fun probably working on the interior side of things and getting those finishes done.
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You mentioned earlier that their original concept was laying out the office and sort of a beehive setup and it kind of created sort of a maze.
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What is, what do the finishes look like now?
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What do we kind of, I guess that's more of a layout question, but I digress.
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What, what did we take from their concept as a honey producer and then move that into what we did for their design stuff?
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Thankfully, they were really happy with finishes from the first go around.
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So I didn't have to start from scratch there with the second round, but I really was able to dive into the concept on this one and work with the company's brand.
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And we don't always have the opportunity as interior designers.
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So I just really wanted to make the best of it and have some fun.
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Yeah.
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I love these too.
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So that was kind of fun for me, but really leaning into that honeycomb shape and trying to find different finishes with that shape and with some fun textures.
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It's somehow the stars aligned and Mohawk released a carpet that was inspired by bees at the same time as this.
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And it's beautiful.
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So we'll be using that.
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That couldn't be more perfect.
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That's awesome.
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It literally was at the same time, which was really cool, but the client instantly fell in love with that.
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So we'll be using that throughout.
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And then, you know, that kind of hexagon or honeycomb shape is pretty popular if you look for it.
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So you're trying to bring some of that in and just create a nice cohesive look and I can't wait to see it pulled together.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I mean, honestly, when it comes down to it, like, I mean, we do a lot of different designs for a lot of different kinds of spaces.
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I feel like this one definitely had the most.
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This is going to be such a fun theme to play with for sure.
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Like it's right there.
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There's a lot of stuff that's out there that we can kind of play around with and choose from.
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I don't know.
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That just sounds like a bee.
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Yeah, it's from the interior's perspective.
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It's hard to draw a concept sometimes.
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Yeah.
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Oh, yeah.
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You know, we can have ideas, but it's hard to just really make it cohesive throughout the entire design process.
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And this one was not difficult at all.
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And it just provided a lot of fun opportunity to use different types of materials and to really just have this cohesive design.
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Yeah, kind of helps you take a little bit away from having to focus too much on the how are we going to do it and more of what kind of cool stuff is out there.
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We can we have it.
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We can play with this.
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Like we have so much we can have fun.
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And I think that that kind of would have gone through my head at least.
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So yeah, awesome.
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Very cool.
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And then of course you mentioned that they obviously would inevitably make the announcement that they're changing directions.
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They put that out there.
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They did the press releases, all that good stuff.
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Obviously employees know the community knows what was going on.
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What was sort of the community response that they received once they release that news?
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Yeah, the community response has been super positive.
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Awesome.
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You know, this project is just the start of a multi-phase process.
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But ultimately it's going to bring new jobs to the community and it allows for an iconic business to continue to thrive in the community.
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So who wouldn't be happy about that?
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Absolutely.
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And like you said, there's there's they're going to have this huge campus.
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They're going to have all this space.
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They're going to have so much opportunity to grow.
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And that's going to be really cool and really beneficial for the community.
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Absolutely.
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Very awesome.
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And then last question I've got for you Shelby of all the stuff that you've all the work that you've put into this, all the design stuff that you've done.
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What are you most excited for everybody to get to see once this is done and open?
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Yeah, I think as I mentioned, you know, this is just the start for a bunch of exciting changes for Suhani.
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And this project kicks off, you know, the buzz of excitement.
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But I'm excited for the opportunities of growth for our community.
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I grew up here and I live here now.
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And so to really be a part of that is pretty exciting.
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And I'm also excited for their employees and their members.
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They've been an amazing client to work with.
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And it's honestly the most rewarding thing to see their dreams and goals become a reality.
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So really excited to see all the finishes come into place.
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It's going to be a beautiful space for them.
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Yeah, I just can't wait to see the end result.
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Absolutely. It's going to be awesome.
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And like you said, it's always nice to work with clients that really want to see future growth opportunities to enhance their company culture.
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And they turn to us and they say like, hey, what ideas do you guys have?
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Because we want to do this the best way possible.
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We know that you guys do this kind of stuff all the time.
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You guys have seen what works and what doesn't.
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And so yeah, it sounds like they were a fantastic client to be able to say, hey, here's an idea for you.
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And they said, let's do it. This sounds great.
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Yeah, you know, they could have stopped and said, all right, first design.
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Yep, this will work. We'll make do.
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They didn't stop there.
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They decided to push it further.
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And that really shows, you know, how deep their roots are and how invested they really are.
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And they're wanting a success from this project.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. Awesome.
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Well, I'm excited to see this.
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I hope they send me to go get pictures because I really want to get in there and check it out.
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So, but Shelby, thank you so much for sitting down and talking about the project.
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I think, again, this is going to be a really cool project.
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And as somebody that's also from Sioux City and lived in Sioux City and currently lives in Sioux City,
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I'm excited to see this happen.
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Awesome. Thanks, Skylar. Yeah, absolutely.
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If you'd like to find out more about the Lang the Foundation podcast,
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you can head over to any podcast streaming platform such as Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts and others.
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Additionally, you can head over to the CMBA website at cmbaarchitects.com.
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If you're an architecture or design professional or an intern looking for an internship within those fields,
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please be sure to check out our website and click on the careers tab to find out more about what opportunities we offer.
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This has been another episode of the Lang the Foundation podcast. We'll see you next time.
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[MUSIC]
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Welcome to another episode of laying the foundation.
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Welcome back everybody to another episode of the laying the foundation podcast. My name is Skylar Gorsett.
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I'm the host for today and joining me is Shelby, one of our amazing interior designers here in the Sioux City office to talk about the Sioux Honey project.
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So Shelby, I mean, I'll just have you kick us off with telling us about what Sioux Honey is.
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Who are they? What do they do? How did we get approached for this project? All that good stuff.
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Yeah, so Sioux Honey is a super iconic business here in Sioux City. If you're from here, you've heard of it. You've seen it.
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They've been around for over 100 years and it started just as a small group of about five beekeepers.
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They have like a co-op of over 150 nationwide. So pretty big business, produced a lot of honey.
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So initially, you know, we sat down with the client and it was really obvious that they had some like big dreams and they had some ideas, but they're very, very forward thinking, which is awesome.
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That's good. Yeah.
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Yeah. And they had some really good ideas, but they were open to us kind of looking at things and seeing if we had better thoughts or better ideas on how to do some things.
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You know, they were really looking to upgrade their space and match the company brand, but really allow for future growth. That was a huge conversation that kept coming up.
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Absolutely. I mean, and that's good. That's a good mentality to have is like, what are we going to do 10 years from now? Where are we going to be at?
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Mm-hmm.
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So you kind of had like a view of their facility. You got to tour the facility, which is really cool. What did it look like in there?
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Like, I've never been inside. I drive past it all the time. It's pretty, it's huge. It's a pretty big facility. So like, what even goes on in there?
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Yeah. So I toured it. It was like end of shift. So there weren't as many people in there and there wasn't as much going on, but they truly have even outgrown this, their plant space as well.
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But there's forklift traffic going everywhere. There's barrels of the honey coming in and then just really big equipment where they cook it and they filter and everything.
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But to me, I thought the actual like bottling system was really kind of cool to watch so quick and like how the labels go on and stuff is just kind of fascinating.
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It's like watching an episode of how it's made like live, right in front of you.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, no.
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Did it smell really like sweet in there too? Like, could you kind of?
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Yeah. Yeah.
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It wasn't like overbearing by any means, but yeah, no, it was pretty cool.
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That's awesome. That's so cool.
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Like I said, like anyone from Sioux City has probably seen this place and I would imagine most people are probably curious what goes on in there.
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You imagine just like bees flying everywhere, which I'm assuming probably.
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Wait, but like a lot of people think that.
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Yeah, exactly.
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There's no bees on site.
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Oh, that's good. As someone that's allergic to bee stings, like that's good. I could safely take a tour.
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Yeah.
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So that's really cool. Awesome. So they've got this massive, and they had offices. Do they have offices at that facility too?
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Because I know that's kind of a part of all of this too.
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There's just a couple in there that kind of are, you know, plant managers, that kind of thing.
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But their main corporate office is just across the parking lot right now.
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Oh, okay. Okay. So I guess that kind of goes into the next.
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What all kind of was encompassed in this original plan, this renovation project that they kind of wanted to do?
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Were they trying to bring it all together? Were they trying to just change the looks or change the layout?
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What was planned here?
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Yeah. So the original plan was for their existing corporate building, which is right next to the plant.
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Right.
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It's a very unique shape, and it's a very unique building, but it hasn't been touched since like the 70s or 80s.
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Right.
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And so while it's been maintained, like to the nines, it is impeccable. Like, it's just dated. You know, there's mauve colors.
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There's a lot of burgundy in there. And then what we were told was the original design was to be kind of like a beehive.
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Oh, okay. So we're really continuing that theme. That's great.
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Yeah. It's kind of maze-like in there right now. There's a lot of like smaller rooms and corridors and that kind of thing,
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which makes it hard for collaboration. And it does make it hard to really create that welcoming feeling for visitors,
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but also your employees and really getting everybody engaged with each other. So that was kind of one of their main goals there,
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is really to update, but then also maximize space so they do have room for future growth.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. And you had mentioned too before, in the information you had given me previously,
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that culture was like a really big focus for them. They really wanted to find ways to develop more opportunities for some like company culture for collaboration,
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like you said. So what did we kind of like, what was kind of the plan that we were thinking about originally to kind of help enhance that?
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Yeah. So we were going to take down a lot of the walls.
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Sure. Yeah.
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You know, open things up. They were really interested in having workstations versus offices, which is a big adjustment for a lot of companies.
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It's very intimidating. But typically we see after it's done, employees are happier.
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Yeah. So, you know, it allows natural light for everybody. It allows for collaboration, really that connection people need.
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Also, through COVID and a few other things, they had divided some things up throughout their office and they had compromised their employee like lounge and break room areas.
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So that's not a space they currently have. So really wanting to provide that for their employees, because it's important for them to be able to have a place where they can kind of get away.
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They also have some nice outdoor areas. They have a pollinator garden that their employees put together. So just kind of bringing that all together.
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They had a lot of good visions and a lot of good ideas, just not a facility that would really support it.
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Right. Right. And that kind of led to a little bit less of just renovation and they were thinking about doing a slight expansion, weren't they?
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Yeah. So with the existing building footprint, it was probably the hardest puzzle I've tried to figure out.
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Fair enough.
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Brent and I worked on it together and there was one day we just looked at each other and we had nothing.
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And so we went back to the drawing board, took a couple of days and then it all of a sudden clicked.
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We looked at their program and we really wanted to meet all their needs.
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The reality of it though was we weren't going to be able to do that with the square footage that they had and with the layout of the original building footprint.
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So there was an opportunity to square off a corner of the building. It's actually a very high traffic corner.
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So really it maximized some branding opportunity there, making it really visible.
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But there was an opportunity there to add a few more offices.
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It would have been beneficial, but still smaller in scale.
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So there was some compromises that were going to have to be made throughout the design.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that really leads nicely into sort of the big plot twist here.
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So you guys were, had all this design work completed, I think you said like 95% of the design work was good to go, approved.
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Things are ready, almost ready to get shipped off. And then the client came to you with something big.
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What happened? They did. So they called us and they wanted us to come look at a potential new building location.
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Oh my gosh. So, yep. What is it like to get that call?
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It's kind of hard to process all at once. It's like, okay, we're so far in, you're invested.
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But we were literally days away from delivering drawings to the contractor.
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And so we had to slam the brakes quick. We also had to be kind of quiet about what was going on.
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Right, absolutely. Because it was just a possibility and their employees didn't even know.
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So it caught us off guard, but after learning what the new location could offer,
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it really was intriguing to learn more about what could be done there.
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Kind of just explore the options.
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And I guess for this new facility that they were looking at, what were kind of the key factors?
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Because I'm guessing square footage was probably an element of it since that was a pretty limiting factor.
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Yeah, square footage was a big element of it when it comes to our scope of work and what we were looking at.
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But when you look at the big picture for Suhani, they have different warehouses located throughout Sioux City.
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So they would be able to consolidate and bring everything to one location, which is huge.
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There's also opportunity around there with empty land that was for sale.
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So the ultimate goal would be to build a plant in that location and have a campus where everything operated in one location.
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Very cool. Awesome. Yeah, bring it all together. I mean, that makes a lot of sense, right?
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It's going to cut down on a lot of costs and things, I'm sure along the way.
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So definitely a lot of pros there, a lot of opportunity for growth,
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which is obviously something they're really focused on.
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So, no, that's fantastic. That's awesome.
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You know, obviously a little bit frustrating to have to lean away from everything that had already been created,
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but so much opportunity to now bring all those things that you mentioned that you guys had to compromise on, which is really exciting.
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Yeah, yeah. You know, there's a lot of benefits for this space as well.
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The office space literally is a blank canvas.
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So there's minimal demo work that needs to be done and it's not in odd shape.
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So that's nice. It's a rectangle so we could get things to fit in it a lot easier.
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Sure, sure.
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But the function and flow of this space and like how we could really get the departments to be in the right locations, huge benefits there.
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Absolutely. And it's going to emphasize that collaboration again, kind of having everybody together,
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which is going to be, again, something that they were really looking for.
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And I think that's going to be a great opportunity there.
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Yeah.
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[Music]
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So obviously old kind of out new is in.
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We've got this big new facility.
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We've got all these new opportunities.
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What about their like their history, their company history?
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They obviously have a hundred years, you know, that they've been doing this and they've had some really cool,
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like the roots where they started and how it's developed into this massive, you know, honey company.
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What are we doing to help them kind of ensure that they're not losing that by moving facilities?
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Yes, that was one thing that the president, Kevin, really wanted to make sure we carried over.
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And they have a ton of memorabilia and items that are historical.
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And so Sue Honey is super proud of their history as they should be.
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And there's lots of opportunities throughout the space to really display items, you know, on the wall as artwork and things like that.
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But Kevin, their president really had the idea of having an almost museum like area.
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That was just going through my mind.
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Yeah.
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And there's a really great opportunity right when you walk in the building where we're kind of going to have a company experience.
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So you can kind of see where it started and where it got to.
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So just really providing that kind of museum like area for them to work with and put their items in.
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And I know that earlier you had mentioned like their old facility didn't have a lot of people came into like experience again.
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Like what what do you guys do or, you know, meet with people because we see a lot of that too, right?
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Like they have customers and clients that they like to meet with and bring into the office.
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And this is such a cool opportunity for people to walk in and see all of their their history and their growth and everything like that right there firsthand.
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Yeah. And so the one thing when you walk into their existing building now when you walk right in their old logo, which is their girl is what they call her is their girl.
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Sue, she is prominent and she's right there when you walk in.
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So we'll take Sue and we'll bring her over and make sure she's right when you walk in the front lobby here because that is the iconic symbol of Sue Honey if you're from this community.
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Yes. And then so another element obviously that we talked about a couple of times now they're they're very culture focused.
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They want to emphasize collaboration.
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What are we able to bring back some of the because I know they talked about they wanted to bring back their like meeting spaces and things like that,
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which had kind of gotten lost as they expanded. Are we finding ways to bring those in?
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Are we adding anything else that kind of helps build that that culture opportunities there?
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Yeah. So this new office space is great because we really don't have to compromise or give up on any of their wants or needs.
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Got all the space now.
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Yeah. So, you know, we now can kind of have a typical office size and a typical workstation size.
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Whereas before we were kind of just squeezing things in where we could.
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They were functional, but you know, we just kind of made do with things.
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So in really looking through some of the opportunities opportunities we had to bring culture throughout first, there's a huge skylight and existing buildings.
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Oh, nice.
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So bringing that natural light in and everybody gets to experience it, it really lights up the space.
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So that's a great benefit for all of the employees.
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There's going to be a nice large break room for gatherings and it's a little bit set away from some of the offices, which is great.
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It encourages employees to get up and move and kind of be able to get away from their desk and really just have a time out for a little bit.
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Absolutely.
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There's also going to be a large community training room or board room on the upper level and this space literally will display the company's mission on wall graphics.
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Oh, very cool.
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Yeah.
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So it's right there and it's really visible for anyone using that space.
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One thing that's really cool about Suhoney is they have their mission framed and in every office.
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So it is there for everybody to see at all times.
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Awesome.
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Awesome.
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Yeah, definitely.
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Again, keeping that sort of company, what our focus is, what our goal is and making sure that it's prominent throughout is obviously super key.
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Yeah.
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And then there's a handful of spaces that are devoted just for collaboration.
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You know, they don't have room for that now and it is important.
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So just really carving those spaces out and there's just kind of sprinkled throughout the building.
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So different departments have access to different types of spaces.
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Awesome.
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Yeah.
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No, super key.
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And again, super glad that they're focused on that concept, right?
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Building that company culture, building those collaborative opportunities.
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You mentioned the skylight, you know, it goes back to, we always joke about, you know, Lee's constant talking about bio-feeling design and things like that.
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Bringing in those natural elements and that's going to be huge.
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That's going to be so great for everybody's mental health.
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Yeah, but also creating a beautiful environment where their employees want to be, you know, they'd be more than comfortable to bring in any future partners or clients and then also their members as well.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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It's just, yeah, it's going to make a beautiful space for everybody to experience.
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You had a lot, I'm assuming you had a lot of fun probably working on the interior side of things and getting those finishes done.
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You mentioned earlier that their original concept was laying out the office and sort of a beehive setup and it kind of created sort of a maze.
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What is, what do the finishes look like now?
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What do we kind of, I guess that's more of a layout question, but I digress.
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What, what did we take from their concept as a honey producer and then move that into what we did for their design stuff?
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Thankfully, they were really happy with finishes from the first go around.
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So I didn't have to start from scratch there with the second round, but I really was able to dive into the concept on this one and work with the company's brand.
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And we don't always have the opportunity as interior designers.
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So I just really wanted to make the best of it and have some fun.
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Yeah.
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I love these too.
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So that was kind of fun for me, but really leaning into that honeycomb shape and trying to find different finishes with that shape and with some fun textures.
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It's somehow the stars aligned and Mohawk released a carpet that was inspired by bees at the same time as this.
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And it's beautiful.
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So we'll be using that.
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That couldn't be more perfect.
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That's awesome.
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It literally was at the same time, which was really cool, but the client instantly fell in love with that.
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So we'll be using that throughout.
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And then, you know, that kind of hexagon or honeycomb shape is pretty popular if you look for it.
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So you're trying to bring some of that in and just create a nice cohesive look and I can't wait to see it pulled together.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I mean, honestly, when it comes down to it, like, I mean, we do a lot of different designs for a lot of different kinds of spaces.
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I feel like this one definitely had the most.
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This is going to be such a fun theme to play with for sure.
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Like it's right there.
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There's a lot of stuff that's out there that we can kind of play around with and choose from.
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I don't know.
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That just sounds like a bee.
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Yeah, it's from the interior's perspective.
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It's hard to draw a concept sometimes.
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Yeah.
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Oh, yeah.
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You know, we can have ideas, but it's hard to just really make it cohesive throughout the entire design process.
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And this one was not difficult at all.
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And it just provided a lot of fun opportunity to use different types of materials and to really just have this cohesive design.
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Yeah, kind of helps you take a little bit away from having to focus too much on the how are we going to do it and more of what kind of cool stuff is out there.
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We can we have it.
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We can play with this.
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Like we have so much we can have fun.
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And I think that that kind of would have gone through my head at least.
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So yeah, awesome.
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Very cool.
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And then of course you mentioned that they obviously would inevitably make the announcement that they're changing directions.
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They put that out there.
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They did the press releases, all that good stuff.
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Obviously employees know the community knows what was going on.
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What was sort of the community response that they received once they release that news?
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Yeah, the community response has been super positive.
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Awesome.
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You know, this project is just the start of a multi-phase process.
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But ultimately it's going to bring new jobs to the community and it allows for an iconic business to continue to thrive in the community.
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So who wouldn't be happy about that?
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Absolutely.
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And like you said, there's there's they're going to have this huge campus.
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They're going to have all this space.
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They're going to have so much opportunity to grow.
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And that's going to be really cool and really beneficial for the community.
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Absolutely.
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Very awesome.
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And then last question I've got for you Shelby of all the stuff that you've all the work that you've put into this, all the design stuff that you've done.
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What are you most excited for everybody to get to see once this is done and open?
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Yeah, I think as I mentioned, you know, this is just the start for a bunch of exciting changes for Suhani.
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And this project kicks off, you know, the buzz of excitement.
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But I'm excited for the opportunities of growth for our community.
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I grew up here and I live here now.
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And so to really be a part of that is pretty exciting.
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And I'm also excited for their employees and their members.
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They've been an amazing client to work with.
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And it's honestly the most rewarding thing to see their dreams and goals become a reality.
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So really excited to see all the finishes come into place.
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It's going to be a beautiful space for them.
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Yeah, I just can't wait to see the end result.
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Absolutely. It's going to be awesome.
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And like you said, it's always nice to work with clients that really want to see future growth opportunities to enhance their company culture.
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And they turn to us and they say like, hey, what ideas do you guys have?
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Because we want to do this the best way possible.
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We know that you guys do this kind of stuff all the time.
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You guys have seen what works and what doesn't.
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And so yeah, it sounds like they were a fantastic client to be able to say, hey, here's an idea for you.
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And they said, let's do it. This sounds great.
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Yeah, you know, they could have stopped and said, all right, first design.
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Yep, this will work. We'll make do.
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They didn't stop there.
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They decided to push it further.
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And that really shows, you know, how deep their roots are and how invested they really are.
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And they're wanting a success from this project.
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Absolutely. Absolutely. Awesome.
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Well, I'm excited to see this.
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I hope they send me to go get pictures because I really want to get in there and check it out.
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So, but Shelby, thank you so much for sitting down and talking about the project.
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I think, again, this is going to be a really cool project.
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And as somebody that's also from Sioux City and lived in Sioux City and currently lives in Sioux City,
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I'm excited to see this happen.
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Awesome. Thanks, Skylar. Yeah, absolutely.
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If you'd like to find out more about the Lang the Foundation podcast,
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you can head over to any podcast streaming platform such as Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts and others.
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Additionally, you can head over to the CMBA website at cmbaarchitects.com.
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If you're an architecture or design professional or an intern looking for an internship within those fields,
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please be sure to check out our website and click on the careers tab to find out more about what opportunities we offer.
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This has been another episode of the Lang the Foundation podcast. We'll see you next time.
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[MUSIC]
