CHAPTER 8:
EXPANDING WITH A NEW MODEL
A company’s location says a great deal about the clients it wants to attract and the kind of employees it wants to hire. If it is super cool and tech-oriented, it will be accessible to staff in hipster hubs like Williamsburg and Hoboken. If it wants more conservative employees, it will head to Midtown or Park Avenue for the easy commute from the Northern suburbs. Still other companies leave the city to establish themselves in the suburbs, where the chief executive will have his pick of prospective staff and no commute. It’s easier all around, less expensive and comes with a more family-friendly lifestyle. MKDA responded to this urban diaspora with the opening of the firm’s first satellite office in Stamford, Connecticut, in 2006. Julia Lindh, R.A., executive managing director and director of design, who created the office as “a one man shop” 12 years ago, now has a staff of 11, 10 of whom are designers and project managers, and a healthy roster of projects coming on board as more corporate executives tire of the expense and stresses of Manhattan. 70
M I LO K L E I N B E R G A N D M K DA : S I X D E C A D E S I N D E S I G N
Workpoint coworking space, Stamford. PHOTOGRAPH: Garrett Rowland.
