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May 07, 2023

Extruded aluminum profiles provide the backbone for modular offices, event structures, outdoor stages

A rendering of a two-story exhibit space hints at the many possibilities when

A rendering of a two-story exhibit space hints at the many possibilities when planning an exhibit. The large, open, somewhat public area on the second story implies that this is a place for visitor introductions and casual conversations, while meetings that are more serious in tone take place in the enclosed areas.

Imagine a typical office on a shop floor. Planned and built on a shoestring budget, most are low on features and amenities. After construction, most are ignored for years (or decades), and the overall condition usually goes downhill rapidly. Ideally, an office on the shop floor provides some refuge from the noise and constant activity, but many are flimsy and have little or ineffective soundproofing. Replacing it with a proper office would be ideal, but where would a person start?

It turns out this project can start close to home because the solution to this problem is in the metal forming industry. Metal fabricator YOURspace Inc. designs modular, expandable offices using proprietary designs and has decades of experience. The key structural components? Aluminum extrusions.

YOURspace is a new company launched in response to the pandemic. Its expertise comes from its parent, Highmark Techsystems, which has been developing single- and two-story exhibit spaces for expositions since the late 1990s.

"Highmark Techsystems developed during an incubation period when it was part of ICON Exhibits," said Debbie Parrott, president of Highmark and YOURspace. ICON's forte was developing exhibits such as those used at tradeshows and various expositions. ICON supplied signs, furniture, lighting, and everything else that tradeshow staff and booth visitors came into contact with.

"In founding Highmark, we created a captive supplier of the portion of the exhibit that the staff and visitors wouldn't see, or at least wouldn't likely notice, which is the underlying structure," Parrott said. "Highmark designs the extrusions that constitute the structure." Over the years, the company has developed many trademarked and patented concepts, carving out a unique spot in the tradeshow industry.

"Highmark developed the first modular wall panel system in the U.S. and the first decking system," Parrott said. Highmark was spun off from ICON so it could sell its products to intermediaries who would use its wall bases and deck bases as a starting point, then add cladding, furniture, lighting, signage, and everything else that goes into an exhibit.

Success in this market rests on several key ingredients. The first is versatility. Highmark has approximately 100 extrusion designs for anything an exhibit needs—walls to divide interior space from exterior space, walls to create specific indoor spaces, decking for a floor on a second level. The engineers create every extrusion shape from a modular perspective, providing infinite flexibility in the size, scope, and layout of each exhibit.

"We design everything for future uses," said Matt Andrews, vice president of sales for the two companies. Many of the accoutrements are installed using a T-shaped channel, so it's not uncommon to see a T channel in a Highmark extrusion, even if the intended use isn't evident.

The second ingredient is simplicity. Since Highmark designs all of its own extrusions, it wasn't a big leap to design a fastening system to hold the structures together.

"Where two extrusions meet at a 90-degree angle, we miter-cut the corners," Andrews said. "We developed our own 90-degree bracket. Each extrusion has a pocket that the bracket fits into, which is fastened into place with two set screws."

YOURspace office pods provide a quiet place to work solo or to conduct small meetings. Opaque wall sections and doors are available for maximum privacy, while clear acrylic panels allow sunlight, a greater sense of accessibility, and in a pinch, more surface area for writing or drawing.

Simplicity in design leads to simplicity in assembly. Putting together or tearing down an event or expo structure requires event staff with tools and ladders, but nothing else. The team doesn't need specialized tools or training, and they don't need cranes or anything else to lift the items into place.

Third, Highmark staff knows it's important to keep the weight under control. Aluminum is key. Of course, it's pricier than steel, but the payoff is lower transportation cost. Considering that these items are used by most customers several times a year, keeping the transportation cost as low as possible is a substantial consideration.

Closely related to the cost of transportation is the time (and therefore cost) of setup. Highmark does what it can to keep setup time as short as possible.

"Like IKEA, we try to pack everything as efficiently as we can, but our assembly is relatively less labor-intensive," said Andrews. "IKEA's strategy is to keep every shipping carton as small as possible, so they break everything down to the component level to pack the boxes as tightly as they can. We don't go that far—we pack and ship subassemblies." In doing so, Highmark balances the cost of shipping against the time and cost of the labor needed to set up an event space. By keeping the material cost, shipping cost, and setup time in mind, the company reduces the total cost of ownership.

"Total cost of ownership matters to all our customers, but to some more than others," Parrott said. "We have many customers who work to set up in contracted exhibit spaces." Considering that they make a living on setup, teardown, and shipping, they have an abiding interest in the most affordable combination of costs.

All of these considerations are carried over to Highmark's outdoor systems. The main difference is that the outdoor units are beefed up substantially and are rated to withstand winds up to 120 miles per hour.

The pandemic brought public events and expositions to an abrupt halt as people worked and quarantined from home. Entrepreneur David Faust, who had worked closely with Highmark in the past and was familiar with its systems technology, approached Highmark to found YOURspace and design home office pods. Developed to create a quiet space isolated from the distractions and occasional chaos of a household, YOURspace office pods incorporated the same modular concept used by Highmark. As a result, setup is just as easy as it is for Highmark products, requiring no special tools, equipment, or know-how. And like the exhibit structures, the pods are extremely versatile.

"A YOURspace pod can be anything you want it to be," Andrews said. "We offer choices of paneling on the exterior and fabric, acrylic, and hardwall on the interiors." The pods are available in eight standard sizes, and, like the commercial structures, they can be tailor-made to suit any specific design. In addition, they can be outfitted with anything and everything a modern office has: adjustable-height desks for working while sitting or standing, dry-erase boards for making notes, dimmable LED lighting to prevent eye strain, an exhaust fan for airflow, and other options. Windows, either half or full, can brighten the space with natural light, and sound-dampening material, up to four layers, is available. Besides creating a productive workspace, YOURspace pods reduce distractions or interruptions when teleconferencing or videoconferencing.

Installing and upgrading? Simple.

"A homeowner can install any of our home offices," Andrews said. "They’re easy to set up and to change as needs change."

Highmark Techsystems uses aluminum extrusions to design exhibit structures and event spaces for tradeshows and other occasions, while its child, YOURspace, uses the same concepts to design versatile modular offices for workplaces and residences.

Power and connectivity? The engineers at YOURspace considered this as well. The office pods come prewired for Ethernet and power, including USB charging outlets.

And while the extrusions are made from proprietary designs and many of the features are patented, add-ons to these structures don't have to be Highmark products. The company's extrusions mate with other manufacturers’ accessories.

"Many of the concepts used in this industry were developed in Germany, and one of these concepts is standardization," Parrott said.

Although the original intention of the office pods was home use, Highmark and YOURspace have been pleased to find that demand for versatile enclosures comes from many places.

"We’ve gotten many inquiries from corporations," Parrott said. "Open-plan offices are not very popular these days," she said, referring to the pandemic. "We’ve had inquiries for meeting rooms of various sizes, and we’ve gotten a lot of interest from universities," she said. Another market is the air travel industry. Many airports have pods for travelers with layovers. A trend with a huge appeal for 20-somethings who grew up in the everything-digital era is to outfit a pod with the latest video games.

The executives at YOURspace were pleasantly surprised to find demand from the real estate industry as well. Perhaps because real estate agents meet new people every day and the pandemic discourages close contact with others, an isolated space in the real estate company's office is necessary to provide separation.

YOURspace also builds sensory pods for the neurologically diverse. Autism, Alzheimer's disease, and head injuries can leave people prone to distress when exposed to noisy, unpredictable environments, and a quiet spot can bring relief.

In a broad sense, the two companies provide just five products, depending on how you count: modular offices, single-story and two-story indoor exhibit structures, and single-story and two-story outdoor event structures. From these five products, Highmark can make an infinite number of different floor plans and layouts.

"We can start with anything as simple as a sketch on the back of an envelope to a fully developed rendering," Parrott said. The company has all of the ingredients to support its customers’ concepts. "We have somewhere around 100 dies, at last count, and we work with several extruders to capture a variety of manufacturing strengths. And, of course, aluminum comes in many alloys and several tempers," she said. Beyond the laws of physics, Highmark engineers have little in the way of limitations.

This freedom to develop custom designs spills over to YOURspace, which has eight standard designs that can be configured to custom footprints.

Robust yet lightweight, aluminum is an ideal metal for exhibits at tradeshows and expositions. The simplicity of Highmark's extrusion designs contributes to ease of setup and the sleek, aesthetic appearance of a finished booth.

While many companies are going green, Highmark has always been green. The main ingredient in its products is aluminum, a metal that is essentially unlimited in recyclability. The Aluminum Association estimates that nearly 75% of all aluminum produced is still used today.

Highmark and YOURspace are keeping pace with the times in other ways. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ensures access and convenience for everyone, including folks with limited mobility, such as those who use wheelchairs to get around. The two companies have considered this in the designs of their products. All door widths are ADA-compliant, and because the units sit directly on existing flooring, there is no need for ramps. Also, work desks attach to pod walls and don't have legs to interfere with wheelchairs.

Finally, reshoring is a hot trend these days. Highmark started as an effort to regain control over quality and lead times by bringing manufacturing work back from overseas. Shortening supply chains is a much more critical concern than ever before, but Highmark has always relied on domestic extruders, as does YOURspace.