Can a furnishings showroom promote human health? With its fifth Platinum WELL Building Standard certification, Kimball International is embracing the built environment’s ability to cultivate a culture of wellbeing.
The company announced in December 2024 that its Boston showroom had been awarded WELL Platinum; the facility joins the corporate headquarters in Jasper, Indiana, as well as the Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles showrooms, in achieving the highest level of WELL certification.
Kimball International’s New York showroom is also in the process of certifying with WELL.
“We’ve always taken great pride in our members and making sure we take care of our people,” explained Andrea Rohleder, a WELL Accredited Professional and senior manager, marketing operations, Workplace & Health, for Kimball International. “We’re always conscientious of the materials we’re using to build the spaces. Our products account for a portion of these credits, so we’re thinking through what we’re using to make those products and how they can be used by our own people from a wellness perspective.”
How Kimball International Achieved Platinum Certification
The WELL Building Standard revolves around 10 core concepts: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind, and community. These concepts influence every aspect of certified spaces, from policies to design and operational strategies. Certifying organizations must ensure that their ongoing building performance meets WELL’s standards and collect employee feedback as part of certification.
“It was a natural fit,” Rohleder said of WELL Building certification. “It spoke to all the things we find important, like our natural surroundings and offering a great place to work.”
Many of the certification’s credits aligned with initiatives Kimball International wanted to implement anyway, such as offering on-site cafés serving healthy options so employees don’t have to travel for lunch—an amenity that has been well received, especially in winter, Rohleder said. Offices are also outfitted with height-adjustable furnishings, multiple sizes of meeting rooms, wellness spaces with showers and locker rooms, and design features that highlight local flavor, such as gardens or outdoor workout space in showrooms that have access to an outdoor area.
In addition to WELL Platinum certification at five facilities, the corporate headquarters and all seven nationwide showrooms all have the WELL Equity Rating, which ensures accountability toward DEI and accessibility goals, and the WELL Health-Safety Rating, which was released during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensures a focus on cleaning, emergency preparedness, and other health and safety issues. The additional ratings underscore the company’s focus on creating safe places where people can thrive.
“Our design communities want to provide these types of opportunities for customers they’re working with,” Rohleder said. “We’re able to be that subject matter expert because we’ve done it ourselves, so we can guide them through the process as well.”
What Designers Should Know About WELL Platinum Showrooms
Visitors to Kimball International’s showrooms will notice an intentional focus on wellness. WELL Certified spaces are designed and operated to meet industry standards for health and well-being, and these showrooms are no exception. The rigorous certification process delivers spaces that are not only healthy to be in, but also serve as a showcase for how partnering organizations can create their own healthy workplaces. Designers can see for themselves how to ensure maximum daylight penetration or how to incorporate acoustical products.
“Designers can take away that they are working with a company that knows the importance of the WELL Standard and that we’re practicing what we preach,” Rohleder said. “We’re able to be a consultant, so if they are learning about this and need assistance, we have WELL APs on our own team.”
Kimball International also offers CEUs specific to WELL certification to help further designers’ learning journeys, Rohleder added, and employees can offer firsthand experiences of how the WELL Building Standard impacts their lives at work.
“Beyond being able to help a customer that comes in to tour the space, our members can talk through in general what the WELL certification means to them personally—that they have access to water, light, sound, and biophilia,” Rohleder said. “It’s really helpful to showcase to customers what they can do for their own employees.”
The company plans to pursue WELL Platinum certification for all new showrooms going forward, Rohleder added: “Now we’ve set the bar so high that we don’t want to accept anything below a Platinum certification. We’re always continuing to do surveys to understand what we can do better for our members, so we can be an employer of choice.”
