WORKRedefined

Herman Miller announced the winner of the Work Redefined, The Design Challenge, and Design Middle East was invited to a candid conversation with the winning team and judge.

After receiving numerous impressive and curated entries, Herman Miller, a member of MillerKnoll’s collective of brands, has announced the winners of this year’s Work Redefined –Design Challenge.

The winner of the 2023 challenge was The Wellness Suite, designed by RSP. They envisioned a space that’s highly flexible and collaborative; one where wellness and connection are right at the heart of the office. “We approached the challenge by putting ourselves in this office. How would we want the office of the future to look in our eyes, and in our experience as well?” said the team at RSP.

This year’s Work Redefined – Design Challenge was hosted in Africa and the Middle East, welcoming in a new group of leading design firms to create their vision for the workplace of the future. Participating studios and workgroups were tasked with designing a 500- to 750sqm workspace for 50 to 100 people, incorporating pieces from MillerKnoll’s collective of brands, including the wide suite of offerings from Herman Miller. The results were unique, inspiring and forwardthinking.

On the shortlist were I R Design, Design Smith, Bluehaus Group, Eight Inc. and Swish Design Studio.

An interview with the RSP team that won the design competition.

How would you describe this competition and your strategy for victory?

The competition was eye opening and inspiring for us. Our overall research and ideas have revolved around our own experiences and human interactions in the workplace. Our research was based on experimenting and brainstorming out of the box ideas that can be implemented within the workplace, and this is how we came up with the wellness worksuite concept. We believe the concept of merging hospitality with wellness, and creating a human centric balanced workplace is the future of workplace.

How do you see Herman Miller as a workspace innovation leader?

As one of the world’s leading furniture brands, whose core values place great importance on the environment, community and health and wellbeing of its end users.

MillerKnoll’s extensive and dynamic range of furniture pieces is what makes the brand innovative in the field. Their extensive research, which has really helped us through the design process for the competition, encompasses all aspects of the human experience to ensure they cover human's needs on a wholistic level.

Explain your winning design?

The Wellness Work Suite, where wellness becomes the foundation and core value of the workplace. Our design is a place which caters for all working styles, encourages a sense of community, places the employee’s wellbeing at the forefront and is a place where technology is seamless. We strongly believe that those components lay the foundations to optimize an employees' wellbeing which in turn encourages maximum productivity and work out put, supporting the company's ultimate vision. When we first started the design process, we thought about how we can further enhance the idea of working from home? this gave us a clue that the workspace required something more to entice users to come back to the office, and the next level of relaxation from home is none other than wellness & hospitality which gave birth to the wellness worksuite concept.

What does this win mean to you?

This win is exciting for us and it’s a living proof that many companies are thinking forward and working to finding solutions to create the ultimate working experiences and the idea of putting the employee’s wellbeing at the forefront. As designers we always want to see our designs impact the world in a positive way, especially after the pandemic where there has been a great shift in the working model. Re-imagining workspace through the lens of hospitality with a core focus on service, comfort and convenience, companies can create vibrant destinations that engage and inspire their employees.

What are your plans now?

RSP is looking forward to taking on the experiences and findings to our own offices as well as our current and future design projects to enhance the overall work scene. This is the start of re-looking at our current approaches in the workplace, as the world is evolving our work habits and scenes should always be adapting to those evolvements. >>>