The universal co-creation space “CONNECT” won the 2022 Next Work Environment Competition in the furniture and DEI categories. Check out today’s status of the team and their submissions.
Offering synergy with nature, endless configurations, and balance with parenting, CONNECT partners with local parks and communities to give users a third place to work. Their proposal included lightweight, modular furniture that could be customized to user preferences. With the goal of connecting communities plagued with long commutes to green spaces close to home that are accessible to people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, we believe that this project will bring them closer to home. I spoke with the team to find out where it lead.
WDM: What happened to the project after the competition?
Design + Build: I’m still laughing looking back at this project a year later! We had such a great time working on this project last year and appreciate all the work the magazine does each year to put the contest together.
As professionals in workplace design, Design+Build’s creative team is always on the lookout for emerging trends and statistics. In an era of ever-changing workplace dynamics, it’s more important than ever to be at the forefront of innovation. in this field. With diversity, equity and inclusion at the core of how we work, our CONNECT workstation concept is a prime example of how design should first and foremost serve the entire community. We will incorporate the research and foundations established in this project into the designer’s toolbox to continue designing inclusive workspaces for everyone.
If the idea evolved, what changed and why?
The workplace is still undergoing major transformation, and the notion of an agile workplace is not a temporary pandemic. This is an ongoing change in how we think about work-life balance and how we communicate and interact within the workplace. The workplace, and ultimately, the way physical space schematics and aesthetics have been adapted to embody those ideals.
Did the team working on it grow? Who did you add? Why did you add it?
As a company, we continue to add burgeoning talent to our design department, and the diversity of our growing team relies on adapting our users’ approach to work, a natural boon for improved design from there. is. We are uniquely positioned to live what we preach, and that’s exactly what we do at the Design+Build Portland office. Our office has a variety of spaces suitable for different types of work, such as conference rooms for group discussions and concentration booths for managers. Work lounges for downtime, casual collaboration, and independent workstations in open offices. We are the subjects of our own experiments and analyses, which is very nice.
What are you working on now?
Tenant improvements are a large part of our projects, so we continue to pursue design flexibility to meet our customers’ needs. We’ve found that more and more companies are turning to the agile office concept to bring employees back to the office and create a deeper sense of community within the workplace. In carefully planning and executing projects, we strive to create an environment that meets the individual needs of our clients, while fostering programming advancement and innovation to ensure project success and employee retention for years to come. Also set across. I can’t wait to see what kind of dishes you make this year!
The full text of the 2022 submission can be found here.
🤩 Feel inspired? 🤩
Now accepting applications for the 2023 Workplace Environment Competition!
Thank you to our 2023 Innovative Brand Partners.
