After receiving numerous impressive and well-curated entries, Herman Miller, a member of MillerKnoll’s collective of brands, has announced the winners of this year’s Work Redefined – Design Challenge.
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 750-square-metre 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 forward-thinking.
“At Herman Miller and across the MillerKnoll collective, we are continually researching and redesigning the workspaces of the future to best meet the needs of people around the world. We love connecting with global design teams to get their unique perspectives,” said Ryan Anderson, Vice President of Global Insights and Research at MillerKnoll, and a member of this year’s judging panel.
Anderson continued, “This year’s submissions were incredibly thoughtful and detailed in their approach to facing unprecedented changes. The submissions showed impressive, innovative forward-thinking and execution with respects to aesthetics and functionality.”
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.
RSP placed a dining experience at the epicenter of this workspace, alongside a community kitchen, standing bikes for pedaling while working, plus a fitness track. Vertical gardens, algae walls, interactive screens and other tech and energy conservation solutions are also integrated into the Wellness suite.
“RSP did a great job of making living space, and creating space for connections to be made. They really thought about how connections are made not only between people and spaces, but also between systems and the relationship we have with things and objects in the workspace,” said Esra Lemmens, Founder and Director of The Esra Lemmens Agency, who served as a judge on this year’s impressive panel.
Design Partnership’s submission, Future Office, was highly commended. They envisaged a workspace with a high degree of ‘Transformability’, enabling users to make spatial adjustments both large and small to adapt the functionality of the spaces, and to adjust the transparency between areas as needed.
On the shortlist were I R Design, Design Smith, Bluehaus Group, Eight Inc. and Swish Design Studio.
“In order to draw people to the workplace, the office needs to not only function at the highest level, but also hold visual appeal,” said Chris Morley, Head of Design MEA for Herman Miller. “The designers taking part in this year’s challenge clearly understood this. We were really impressed by the high aesthetic standards of this year’s submissions.”
Stacy Stewart, Regional Director MEA for Herman Miller, said, “This was the first time Herman Miller hosted Work Redefined – Design Challenge in the Middle East and Africa region. We received so many exceptional submissions; thank you to all the A&D firms that participated. We’re really excited to see where the conversation around the future of work goes from here, and to see what ideas and innovations emerge as a result.”
