Collaborative workspaces

If the mere thought of dragging yourself to work every day tires you, maybe the change you need isn’t a new job, but a new workspace that allows you to work stress-free. That’s exactly what an award-winning design made by a team from Hyderabad, Liquid Space, has created.

Nagaraju Mundrai, Nivedita Papi Reddy, Sandeep Dev Pagadala and Soumya Jagarlapudi, all architects working for the firm that specialises in corporate interior design, enrolled themselves in an international design contest for Haworth Infinity. Beating around 60 others from across the Asia-Pacific region, they became the first team from India in the history of the contest to win, on July 17.

“We were asked to create a cluster of furniture that needed to be innovative and as utilisable as possible,” says Nagaraju, who worked on the overall design’s usability and practicality, “Our basic idea was to simplify things to make it user friendly.”

The design, titled “Infinity & Beyond”, has innovative features like pull-out storages, discussion trays and docking stations, all fixed around a customisable four-seater workspace.
Nagaraju adds, “If people want to stand and have a quick discussion, the tabletop can be lifted to that position as well.”

A model of the design that won the award

Sustainability was also a key element. Along with compressed paper panels and stationary pedals for exercise, the team also used thermochromatic paint that changes colour when it comes in contact with the human body, showing whenever a person needs to change his body posture.

While Nivedita worked on the sustainability aspect, Sandeep worked on the product’s ergonomical and aesthetical design, and Soumya helped with the coordination and execution.