Workspace Design: Eliminating Hierarchies and Establishing Engagement

groupDCA's design philosophy behind conceptualizing workspaces is driven by a focus on spatial setting and disregarding traditional notions of professional hierarchy, thereby encouraging democratic engagement within the workforce. The firm strongly believes in conceptualizing collaborative and flexible spaces that do away with physical metaphors of authoritarianism.

Office layouts, over time, have come to delineate the culture of the organization, thereby lacking communication, whilst hampering work productivity and well-being. groupDCA recognizes the need for more interpersonal relationships, an environment of free discourse and communication of ideas. In a world full of static workplaces, the firm focuses on crafting spaces that foster creativity, collaboration and conversation in addition to promoting good health and well-being of its users. Dissolving hierarchal segregations to accommodate socially and physically transparent infrastructure is an integral factor in the design of these spaces.

By acknowledging the significance of socio-democratic offices, groupDCA’s designs recognize and reflect the growing trend of flexible workspaces. Open plans, economically efficient and flexible, have been interpreted to be employed in their designs, in a bid to boost team-work and co-ordination. This concept has been embraced and innovated in the design of Enrich Office and Academy, Mumbai. The plan of the office has been conceptualized as an adaptable floor plate, free of private cabins and physical barriers. 

The fabrication of interactive spaces, such as the discussion booths in the open cafeteria, functions as a breathable extension to the reception, thereby fostering healthy communication and discussion. Workstations have been aligned with windows, allowing ample glare-free daylight into the spaces, unobstructed by walls, promoting employee well-being and productivity. The office design, as a result, reflects the brand’s guiding philosophy, which is predicated on establishing a collaborative work environment that supersedes conservative hierarchal structures.

groupDCA’s endeavor of crafting office spaces that reflect an egalitarian structure can be observed in their receptive designs that are inclusive of natural influences drawn from social and physical perspectives. These designs eliminate orthodox norms and steer towards adaptive workplaces that are characteristically flexible and agile to suit the ideologies of a new-age work force.

-Amit Aurora and Rahul Bansal