2014
ATTEND / W/T STEPHEN QUINN / RSA STUDENT DESIGN AWARDS
NCAD, Ireland
Project Background
Highly Commended(second place) in the prestigious RSA Student Design Awards, the Attend project was chosen as the runner-up in its category chosen from hundreds of entries from design colleges around the world. The project garnered attention internationally with various articles published online and in national papers, the highlight of these was being the cover story on the Fast Company Co-Exist website.
The brief was to look at a workplace in the year 2030, and look at how workers conditions could be improved. We knew at the beginning of this project that people are the most valuable part of any workplace, and that attention is their most valuable and limited resource. Attend was a project in which we condensed a few key theories based off our research in to a visual exaggeration of the idea office environment to nurture employees.
Derek Croome talks about a persons ability to adapt to their work environment in his book Creating the Productive Workplace, and though we may be able to work in unsuitable work environments it will ultimately end up with declining performance, increased workplace accidents and declining health of staff.
Explore
Exploration was a key factor in our project as we need to distinguish our project from the various other entries which would likely be exploring similar themes to us.
Collect
We decided that we would gather as much information as we possibly could using guerrilla research methods contacting most major tech companies in Dublin at the time.
Refine
We extensively reviewed our research artefacts to target real issues occurring in the modern workplace.
We discovered this while analysing the data from our research, which consistently drew our notice to the fragility of a person’s attention in the workplace. It appeared as though a people are subject to some form of distraction at all times of the day, this included being persistently interrupted in their train of thought by both noise, and by high friction technological interactions.
Derek Croome talks about a persons ability to adapt to their work environment in his book Creating the Productive Workplace, and though we may be able to work in unsuitable work environments it will ultimately end up with declining performance, increased workplace accidents and declining health of staff.
Mind mapping from people about their experiences of work, during an interview with office workers.
Creating a point of interest to draw attention to help with gathering research material for Attend.
Hive
Hive uses evolving information and attention aiding desk top interfaces. It is modifiable into standing or sitting desk height. The space can also be converted into a collaboration area. The individuals space faces outwards in an open position.
Nest
The Nest was a conference space created to encourage the mutual development and open involvement in projects within the attend workspace. The Nest is an open space that reduces noise from entering and leaving the space, while still being open and inviting for others to attend the space.
Acorn
The Acorn is a meeting place where staff can collaborate in a confined location, without the interference of everyday distractions, such as audio and visual noise.
