Meet The Winners: Team Hendrick’s HxCo Coworking Space

Meet the Hendrick team: Coworking Space category winners with their innovative ‘HxCo’ submission. 

To celebrate their win, we asked the Hendrick team more about their work and the competition: 

WDM: Since the pandemic what have you been up to / what are you working on?

Ni: I have been testing different collaboration programs/app. and have been reading a lots. I am also learning how to play Fortnite, so my kids would not call me “Noob” anymore.

Bella: Since the pandemic, I have been trying to stay busy by creating memorable art pieces for friends and family. I also moved to a new apartment so I have been doing a lot of organizing and purging!

Delaney: I have been keeping myself busy! I have been baking a lot and trying to find new fun ways to be creative. I also recently got married which was a nice, positive outcome of the pandemic, that kept me planning for a while!

Christine: Since the pandemic, I have used the time to get back into some old hobbies; drawings, painting, and reading. I’ve also tackled some new recipes in the kitchen… with mixed results.

Elizabeth: I have continued taking French class & volunteering on my condo association’s board, and my side hobby of drawing; I have started to study for the Certified Change Management Professional; my husband and I have started the IFMA WE Hub for Atlanta; and we are getting ready to renovate a house.

Tara: I have recently accepted a part time position as a professor and so I’ve been focusing on preparing my class for the students and am excited about teaching the next generation of interior designers. Though most of my time has been dedicated to that, throughout the pandemic I’ve been honing my cooking skills and experimenting heavily in the kitchen. I’m looking forward to 2021 and starting to plan trips again which is something I loved to do Pre-COVID.

WDM: What did you enjoy most about the competition process?

Ni: Being challenge to come up with a creative solution to solve the problem. I also enjoy observing how my team collaborate and bouncing off ideas.

Bella: The competition brought me back to the college days of working on a project without a budget or a specific client in mind. It was also really fun to connect and work with co-workers that I haven’t had the opportunity to work with in the past.

Delaney: It was fun to do a creative, out of the box kind of project. It was less formal than working with a client and it could be whatever we wanted it to be. Our team definitely had to reign in the ideas a little, but it was fun to think about a new normal and how we could shape that with our design.

Christine: It was fun to have the ability to create without the structure of an actual client as well as being able to collaborate with teammates that I had not worked with in a while.

Elizabeth: During a time of what feels like monotony and limiting factors, it was great to collaborate and connect with teams members to think about what could be and get our mind off of the day to day.

Tara: I enjoyed having to think outside the box to come up with a creative solution. Brainstorming with the team was a rewarding process that led to some unique designs. It was definitely a great way to feel more engaged with my coworkers while working remotely from home. The end result was a project that we all felt very proud of and were excited to submit.

WDM: It’s been a little while since you submitted, how have your ideas evolved since you submitted them?

Ni: With some modifications to what we know now, I can see this could turn in to be a real space. We have learned during this pandemic that office has turned into a meeting place for employees to collaborate and to socialize. The office is no longer the place where you can get work done. I am exciting to see what the next workplace environment will be.

Bella: I am still very happy with the outcome and our strong concept. If anything, I would love to see the design executed and study how people interact with each other and the space, in this new way of working.

Delaney: The whole pandemic has evolved so much since we heard about the project. Some of our ideas might have been executed differently, but I think this situation we are in is so unknown and we did the best we could. We accounted for a lot of the things we do know, but it is hard to know the exact science of this illness and how it works. Our design included these new protocols and ideas and probably would need to be adjusted be the use of the space.

Christine: I feel stronger about our concept since the submission. As the pandemic has evolved with new knowledge, the need for a safe space to gather and collaborate in the work place is more apparent than ever. With the ability to work remotely being amplified for so many people, the office environment will be looked at to function differently.

Elizabeth: My ideas about this concept have become more concrete. Office spaces for single tenants could have so much more potential if people start looking at space as a tool rather than a perk, tapping into the employee base to help bring ideas to the table of what’s next.

Check out their full submission:

Click on an image to see it full size. 

Comments from the jury: 

I was really impressed with the focus on content and programming. When we think about the work day experience, it’s not just about space and design but it’s really around design, technology, hospitality, service and then ultimately community and programming really coming together in a seamless way and I thought they did a really great job of bringing all those things together here.

I think they’ve covered all of the facts really well with regard to protecting somebody to create a safe environment.

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