In the light of the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, we are currently dealing with its major effects. Now the world is questioning how will we be able to resume our activities? And then, how can we treat our spaces to ensure social distancing? In fact, one of the most demanding challenges is the work environment. Rethinking work spaces has become a necessity. This is while considering keeping the minimum workforce while ensuring the safety of the workers and employees.

Here comes the role of the designers to create responsible designs and help people in such a critical time. Mohamed Radwan was among these who felt the responsibility to innovate and create design that changes traditional work paradigms. In fact, this creation went to the next level and won DNA Paris International Design Award for Anti Covid19 Office solution. By putting “work” in”Quarantine”, Mohamed Radwan created “Qworkntine”to help ensure safety in offices.

About Mohamed Radwan

Mohamed Radwan is an architect and cross-disciplinary designer, he is currently the chief architect and design studio manager at LEAD group. Radwan is also Founder of his own name brand M Radwan Designs, and founder of Cairo Designathon Egypt’s Online Design marathon. Ever since graduation in 2005, Radwan has been involved in the design market across multiple disciplines from Architecture to Product design. Also between 2012 and 2016, Radwan was a Teaching Assistant and a lecturer in multiple universities. You can check more about Mohamed Radwan’s work here.

Main function

“Qworkntine” is an air tight pod system that can provide safety and protection within the physical work place. This is while maintaining the same number of employees per square meter as a traditional office system.

Flexible Design and shape

With a unique design, The Qwork-pod has a Hexagonal hive like shape. This offers flexibly to suit any office layout and optimize the workspace. In a simple way, users can move these hexagonal pods and customize them for several needs, allowing it to fit in 90º angles.  Applying the concept of Bee hives, moving these modules adds a playful essence in the work space.

Hygienic features

In the meantime, the hygienic features became the most essential. “Qworkntine” pods got a strong hygienic concept. First of all, the pod will be made of hygiene friendly non-porous materials. This is for easy cleaning and disinfecting to avoid contamination. It also features an automatic handle-less airtight acrylic door. Users can control them only by facial recognition. In addition to that, each pod occupies ventilation fans with built-in air purifiers. Consequently, when the pod is completely sealed, this can ensure good ventilation and air cleaning for the user. Moreover, an interesting feature will be the skylight that lets light in and make it feel less tight.

Responsible designs to face challenging crises

Over history, the world faced several events that led to significant changes. Here comes the role of the creatives. Cause only with the help of good functional designs, the world could adapt and reach a better place. That’s what led Mohamed Radwan to work on initiating Cairo Designathon. It is a competition that took place as a design marathon over 3 consecutive days. We proudly saw designers working together online on finding design solutions to the situation of Coronavirus. This made us realize that Now is the time to collaborate, concentrate our efforts and work on ideas that can change the world and help humanity.

Get to know more about designing for the environment from Sarah El Battouty and the latest brand Mubun, for sustainable furniture.