Feed the Future was a design and build project of a newly rented office space in Posta-The city center of Dar es Salaam. The project comprises pool offices, independent offices, meeting rooms, reception, and a waiting lobby.

One essential requirement from the client was to design something different from conventional offices. Something they termed as-a playful Design, i.e., An interactive office that enhances the creativity and efficiency of employees.

Considering all that, we first decided to change the layout of the spaces from a gridiron layout created by columns and shear walls to a more organic one. We did that to break the norm of square rooms in most office buildings. A curved partition of polished timber poles was introduced in the middle grid of columns and ran through to the right side of the entrance. Inside the curved timber poles partition, we embedded two small meeting pods with wooden ottomans to create more playful spaces in the waiting lobby.

We emphasized openness by using glass partitions for independent offices and only furniture to demarcate/define working areas in the pool office. In addition, we only used concealed room dividers for rooms that needed more privacy, like server cubical, meeting rooms, and private offices.

Furniture arrangements, materials, textures, and colors gave a vibrant display that emerged as a youthful, energetic, and fun working environment.

Our concept and inspiration are rooted in a minimalistic and modern look with an accent on African art, patterns, and fabrics. In addition, impact Hub being an art activism platform, we wanted its interior space to be part of an art exhibition.

We wanted to coin the concept of walls, floors, and ceilings to be like canvases and African crafts and artifacts to be like a beautiful paintings resting on them. To do that, we had to leave walls and ceiling with clear white color and a uniform gray carpet on the floor so that murals, rugs, furniture textures, fabrics, and other interior decor could stand out in the space with clear visibility and prominence.

In addition, we also managed to cut a chunk of cost from the budget by using a carpet, which was a much cheaper option than other floor materials. Also, we painted walls and ceilings with washable white paint, which was affordable and maintainable.