ARIDO Awards ARIDO Awards 2019 OFFICE SPACES Specialty Elements workplace design

A playful balance of creativity and sustainability in this award winning project

• Caitlin Turner Apr 25, 2022
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A leading medical device company wanted their Canadian headquarters to reflect their pioneering spirit and act as a brand tool in which they could educate clients on their mission and solutions. Inspired by the brand’s history of innovation and problem solving, our design team created a custom art installation between two-stories of stairs to ground the space and greet visitors and employees alike upon entering the reception area.

Interior Designer: Caitlin Turner, ARIDO

Design Team: Meagan Buchanan, ARIDO

Design Firm: HOK  

Photographer: Karl Hipolito and Meagan Buchanan

Custom-made from components of obsolete medical technology, the thousand-pound ‘chandelier’ considers one of today’s biggest challenges in healthcare: how to break the cycle of waste and obsolescence of medical equipment and technology.

The design and lighting teams collaborated closely with the client to build a fixture that balanced proportion and scale and playfully incorporated light reflecting components to create an installation that is functional – giving a second life to the components used – and also an artistic nod to the client’s history of innovation. 

Pieces were hand selected with the lighting designer and placed with consideration of how they would balance and how much weight they would put on the strings. The light fixture was engineered to allow for authenticity and sustainability; aircraft cable was chosen for its ability to bear the weight of the components while allowing them to remain as visible and uninterrupted as possible. LED lighting was incorporated for energy efficiency, and to highlight each component’s intricate and unique structure.

The resulting ‘chandelier’ moves beyond ideas of sustainability and recycling to exemplify the idea of material recovery, to breathe new and unexpected life into otherwise redundant parts. It now acts as a brand story-telling and education tool, as well as an everyday reminder of what can be achieved when we open our minds to new solutions.