National Sector Lead spotlight: Donna Wheatley’s ‘big picture’ approach to workspace design

In the most recent instalment of our monthly blog series, we sat down with Dr Donna Wheatley, our National Workspace Sector Lead, based in Gray Puksand’s Sydney studio, to discuss her passion for workspace design, where she gets her inspiration and her ‘big picture’ approach to leadership.

The vast and collective intelligence of the staff across our four national studios is the key to Gray Puksand’s success. Their uncompromising research, rigour, insight and expertise ensure each of our projects unlocks new ways of thinking that go beyond the brief.

In the most recent instalment of our monthly blog series, we sat down with Dr Donna Wheatley, our National Workspace Sector Lead based in our Sydney studio, to discuss her passion for workspace design, where she gets her inspiration and her ‘big picture’ approach to leadership.

“Our projects vary greatly and can be anything from generalised small office suites for incoming tenants to highly specialised large single tenant fit-outs that can be transformative for the entire organisation,” said Donna of workspace design.

“Businesses often have specific requirements regarding areas such as security, IT, workflows, research labs, simulation areas, communication spaces, training resources, events spaces and town halls. These factors make each project a unique and exciting opportunity for our team.”

In her role as National Sector Lead, Donna manages the workspace teams across Gray Puksand’s four national studios, overseeing activities including sourcing project opportunities, submissions, strategy and design, resourcing, and marketing of finished projects.

“As a leader, I try to focus on the big picture. It can be easy to get caught up in urgent day-to-day deadlines.

“By bringing us back to our purpose as designers and constantly thinking of new possibilities, we can drive innovative change for our clients while staying true to Gray Puksand’s design personality.”

With a longstanding passion for understanding how spaces can impact the emotions and behaviour of the people inside them, Donna brings meticulous consideration and robust expertise to her work.

“I’ve always found it amazing how you can feel so different when you enter a new environment, and that passion has driven my entire career. Understanding how significantly space impacts both people and the wider organisation allows me to build deep, trusting relationships with our clients as we go through the design journey together.

“I get excited by the limitless possibilities in workspace design, especially in the early consultation stages. There are so many ways organisations can operate and use space as a tool to encourage certain behaviours from their staff that this phase is an increasingly creative element of the project,” she added.

Donna always keeps her eyes open to the world around her to gain inspiration, resulting in her work drawing influence from a variety of unexpected sources.

“I am constantly finding unique visual elements around me and filing them away in my mind. Often, it’s a small detail that may appear to have nothing to do with workspace design, like an aspect of a shop front or the way light reflects off a certain material. Sometimes, it’s a larger environmental planning feature that makes people respond a certain way.

Successful workspace design is not about reiterating what we’ve done before, it’s about thinking of new ways to combine ideas in a way that reflects who the organisation is and wants to be.”

This deep understanding of each client’s organisation is key to delivering a welcoming and productive workspace. According to Donna, workspaces are increasingly becoming a representation of the business’ values and identity, facilitating new ways of working.

“When people can work from anywhere, it’s incredibly important to have a home base that is a holistic reflection of the organisation. This starts right from the arrival experience and carries through the entire journey sequence of the building.

“Another trend we’re seeing at the moment is clients wanting to encourage face-to-face interactions between staff members. We’ve been developing unique strategies and models to support this whilst finding a balance with promoting productivity.”

These sector trends have been encapsulated in one of Gray Puksand’s recently designed workspaces, which Donna names as the project she is most proud of delivering in this role.

“We have just completed the design for a large Australian company for whom we developed an innovative teaming model. Our research into how they worked found that the standard agile working approach was actually preventing their team from working together, so a significant new approach was created.

“This is exciting to me as the evidence led to the innovation, and we never wavered from the concept at all,” she concluded.

 

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