Workplace designer and Sydney-based principal at Hassell Domino Risch has been named a judge for IDEA 2021.

IDEA is now open for entries until 2 June, with discounted entry fees available until 2 May.

Now in its 19th year, IDEA is one of Australia’s oldest independent architecture and interior design awards with winners selected annually by a panel of seven expert industry judges.

Passionate about the future of work, Risch is one of the country’s most highly regarded and trusted workplace designers, working with leading organisations like Deloitte on its Sydney office and Goldman Sachs on both its Melbourne and Sydney offices.

“Our industry needs to work hard to understand what makes people tick,” Risch tells ADR.

“Then we can create places that really support them – both in the way they feel and the way they think.”

Risch says it’s too early to see the effect COVID-19 lockdowns have had on Australian workplace design as many organisations have simply “had to tread water and survive with simple social distancing measures”.

However, she will be “on the lookout” for early adopters of the “quantum leaps” in redesigning physical environments that are a direct response to “supporting and enhancing” the evolving hybrid model of work brought about by the pandemic.

Drawing on her experience within Hassell’s workplace strategy, design and experience design teams, Risch will also be on the lookout for future focused workplaces.

“Design that authentically represents the vision, values and purpose of the client, and that brings beauty and joy to those that experience the space is what I’ll be looking for in the workplace entries,” says Risch.

“I’ll also be keeping a keen eye for design that embraces sensory immersion and neuro-diversity – a topic I am passionate about with an Autistic daughter.”

Before joining Hassell in 2017, Risch was a workplace director at BVN. Her presence on the IDEA jury as, in particular, an expert in all things workplace is all the more exciting given that Hassell won last year’s Workplace over 1000sqm for Transurban Melbourne – a workplace that reflects the fabric of the modern cities it helps shapes.

And her advice for anyone thinking of entering IDEA this year?

“Be brave! Gotta be in it to win it!” says Risch.

IDEA 2021 will be judged by a panel of seven industry experts. We’ll be announcing more judges soon.

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Photos of Domino Risch courtesy of Hassell.