Davina Bester, founder and Principal of architecture and design studio Milieu Creative, is leading the team charged with delivering Walters Drive, our new state-of-the-art headquarters in Osborne Park.
Davina tells us more about what makes this project so special:
“After two decades in the industry creating both large and small scale commercial and residential projects on both a national and international scale, I’ve learned the language of the building industry so that no detail is overlooked,” says Davina.
Despite the massive undertaking her genuine excitement for this project is not something she can or wants to contain.
“Walters Drive is without question our most ground-breaking and exciting project to date. The experience this workplace gives its employees is unprecedented.”
Putting people first
“The brief from (Mineral Resources Managing Director) Chris Ellison was very specific, he wanted to create a landscape that puts people first. To stay true to that, every decision that I make every day, down to the tiniest detail, is made through that filter. It’s the primary driving factor for this project. Chris and I share the belief that since we spend a third of our lives at work, health and productivity can and should co-exist harmoniously together.”
“While clients initially come to me expressing altruistic sentiment for their employees, they invariably sacrifice that pure vision in order to maximise the number of workspaces, increase capacity, or simply to cut costs. However, this is not what happened at Walters Drive. We have, in fact, sacrificed desks for elements that enhance wellbeing and the human experience! It is extraordinarily rare for an architect to be able to fully realise a design without it being diluted or compromised. Walters Drive embodies the unwavering commitment Chris has made to putting his people first – every day.”
Meeting the WELL Standard
“There are less than a hundred buildings globally that have been designed and constructed with these same exacting guidelines aimed at maximising human wellness and elevating the workplace experience. This approach embraces so many elements of the build, including the influence of sensory details such as light, temperature and textures,” Davina says.
“I am an intuitive architect who focuses on human-centred design; how a place feels as much as how it looks. This project plays to this strength as it has allowed me to be liberated from any notion of a conventional workplace. I’m bringing to life the kind of workspace I would like to experience. Walters Drive realises the future of workplace wellness.”
Learn more bit.ly/MRLWaltersDrive
