Interior Architecture graduate students Ala Felemban, Shelly Mascarenhas, and Kristianne Simeon were selected as finalists in the international Frame x Montana Creative Challenge 2020. 
 
The design trio, entering the competition as Couple of Bandits, conceptualized the Modern Watering Hole: An Open-Door Social Office as a “space intended to be a convivial meeting point and social incubator.” Inspiration for the design came from “the disarming quality of play and playfulness,” fully evident in the project’s fun and energetic perspectives. 
 
Co-sponsored by Frame Magazine and Danish furniture company Montana, participants were tasked with visualizing a fluid, hybrid office lobby serving both an internal office community and the surrounding neighborhood, ultimately creating a multi-functional space designed for various users. Montana products, including the system’s 40 colors were to be used to their full potential: “Designers should consider the effect that colours have on mind-set and productivity; the treatment of floor and walls should be considered in the design concept to create a coherent whole; the final space could facilitate activities such as desk work, meeting, waiting and (seated) socializing; and the entire environment should be playful, colourful, photogenic and – most importantly – welcoming.” 

The winning proposal, to be announced later this spring, will be exhibited in the Montana showroom during Denmark’s annual 3daysofdesign.