A workplace can communicate much more than a company's visual identity. It can express its culture, values, and ambitions while shaping how people feel and perform throughout the working day.
For the opening of a new coporate office for a major Indonesian financial institution, design firm Hadiprana was tasked with designing a workplace that felt modern and representative, while providing employees with a comfortable environment designed around the realities of professional work. The client placed particular emphasis on productivity, user comfort, workplace flexibility, efficient use of space, and high-quality furniture capable of supporting employee health and wellbeing over the long term.
The resulting workplace brings together Hadiprana's distinctive approach to Indonesian design with Humanscale's philosophy of ergonomic, human-centred performance - creating an environment that is contemporary and sophisticated while remaining connected to its cultural context.
Translating Indonesian Identity into a Modern Workplace
Hadiprana's response to the brief was built around balance. Aesthetics, functionality, and comfort were considered together, with the workplace planned to support collaboration while also providing areas for focused, ergonomic work. Materials, colours, and interior elements were carefully selected to establish a professional yet welcoming atmosphere, while furniture was chosen to accommodate the dynamic ways people use the workplace.
Throughout the interior, rich timber finishes, artwork, and carefully considered architectural details create a strong sense of place. Indonesian influences are incorporated into a sophisticated contemporary environment rather than treated as decorative additions. This is particularly evident in the executive meeting and boardroom spaces, where cultural references and crafted details sit alongside clean architectural lines and contemporary furniture.
The result is a workplace that feels prestigious without becoming impersonal: distinctly Indonesian yet designed for the requirements of a modern organisation.
Putting Ergonomics at the Heart of the Brief
Comfort was not something introduced after the aesthetic concept had been established.
Ergonomics was identified as a key consideration from the early planning stages. With people potentially spending long periods seated throughout the working day, the client wanted the furniture and wider environment to actively support user comfort. Ergonomic solutions were therefore integrated into the design process from the outset.
Humanscale was specified because its approach closely aligned with those requirements. Hadiprana identified the company's reputation for ergonomic design, alongside the simplicity, intuitive functionality and quality of its products, as important factors in the selection. Humanscale's approach to innovation and sustainability also complemented the wider objectives for the project.
The project incorporated Freedom Task chairs and Freedom Headrest chairs, bringing ergonomic support into the workplace while complementing Hadiprana's interior concept.
Designed by Niels Diffrient, Freedom was created around the idea that an ergonomic chair should adapt intuitively to its user rather than requiring them to continually adjust it. Its streamlined form also allows ergonomic performance to be incorporated without introducing unnecessary visual complexity, an important consideration within an interior where furniture forms part of a much broader architectural composition.
Supporting the Places Where Decisions Are Made
The boardroom demonstrates particularly clearly how the two design approaches come together.
Here, ergonomic seating is surrounded by warm timber, artwork, and architectural details that communicate the character and status of the organisation. Rather than competing with the interior, the chairs become part of it.
The space also reinforces a wider principle of human-centred workplace design: ergonomics should not stop at the individual workstation.
Meetings can require people to remain seated for significant periods while concentrating, collaborating and making important decisions. Providing appropriate ergonomic support in these environments can help people remain comfortable and focused rather than becoming distracted by physical discomfort.
For Evita Sutejo, Humanscale Indonesia Sales Manager, this combination of cultural identity and ergonomic performance is what makes the project particularly successful:
“What stands out about this project is how naturally Hadiprana has combined Indonesian heritage with the requirements of a modern workplace. The environment feels prestigious and culturally rooted, but it has also been designed around the people using it. By integrating Humanscale ergonomic seating, we were able to support comfort during long periods of work, meetings and decision-making without compromising Hadiprana's design vision. It is a thoughtful balance between culture, design and workplace wellbeing.”
Designing for Comfort Without Complexity
One of the central requirements of the project was to combine ergonomics, comfort, quality, and simple yet elegant design across the entire floorplate. This approach is particularly relevant in shared workplace environments. Furniture may be used by people of different heights, proportions and working preferences throughout the day. Requiring every user to understand a complicated set of controls before they can sit comfortably can create an unnecessary barrier to good ergonomics.
Humanscale’s design philosophy centres on intuitive functionality and human-centred design, creating products that work with the user to support better posture, comfort, and focus without unnecessary complexity. With minimal adjustments, Humanscale seating is particularly well suited to meeting rooms, collaboration areas, and other shared environments where different people may use the same chair throughout the day. This thinking extends across the Humanscale Meeting Collection, with seating and table solutions designed to support a range of settings across the floorplate while complementing different architectural and interior design styles.
According to the project team, this approach addressed the client's requirement for a healthy, comfortable and efficient environment while providing the elegant, professional aesthetic needed to complement the organisation's image.
A Workplace Rooted in Culture and Designed Around People
Perhaps the most distinctive quality of the project is the way different priorities have been brought together.
Hadiprana has created a workplace that expresses Indonesian identity without sacrificing the expectations of a contemporary corporate environment. Ergonomics has been incorporated without compromising aesthetics. Sustainability and longevity have been considered alongside immediate comfort and performance. The result demonstrates that culture, design, and wellbeing do not need to be treated as separate workplace objectives.
When architecture, interiors , and ergonomic products are considered together from the beginning, the workplace can become more than a backdrop for work. It can communicate identity, support the people who use it, and create an environment designed to perform for years to come.
For Hadiprana and Humanscale, the project represents a shared human-centred approach: designing spaces around people while creating a workplace with an unmistakable sense of place.
