Architecture student designs ‘E-Hub’ to encourage young professionals in Derby to combine work and leisure

A specialist hub to allow professionals in Derby to “work and play” in the same building has been designed by an architecture student at the University of Derby.

Denis Zeile has created designs for an ‘E-Hub’ – a large building consisting of work stations as well as a winery, yoga space and exhibition space – for the area of Full Street, in Derby.

The student has come up with the creation for his final-year University project and hopes his project could be considered for the city in the future.  

Denis, who is originally from Latvia, said: “The E-Hub aims to bring new opportunities for talented professionals and benefit the people of Derby by providing an affordable, modern and collaborative work environment in a prime city centre location.

“I feel Derby needs this because people don’t spend enough time combining work and play. I am concerned that quite often offices don’t make its users feel comfortable, inspired and productive.

“I would be very happy if my project could be realised in some way. I strongly believe Derby needs innovative co-working space open for graduates and professionals which could be more than just standard and boring office units.

“The first letter of the brand 'E' stands for exchange, which is what this project is all about – to exchange ideas, emotions and experiences.”

The plans show a 1710m² building – designed for individuals or companies to rent space in the open office – which features work pods, a print studio, conference hall as well as a roof-top golf court, an outdoor bar and lounge, gym, games room and an indoor greenery.

Denis said the shape of the building and façade was influenced by stacked stones of drystone walls located in the Peak District National Park.

Denis, who studies BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Venue Design at Derby, was inspired to create the ‘E-Hub’ following a one-year internship at Schoos Design, a renowned interior design company in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

During this time, he worked on a number of diverse client schemes including international hospitality projects such as restaurants and hotels. He was also involved in high-end residential projects in Beverley Hills and Las Vegas.

He said: “For my final project I decided I wanted to design co-work space with leisure facilities. Many top company offices in California are designed this way. It is about making people enjoy being at work and using the space.

"It was really exciting and challenging for me to attempt to design a larger scale building’’.  

“My intent was to bring inspiration from Los Angeles to Derby to help develop the city and support professionals at the same time. 

“The idea is to create unique work environment by blending different types of workspaces and combining them with physical and mental restoration areas integrating beneficial and restorative effect of nature.”

Denis’s project will be showcased at the University’s Big Show Public Exhibition from Saturday, May 28 to Saturday, June 11, 2016.

The exhibition, which is held at the University’s Markeaton Street and Britannia Mill sites, gives visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in a feast of visual art, design, textiles, photography, creative expressive therapies, architecture and engineering created by final-year students.

The Big Show is a series of live events and exhibitions across the city of Derby which offers visitors a unique opportunity to experience the work of the University’s College of Arts, Health and Social Care and Engineering students.

Chris Forby, Engineering Associate Lecturer at the University of Derby, said: “The public will have a chance to see the professionalism of our multi-talented architectural design students and their passion both for preserving the architectural heritage of Derby as well as their multiculturalism with many undertaking internships as far afield as Tokyo, Singapore and LA.”