Inclusive by Design: A Women-Led Vision for Humanscale
Daylight streams in, the layout adapts to changing needs, and material choices reflect the City by the Bay’s culture of sustainability, innovation, and well-being. This is ergonomic furniture and products manufacturer Humanscale’s brand-new San Francisco showroom, designed by architect Suchi Reddy of New York City–based Reddymade. The newly minted space not only showcases the brand’s latest office furnishings but also serves as a hub for the local design community and sets a standard for how inclusive design can be practiced as thoughtfully as it is produced with an all-female-led design team.
To date, Suchi’s firm has designed five Humanscale showrooms globally, and a defining feature of her work with Humanscale is the consistent use of female-led design and construction teams.
“Inclusive leadership in design means being deeply intentional about who gets to shape the built environment,” Suchi says. Representation matters, and Suchi knows this, which is why she regularly partners with female-led teams and women-owned practices across architecture, construction, and delivery. In San Francisco, for example, the project management team at Cushman & Wakefield was led by Ashley Hart.
From the outset, the goal was for the showroom to feel welcoming rather than transactional, a place where designers, architects, and creative leaders want to linger, gather, and exchange ideas. “The space is designed to support conversations, events, and moments of pause, blurring the line between workplace, gallery, and community living room,” Suchi says.
Humanscale associate creative director Rhys Jones adds: "Our San Francisco showroom brings the design community together, creating a space to explore Humanscale’s products and materials while fostering connection, conversation, and design innovation.”
The design team was intentional about engaging local partners, including Modwall, a local Bay Area–based startup that produces prefabricated wall systems, which allowed the designers to create a showroom that’s both adaptable and future-facing.
Deliberately restrained, the architecture allows the furniture and material details to shine without visual competition. The showroom's curtains are made from Kvadrat’s Rocket fabric to add subtle texture and warmth to the space. (Kvadrat’s own showroom-in-showroom in San Francisco is a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Humanscale.)
Suchi’s research in neuroaesthetics underpins every project she takes on, and this showroom is no exception. “We focused on creating a calming, intuitive environment—one that reduces sensory overload and supports ease of movement, clarity, and perception,” she says.
The architect is currently finishing up Humanscale’s Sydney and Paris showrooms—the others in Chicago and Shanghai are already done. Each city offers a very distinct cultural and spatial context. “Beyond Humanscale, I continue to work across civic, cultural, and commercial projects that explore how design can foster well-being, inclusion, and a sense of belonging,” Suchi says. “There’s a lot ahead—and all of it continues to build on the idea that form should always follow feeling.”
—Rita Catinella Orrell
