Sneak Peak đź‘€ Human-centred design with Vyshali Sardesai

12 May 2026 · 2 min · 2 chapters

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In short

Human-centred design and how to “bring the story to life” in workplaces and public spaces, since people can’t be physically inducted into design decisions.

Guest

Vyshali Sardesai, described as having a fine-art background and an artist mindset that helps her see the vision before technical drawing or construction details.

Key claims

Designers embed storytelling in their work, but it needs a way to be told to users; human-centred design involves repurposing existing spaces around what clients and users need.

Notable examples

A park built from gas holders, using mirrors reflecting both green and industrial elements to create a “third space.”

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Designing Meaningful Spaces

0:00 to 0:45

Explore the importance of storytelling in workplace design.

“This is where I think when we get to the workplace, we design these beautiful things and you really do.”

Repurposing Spaces with Purpose

0:45 to 1:34

Learn about repurposing spaces to meet client needs creatively.

“And so a space like this kind of feels like I'm at home.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00This is where I think when we get to the workplace, we design these beautiful things and you really do. But I feel like there's a piece of storytelling that needs to happen and you can't physically go there and induct every newcomer saying this is why we did this and this is why we did that. But it's how to bring that to life. I know it's always something that I sort of feel is a bit of a challenge to the story is embedded in and from design from the designers. They're great at that. And then how can it be told?

0:28Vyshali Sardesai:Yeah, I think because of my wanting to be an artist thing, I was very fine art based when I started my degree. You know, I had no idea how to do technical drawing or how things were put together. How do you build? You know, I just, I always saw the vision, you know. And so a space like this kind of feels like I'm at home. So it's quite abstract. It's a place, it's real, people use it, but it's different and, you know, not your normal kind of park kind of scenario, I guess. I've realised actually that I do a lot of that in my work today where I'm taking new spaces and trying to not reinvent them necessarily but take the client, what they want, what they need and then repurposing it for something else.

1:13Vyshali Sardesai:So that really, really excites me. And just the way they've done that with this park and the gas holders, it's a good demonstration of that. I mean, just the way the mirrors are just reflecting off of everything that's going on whether it's green or whether it's really industrial, it's created something like this third space almost which is wonderful.

From the publisher

Stay tuned 👀 ✨ Subscribe to Show Notes for more from Space by Stansons at https://www.stansons.co.uk/space ✨

A conversation with Vyshali on creativity, workplace design, regeneration, and the psychology of space.


From sketching on the tube to designing human-centred workplaces, this episode explores how great spaces make people feel, connect, and belong.


Full episode coming on 19th May

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Sneak Peak 👀 Human-centred design with Vyshali SardesaiSpace by Stansons · 2 min
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