UpHill Health revolutionized its Lisbon office with Mute Modular, creating functional zones tailored to support every work style and boost productivity.
LocationLisbon, Portugal
DealerSteelcase
ArchitectRita Varela Gomes, André Pires
IndustryHealthcare
Year2024
A Company Improving Healthcare Quality Worldwide
UpHill Health develops digital tools that automate care management within hospitals and healthcare institutions, improving patient care on a global scale. Their solutions make it easier for staff to organize tasks, keep track of patient progress, and reduce mistakes, which lowers operational costs.
A Functional Environment for Different Work Styles
The primary goal of this project was to create a highly functional and ergonomic work environment at UpHill’s Lisbon branch. Transforming the office was essential for UpHill to reflect the team’s dynamic and brand identity.
At the start of the project, the UpHill team told the architects, “We want to inspire our coworkers to do their best work here.” Their goal was to create a space that energizes, connects, and motivates—an office people choose to come to. In the post-pandemic world, they no longer saw the workplace as the default, but as a powerful tool for fostering creativity, collaboration, and shared momentum.
Employees needed a variety of dedicated spaces to encourage social interaction and support different work styles. These included noise-cancelling focus zones, informal, plant-filled areas, and spacious meeting rooms. In response, the office was revamped to balance collaboration and concentration by offering diverse environments that cater to various preferences.
Mute Modular: Adaptable Solution for Wellbeing and Productivity
After researching the market, architects Rita Varela Gomes and André Pires recommended choosing Mute Modular, a flexible room-in-room solution. The office layout was designed around two large, oblong Mute Modular hubs, consisting of 8 meeting and work rooms. They were installed in the central part of the 980 m2 space, ensuring convenient access from every desk. Thanks to the click-in system, the units were assembled and ready for use in just a few days.
”This project featured one of our biggest Mute Modular hubs so far, with dimensions that differed from our standard designs. This pushed us to think outside of the box and creatively overcome several technical challenges. Despite the large-scale nature of the installation, everything came together smoothly. We successfully met the client’s expectations and key project objectives,” says Maria Szymczyk, Mute architect consultant.
Mute Modular transformed the office into an inspiring and functional environment, seamlessly complementing its industrial aesthetic. The workspace was enriched with flexible areas to accommodate a variety of work styles, from collaborative meetings and brainstorming sessions to concentrated solo tasks. By providing top-tier sound insulation, Mute Modular units ensured excellent acoustic privacy in every office zone, fostering a comfortable and productive work environment.
Bold Tones in a Vibrant Office
The office features a bold color palette with striking contrasts for visual impact. Architects deliberately chose the Clay Red frame colour as a tool in spatial design. Placing the hubs next to the ultramarine blue color of the office’s central spine wall created a powerful contrast. “This bold chromatic contrast reinforces the spatial hierarchy while creating a sensory-rich atmosphere that energizes the workspace and enhances the overall user experience. As a result, the units become iconic elements within the space—something that would not have been possible with a product lacking such a broad and expressive color palette,” adds Rita Varela Gomes.
Ultimate Workspace Flexibility
"Mute Modular stands out as the best product in the category of pods and modular systems. It not only delivers essential functional aspects, but also aligns with principles of sustainable design", says Rita Varela Gomes, Architect.
Mute Modular can be freely shaped in both size and arrangement, allowing UpHill to perfectly tailor each unit to their specific needs. What’s more, each unit can be reconfigured at any time—without the need for costly renovations. Built from interchangeable modules, Mute Modular units can be expanded, reduced, merged, or divided into smaller spaces—all without generating renovation waste or CO₂ emissions. For a sustainability-driven company operating in the fast-paced healthcare industry, this flexibility was a major advancement.
“We’re very happy with how seamlessly Mute Modular was implemented into our office layout. The modularity of Mute’s system helped us adjust the space to our needs and vision—something that typical pod systems lacked. The multifunctional hubs have become core elements of the space—office landmarks that help organize our everyday work life.”
Duarte SequeiraChief Operations Officer, UpHill Health