Project Vitra Studio Office

Client Vitra

Location Birsfelden, Switzerland.

Design In collaboration with Sevil Peach

Role Design & Implementation

Photography by Ariel Huber

Description

We connected the orthogonal Ground floor office with the atrium space to both improve and animate the experience at entry and create a communal place for all employees to socialize, work and to meet. Instead of it being only a transition space and a waiting area for the guests, the atrium became a destination, a vibrant heart of the building with visual connections to all floors. The original fireplace helped to create the atmosphere of a living room and the introduction of a coffee point serves as an attractor which is accompanied by a family table.

 The extension of the Atrium is a central club zone, acting as a pivot and a buffer between the more active Atrium and the quieter Studio workspace wings. It serves as a communal touch down facility for visitors & Vitra employees with a library and soft seating, work and meeting boxes, individual touch down desks as well as a large communal work table.

 The open plan office has further been structured using one of Vitra Retail Group’s products – ‘Kado’ (a square section steel framework system with connectors).  We extended the product’s capabilities to suit it's new workplace role and thus a new typology for a functional, flexible wall was created.  This wall is always located on the structural grid and is used to divide the large floor plate into 5 studio spaces, yet still allowing visual connection between them. It acts as a new interior component or working tool that provides opportunities for work booths, meeting rooms, desks, work benches, surfaces for display & presentation, as well as space for storage & lockers.

 The office landscape in between the functional walls is highly versatile and can be appropriated by the users. Areas with a human scale and intimate atmosphere are created to allow for collaboration and concentration at the same time.