Bene Office Furniture

Arbeitswelten

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Work in the context of social and organisational structural changes

In recent times, the requirements of our workspaces have undergone fundamental changes: Changing personnel configurations and room uses require flexible room structures, new occupational categories and innovative work methods. Digital work media influence how workspace is planned and create a need for new materials and building technologies. However, people remain central whatever the level of flexibility or changing technology. How can the multi-faceted approaches to air-conditioning, lighting, acoustics and ergonomics be harmonised with multifunctional room structures?

This book presents a range of work environments in light of their various uses in accordance with the typological approach favoured by DETAIL magazine:
The focus remains on the successful interaction of technical standards, organisational structures and human needs. The book offers comprehensive strategies for new work environments and
attractive concepts for modern office rooms
Design of multi-functional spaces
Quality guidelines for lighting and room acoustics

The publisher, Christian Schittich, is known to many as the chief editor of the architectural journal "Detail" (since 1998). Born in 1956, he obtained a degree in architecture from the Technical University of Munich and has worked in an architectural firm for seven years. He is the author and publisher of numerous textbooks and articles. "Arbeitswelten" was published in 2011.

Pros and Cons. Slippers at the office?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Everyone has experienced this: You go to an agency, a consultancy or office – and suddenly notice that your conversation partner is wearing slippers. Then, with some irritation, you ask yourself where you are - is this place the lady’s or gentleman’s extended living room? Comfortable or inappropriate? Here we will address what kind of statement is made by wearing slippers at the office.

The pros.

What are we talking about when we refer to shoes? Very clearly, we are talking about freedom. This is what shoes have symbolised from time immemorial. It began in 800 BC, when only the Roman masters were allowed to wear shoes (slaves had to walk barefoot) - and it will probably continue for a while, because we know that Ferengi women, for example, are prohibited from wearing shoes and conducting trade even in the distant year 2375... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferengi)

This means that the shoe decides whether one is a master or a servant. Whether one may leave the house for gainful employment to one’s own benefit. But this is actually where the perception of freedom has really changed in our cultural circles. Who still thinks it is an act of freedom, a privilege and a gift to go to work? Very few...

Instead we rush around all day long - with thanks to our shoes - like wound-up Duracell bunnies running from one appointment to the next. The real sense of freedom only sets in once we can take them off, the pinching high heels, the peep-toes (do yours also give you small abrasions on your toes?), and the much too stiff wingtips or oxfords. Every evening it becomes a ritual: get out of the stiff leather and into the snuggly fluff! Or however you prefer your slippers. As long as they feel good. And don’t leave any marks.

So why not bring this feeling to the office? Why not raise the cultural and historical “freedom through shoes” to a new level? Long live the freedom to choose your own shoes!

In offices around the world, there is an increasing attempt to break out of restrictive and outdated structures, but in this case you don’t have to go very far to find a solution. Slippers at the office? Of course.

And one more thing to keep in mind: Shoes are status symbols. They show the wearer’s financial status - and very often they also determine it. But just once, try to negotiate your salary while both you and your boss are wearing teddy-bear slippers. That will certainly reshuffle the cards... I’d bet on it!

Nicole Kolisch

The cons.

Some people like going to the office because the environment is much more attractive than at home. No one is hanging out in front of the TV, there are no lapses in good manners - “Did you forget to say good morning, honey?” No lack of respect in how the clothes are worn, like shirts that hang out, drooping pants, or unstylish kitchen attire for the ladies. And especially: no slippers.
Studies show that someone wearing a proper outfit, i.e. in business clothing, is better and more successful at making phone calls than someone who is in pyjamas at a home office. This must also apply to the shoes. Those who wear slippers send a certain message: I like things cosy, and the way I work is pretty fuzzy too. One actor managed to become famous in slippers, namely in the Austrian TV series “MA 2412” (MA stands for “magistrate’s department”), a satire of bureaucracy and reluctant workers. It may come as no surprise that this guy, with his hairpiece and a passion for chocolate marshmallows and model cars (which he certainly likes to pursue at the office) is not exactly a stud. Even ergonomic arguments for healthy sandals can’t shake that impression...
Let’s switch to another movie, one set in Manhattan. Tough business ladies in straight costumes and trench coats pour out of the subways and into the offices - they wear sneakers on their feet, but carry high heels for the office in their purses. This is called urbanity!

And that’s exactly what this is about: An attitude of professionalism and internationalism that has developed in metropolitan settings and is hard to duplicate in slippers - how would that even be possible? If you’re wearing slippers, you might as well take advice from a hobgoblin. Let’s just take the office for what it is: a stage for the daily performance of talent and skills, sometimes a runway for the vanities and a space for erotic sparks. All of which is inconceivable in slippers.

PS or sidestep: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2045231/Its-seasons-hottest-trend--did-pyjamas-public-acceptable.html

Dora Marquard

Office.Playlist #25

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This Office.Playlist is presented to you by:

#twitski

Homebase of Social Ski Freaks - twitter + ski. Online-Offline-Online.

Life is too short to spend it at the computer. Get out of the virtual world and into real life. Come together and explore the mountains! Austria. twitski informs, twitski initiates, twitski discovers, twitski entertains. twitski sets the tone. In word, sound and music.

Get snowcial with us and listen to the snowcial media:
www.twitter.com/twit_ski

www.facebook.com/twit_ski

www.youtube.com/twitskivids

www.twitski.tumblr.com

New Working Environments: Coming soon!

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

What's next? Just where are we heading with our fast-paced world of work? What will come after the non-territorial office, the open space office and home office? Just where will future job-hoppers and knowledge workers take residence? What will companies have to come up with to dominate in the war for talent?

The answers to these questions remain unclear. The word on the street is to put your ear to the wind and identify discernible trends. This is what we will be attempting in our new series of the Bene Office.Info Trendletters over the coming months. We will try to discern leading trends and key words that characterise the developing work environments of the future. These do not have to foresee the next 20, 30, or 40 years. Specific forecasts for the next five years would be an achievement in itself and will help us plot our future course.

Smart, smarter, ....

Nicole has her e-mails under control. Her Outlook calendar as well – and all upcoming events - including the next presentation. There are still a few things that she needs to research and compile. She will then decide whether to prepare hand-outs for the participants or merely make all the information accessible in the cloud. She will reserve the think tank tomorrow for two hours so that things can be finished up more quickly.

In Germany alone, about 17 million people work in offices. This number will probably not decrease in years to come, but the situation will change for everybody. Just like it always does! We have already experienced a number of changes. One thing is for sure, however: The only thing that remains constant is change itself. But almost certainly with faster turnaround times.

From long ago, we vaguely recall the sterile office environments divided into individual cells which did not gain individuality despite expensive architecture. It took a long time to learn. Well into the 80`s and 90s, office designers still liked to retain the layout of traditional poultry farms.

The more innovative individuals took the next step in CAD: Rooms needed to be like a shoe that fits the individual like no other. Flexible walls and flexible divider modules allow large meeting rooms to be reconfigured into small team units (almost) immediately.

The approach was well received and developed enthusiastic fans relatively quickly. The downside in the mix was furniture which lagged behind in flexibility for changing room sizes and different numbers of employees. The solution to this problem was found relatively quickly. Desks, tables, and small containers were all put on castors so that they could be easily moved into position by being pulled out, unfolded, adjusted in height, mechanically or with gas springs, with more or less noise or elegance for the respective task.

The next step is being taken today. Rooms AND furniture form intelligent settings for specific needs and provide resources for multifaceted zones and areas in which a changing number of individuals temporarily gather. The office is where I am – Whether in the cafeteria, at a touchpoint, in open space or outside of corporate facilities.

Sidestep

One thing can be stated with confidence: Over the last 30 years, the paperless office has not been realised and will not materialise in the foreseeable future. However, another trend will be realised much faster and with less fanfare: Clouds can be found in every corner of the virtual world. A significant indicator that networking is becoming increasingly important and it is not restricted to social networks. Beyond communication, highly developed multifunctional systems are being used that link technical office infrastructures distributed around the world.

Office Reality

When Nicole reviews her scheduled for tomorrow, she sees several changes in location are already planned. The day will start with the regular weekly meeting in the media room, and then she will meet with two colleagues to discuss a project in the lounge.
She will then sit at a shared desk and try to conclude yesterday's open activities over the course of an hour. A meeting with a customer scheduled for 12:15 in the cafeteria should wind up by her lunch break. Who knows who she will bump into at lunch! At 2:30 she will give Telco a ring in the small office box to coordinate things with colleagues in Bratislava. Any number of tasks can present themselves between these fixed appointments. A few surprises are to be expected. Some projects are still in the structuring phase at the beginning of the year, and there is always a need to exchange information and clarify things with colleagues from various departments. It's a good thing that there is always an opportunity for spontaneous discussions in the open central zones throughout the company, where one can also "just" meet up for creative and productive breaks – which are both pleasant and necessary!

Brigitte Schedl-Richter

The Bene editorial team wishes you...

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Happy Holidays and lots of joy until the next Office.Info in February 2012!

Baumeister Lahofer, Auersthal

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

Lahofer, a family-run business, has been active in building construction and civil engineering for 90 years. The company has always been based in the Weinviertel as well as in the regions to the north and east of Vienna. In recent years, Lahofer has become involved in transportation, crane rental and concrete production.

Briefing

The newly constructed company headquarters in Auersthal are a manifestation of the firm's expansion. In close collaboration with management, the goal was to optimally plan the different office zones and areas. A noteworthy detail: During the project, an innovative desk solution was developed for the workstations tailored to individual requirements.

Furnished zones and areas

Archive, reception / waiting areas, meeting / conference, We-Places.

»We are very impressed with the expertise involved in planning and the detailed implementation of our wishes. Bene has provided us with a futureproof office.«

Dipl. Ing. Regina Lahofer-Zimmermann, Project manager

Maritime Museum

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, is working to illustrate the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars and their relationship with people.

Briefing

Kin Design approached Bene with a brief to design an open, public and interactive space for the new Sammy Ofer Wing of the museum. The designers wanted to combine a functional yet dynamic seating space which could also be reconfigured for seminar use. With the PARCS Causeway system Bene was able to meet their needs in terms of colour spectrums, form and function.

Furnished zones and areas

Public space within the museum atrium.

»From the initial viewing we knew the Parcs range could have the visual impact we needed for the space. This combined with the variation in heights of the benches, walls and fences allowed us to create a dynamic and versatile space.«

Matt Wade, Designer

AD HOC Information: Earnings of the third quarter of 2011/12

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

- Break-even achieved in third quarter
- Sales rose by 10.1 %
- Clear increase in sales and significant improvement in earnings expected for the full year 2011/12

Bene announces third quarter 2011/12 results

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

- Break-even achieved in third quarter
- Sales rose by 10.1 %
- Clear increase in sales and significant improvement in earnings expected for the full year 2011/12

Christmas-Hanukkah-Kwanzaa-Koleda: once around the world and back

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

There’s no stopping Christmas’s triumphant march around the globe. It has even taken hold in China. Nicole Kolisch, Brigitte Schedl-Richter and Désirée Schellerer describe a few lesser-known Christmas traditions from around the world.

"Christmas is becoming increasingly domineering in France as well", writes a friend of mine in an email from Paris. "It wasn’t like this ten years ago; back then, the first decorations went up just two or three weeks before the 24th of December." One person’s joy is another person’s sorrow: Christmas polarises. Yet most people seem to like the shiny sea of lights and the frenzy of decorations – how else can we explain the increasing popularity of this tradition, with all of its trappings and its geographical expansion (aside from the fact that it’s not just the bells that are ringing, but also the cash registers)?

Why Christmas?

The winter solstice, or the day when the days start to become longer again, was always a reason for people in the northern hemisphere to celebrate. In some ancient religions, people celebrated the return of the sun or the sun-god from the underworld – or just the shift toward life-giving spring. These festivities were associated in most cultures with light and fire. And this has remained so up to the present.

Christmas, the winter festival to which we pay the most attention, has always brought together the Christian faith with different local traditions, some of which are significantly older. The early Church positioned Christ’s birthday near the winter solstice to suppress the popular Roman festival of Saturnalia. This "forerunner festival" – if we may call it that – is where we get the tradition of exchanging gifts.

In general: practically all of the numerous transformations that Christmas festivities have undergone over the years come from the other religions and traditions. The Christmas tree, the Advent wreath and Advent calendar were
originally north German and northern European Protestant traditions that fought long and hard against the Catholic Church, which however eventually subsumed these customs. The idea: "If you can’t beat them, join them!"

And when?

This is why Christmas is celebrated in very different ways from country to country: because today’s Christmas festivity is the cheeky offspring of an (involuntarily) ecumenical patchwork family. It begins with the giving of presents: while we here in German-speaking Europe traditionally receive our presents on December 24th, on Christmas Eve, from the Christ Child or Father Christmas, the English-speaking world does so under the tree or by the hearth on December 25th, on Jesus’s actual birthday. In the Orthodox world, Father Frost and his granddaughter Snegurochka (Snow Maiden) don’t arrive until January 7th because the calendar was not reformed there. In some parts of Italy, the gifts are also brought on the eve of January 6th. They are delivered by the fairy Befana, whose name derives from name of the festival: Epiphany.

And if Nicolo comes by for Advent here in Austria (on December 6th), Swedish children have to wait a week longer for their "major pre-Christmas celebration", because St. Lucia first arrives on December 13th, which was the shortest day of the year before the calendar reform. A procession marks the occasion: Swedish girls wear white costumes and a wreath made of real, burning candles in their hair. Of course, the name Lucia also contains the Latin word lux for fire...

But how?

There are regional idiosyncrasies not just in the ceremonies and rituals, but also in the culinary domain. In Bulgaria, for example, Christmas – called Koleda or Roschdestwo Christowo – takes place on December 25th and marks the end of a fasting period (in the Orthodox Church) that begins in the middle of November. On Christmas Eve, traditional Bulgarians prepare an odd number of dishes, typically seven, nine or thirteen different ones, such as paprika filled with beans, rice wrapped in grape leaves, bean soup and pastries filled with pumpkin (tikvenik). There is a beautiful tradition associated with the meal: at the beginning of the feast, the family shares a special round bread in which a coin is hidden. Whoever gets the coin is supposed to be healthy and very happy in the coming year! In the night of December 24/25, Diado Koleda, the Bulgarian Santa Claus brings gifts for everyone who was well-behaved during the year.

Oh Father Christmas!

In Norway and Denmark, it is the Yule elves or ‘Julenissen’ that deliver the gifts. Julenissen are the descendants of the house gnomes or goblins that once watched over the house, farm and family. To express their thanks, many Norwegians today still put a plate of rice pudding in the barn – and it’s always empty on the next day. Yet Father Christmas and the Julenissen are only similar on the surface: the Norwegian version does wear a red pointy hat and has a long beard. Yet the knickerbockers, the hand-knitted knee-length socks, the Norwegian pullover and the thick pelt that is supposed to make the cold bearable during sleigh rides, are truly special!

Jewish Festival of Lights

It’s no accident that people of Jewish faith also celebrate the winter solstice, at a slightly different time due to the moon-based Hebrew calendar, in their own, much older festival of lights, Hanukkah. Hanukkah, also known as Hanukka or Chanukka, takes place over eight consecutive days. And it’s not surprising that fire and light are central elements of the ritual: on the first evening, one of the candles is lit on the Hanukiah (Menorah), the eight-armed candelabra. Each evening, another candle is lit, each accompanied with its own prayers, until all eight candles are lit. Traditionally, children receive a gift on each Hanukkah evening, or also coins, some of which they are supposed to donate to worthy causes. In the USA, there are chocolate Hanukkah coins that are given to children to nibble on.

Afro-American Festival of Lights

Perhaps the newest winter festival is Kwanzaa. It was created in the 1960s in the USA by an American author in the context of the Black Power and Back-to-the-Roots movements among black Americans, and it is meant to point to the ancestry and traditions of Afro-American citizens. The aim was to give the black population their own holiday, independent of their white fellow citizens, whose ancestry is of course very different.

Kwanzaa, derived from a word in the Swahili language that means "first", has established itself in the meantime, combining African, European and to some extent Jewish elements. It is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st. Each day, one of seven candles is lit – three red ones, three green ones and a black one – in a candelabra called a kinara. (Sound familiar?) The colours stand for Africa, and each day stands for one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, such as unity or self-determination. During this time, the house is decorated with African art and traditional objects, and African music is played, sung and played on drums. Strictly speaking, Kwanzaa is not a religious festival and many Afro-American families celebrate both Kwanzaa and Christmas. In 1997 and 2004, the U.S. Post Office also printed special Kwanzaa stamps along with its Christmas stamps.

And they really do exist: Christmas caps in China town

Superpower China, with its billions of citizens, doesn’t think much of Christmas. At least not officially. It is only by chance that December 25th is also the memorial day for the creation of the Republic, although it’s not an official holiday (to prevent too many work interruptions during the year). As interest in Western traditions climbs rapidly, many Chinese can not be deterred from holding unofficial "Christmas celebrations". There are light displays in some major cities, and artificial Christmas trees in a few households.

Strict Japan takes it one step further and celebrates Christmas as a secular holiday with colourful Christmas decorations and blinking light garlands. It is a festival for lovers and partygoers; family celebrations don’t begin until the New Year’s holiday.

And: India celebrates Christmas officially – and sort of traditionally ;)! – with decorated palm, banana and mango trees. Christians go to mass and celebrate the festival with dancing and singing. Children and employees receive gifts, and the head of the family receives a sign of respect, a lucky charm: a lemon!

(Research assistance: Christina Hainbuchner, Eva Voycheva)

Living Spaces: The spaces in between

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In our Office.Info series we have been visiting spaces with a special identity and exploring the whys and wherefores of their design and impact. In our last article on this topic, we focus on spaces that actually aren’t spaces at all – even though we can’t avoid them, day after day.

There is something to the saying that spaces have character. Regardless of whether we want to work, study, teach, communicate, entertain or relax in them – the space "created" for this purpose clearly references the idiosyncrasies of its users and their activities. But whether or not it ‘works’ is another question. That depends entirely on whether it touches us emotionally. In the final analysis, impact really is more than the quadratic root of room height + wall colour + floor space.

Showplace 1: It is one of Europe’s major hubs. About 155 airlines used its strategic position in 2010 to transport 53 million passengers through the three terminals at the Frankfurt airport. A volume that is nearly double what it was twenty years ago. Air travellers wait here, arrive, travel on – a perfect symbol of our globalised society in which there are no longer any limits to an individual’s mobility. – Aside from those of time and money.

Showplace 2: In the 350,000 km² sales space you can find every brand name worth mentioning. About thirty million visitors stroll through here each year, shopping in 1,200 stores, visiting the 120 restaurants and cafés, as well as diverse attractions such as the artificial ice rink. The Dubai Mall, located in the new district of Downtown Dubai, is currently the largest mall in the world and is definitely out of the ordinary. Yet the fact is that the concept of the shopping centre has been booming worldwide since the 1980s and 1990s. The density of products and services, preferably with added benefits, attracts thousands of shoppers into concentrated shopping miles across the globe.

Showplace 3: From Chicago to Moscow, from London to Vienna: u-bahns, subways and metros carry a majority of individual traffic in modern cities. An unbelievable three billion passengers board the trains in Tokyo each year, over two billion in Moscow, one billion in London. Hundreds of kilometres of tunnels transport passengers below the earth, from A to B, in all major cities. If this traffic were above ground on the streets, it would be completely unmanageable.

Exceptional circumstances

Question: What do airports, shopping centres, subways, train stations and parking garages have in common? They are all places in "exceptional circumstances." Or, to put it more clearly, they are places with a typically interchangeable identity (though their architectonic shell can be quite prestigious), focussed on function and utility. People wait, depart, walk through and park there. These are places that people enter, only to leave them again as they make their way to somewhere else.

This is probably why they all look somehow similar. Gates and subway platforms, shopping levels and escalators, waiting lounges and garages - sometimes you really have to concentrate, really think hard about where on earth you just happen to be. (OK, OK! – that’s a little bit of an exaggeration.)

These are also places in which you assume a new, temporary role that pushes your actual identity to the background for a moment – here, you are above all a driver, shopper, parker, flight passenger. The emotional state you might find yourself in has little to do with the space you happen to find yourself in (unless, of course, some shameless guy is about to steal your parking space – but that’s another story...).

Interaction – shall we say – takes place. Saying "excuse me, could I get by please" is definitely insignificant. If you take away the technical function of the space, then it loses its reason for existence. It’s hard to imagine what could attract us to a garage if there were no longer parking spots in there. Something fundamental would have to change in the venue. – And sometimes the art and event scene manages to do this. A perfect example is the hip Vienna club, "Passage". The name says it all: in 2003, the owners renovated a unique passageway under a rail line to one of the hottest locations in the city. Equipped with technical refinements and a futuristic interior, a vibrant party scene has developed here. And a space that now has a fixed place in the city landscape...

Hybrid

Of course transitions are fluid. Of course spaces such as train stations can also be places with identity and history. As is the case with the central train station in Leipzig. In the days of the GDR, German-German history took place here, either as a path of suffering for political exiles – or a new life for those happy souls who received a travel permit to go to the West. "Friends and relatives met on platform 1a to say goodbye forever, while the famous Monday demonstrations marched by in front of the train station, helping to bring the GDR system to its knees" (Europe’s train stations narrate history: www.lichtfilm.de).

Non-Places

Ethnologist Marc Augé even elevates "non-places" to the "measure of our times", loading the term with even more significance. For Augé, a place must be relational, historical or concerned with identity to have relevance from an anthropological perspective: it must host social relationships, contribute to the identity of a community, and have grown within a community. The spatially architectonic aspect only provides the shell for what is happening in societal development. For this reason, Augé also considers hospitals, holiday villages and hotel chains to be non-places, because humans travel through them in a temporary, provisional way that does not foster identity and is only peripherally significant.

Life in the spaces in between

Nevertheless, the phenomenon seems complex and, above all, very topical. Whether a place or a non-place, whether temporary or anthropologically relevant, we spend a lot of time in these "in-between spaces". Whether in motion or organising our everyday lives, underway on different modes of transportation, or waiting for the next event. In particular, it is the temporal factor, combined with modern communication technologies, that ushers in a fully new dimension: people can also drive professional tasks forward while waiting at the airport. And numerous mobile applications, such as location-based services and augmented-reality features, just might transform today’s classical non-places into the real places of tomorrow.

Brigitte Schedl-Richter

Kris Kringle, North Pole, DK-3900 Nuuk

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Work and lifestyle on the cutting edge: In our conversations with contemporaries, we examine the claims, clichés and ideals that circulate about our workplaces. It’s time to explore a workplace that has been under global projection for several generations. Nicole Kolisch and Harald Havas visited Santa Claus in his workshop.

Kris Kringle is living proof of how a calling can become a profession. As Santa Claus, he has a very unusual work rhythm, yet it’s important to him not to be labelled as a seasonal worker: “The logistical effort leading up to December 24th takes up most of the year, and the population growth is having a major impact on our operations.” Kringle strives to keep his services as accessible as possible: a letter or e-mail suffices to hire his services, and he doesn’t have any religious preferences. “I know that I’m often mixed up with Saint Nicholas”, he says with a grin. “But I feel very ecumenical: my business is certainly based on believing in me. Whatever else people believe is their own affair.”

Mr Kringle, do you have a “primary workplace” – and if you do, where is it?

Well now, I have my office at the North Pole, but my actual workplace is the entire world! That means that I change scenery very, very quickly – and in just one night! Ho, ho, ho!

The office as a space: What do you like about your office? What do you dislike about your office?

I prefer a rather rustic, homey style. This seems more tranquil to me, since my flat, office and workshop are all tegether. Sounds strange when you consider that the stress level – above all in the phase before Christmas – is fearfully high. But there are small things that always help me relax: lots of wood and natural materials, my PARCS Wing Chair – a custom design for my, um, rather broad backside [laughs]. And pre-warmed house shoes! I couldn’t work without them. What I don’t like is the training chimney that Mrs Kringle sentenced me to a couple of years ago. But that’s just part of the routine.

Are there any places or locations where you have particularly enjoyed working?

Well, although we’ve added workshops and factory buildings over the years, I still love most to stand at my workbench where I can do my own woodturning...

Are there places where you would especially like to work?

I have thought of moving my operations, maybe to an island in the South Pacific. Above all because it gets dark so quickly in the north in autumn. On the other hand, working by candlelight helps to get in the Christmas spirit.

Do you prefer to work alone in your office or with others?

I’m rarely alone because without my army of busy elves it would hardly be possible to get all the work done! The Christkind has it somewhat easier because he’s able to conjure up everything he needs with his angels.

Do you find your office to be a place of inspiration, of creativity?

Inspiration always tends to come from my “second workplace”, when I distribute the gifts. All of the houses, all of the cities – they give me ideas. But the creativity, the actual implementation, takes place in the office. That’s my source of strength. And it has been for centuries!

Are there certain rituals that you consider important in your working life?

Well, I can’t imagine a more important “ritual” than Christmas! [laughs] But of course, during the rest of the year I’ve become accustomed to my rituals: if I run out of ideas, I go to clean out the reindeer stables, which frees up my brain for new thoughts.

When you look back over the entire period of your “office life”, what changes would you describe as most decisive?

Settling those annoying territorial disputes with the Christkind! We finally finalised a business agreement over a glass of warm glögg that governs who flies to where. Basically, now we fly to wherever people believe in us! And if a problem comes up, we help each other out. But don’t tell anyone! [winks]

What is the most important object in yur office?

That’s definitely my comfy old leather couch! I’m able to think, plan and read wish-lists comfortably in my Wing Chair... but the couch is my first stop when I come back after my tour! You can believe that. [grins]

What is the most important tool for your work?

The sled! But I only use it outside the office, of course.

What is your favourite activity in the context of work?

When I was younger, I used to say: sliding down the chimney chute. But my priorities have changed. In the meantime, it is clearly: giving the gifts! Sometimes I peek through the window while the children are opening them. Their joy, their cheer... that’s my absolute favourite part, and the most beautiful reward for my work! Although I can never say no to milk and cookies...

Thank you for the interview.

Office.Playlist #24 by Bixl

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The Christmas in the Office Office.Playlist is presented to you by:

Bixl

Christmas Is Coming Soon – Reason enough for our sound spy, Bixl, to prick up his ears once again and look for Christmas tunes off the beaten path. And there was so much to discover: fragile sounds that remind us of ice sculptures. Black Christmas – we’ll leave the interpretation to you. Christmas with a ¾ beat. A trip to Jakarta – doesn’t sound like the quietest time of year, does it? You are in for a surprise.

PS: In case Xmas leaves you feeling helpless, we’ve also added the title “Helpless” to our Office.Playlist.

Hallbaum Bank, DE

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

Bankhaus Hallbaum has a rich tradition going back to 1879, and, today, it is the largest private bank in Lower Saxony. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Hanover, there are branches in Hildesheim, Göttingen and Osnabrück. A total of 120 employees manage security holdings of more than €1.9 billion.

Briefing

A spatial implementation of transparency and customer friendliness as well as discretion was needed to revitalise the Osnabrück branch. The holistic approach provided by Hachmeister Architekten, with the support of Bene Hanover, produced an attractive result down to the last detail. The job involved the basic layout, furniture, shading, lighting and floors.

Furnished zones and areas

Reception, individual workplaces, consultation areas, the back-office, waiting area.

Non-places

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Marc Augé is the founder of an ethnology of the ‘local’. In his book Non-places, Augé traces the global accumulation of functional spaces that are transitory and emptied of meaning, in the context of modernisation and globalisation.

These ‘non-places’, such as airports, subways, refugee camps, supermarkets and hotel chains, are not ‘anthropological places’; people are not at home in them. Instead, they are ‘places of the placeless’, and therefore to a certain extent opposites of ‘places of memory’. These spaces do not foster individual identity, have no shared past and do not create social relationships. They are signs of a collective loss of identity. ‘The space of non-places creates loneliness and uniformity’. Marc Augé’s book, well received in cultural studies, was out of print for a long time. It is again available with a new epilogue by the author.

Celgene

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

Celgene is a global biopharmaceutical company committed to improving the lives of patients worldwide. Celgene focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of products for the treatment of cancer and other severe, immunological, inflammatory conditions.

Briefing

Celgene is currently going through a considerable period of growth in the UK and as a result, needed to move into larger premises to accommodate its increasing number of employees. Bene worked closely with furniture specialist Zone1, architects Scott Brownrigg and the client to design a contemporary and innovative workspace with a combination of cellular, open plan as well as breakout areas.

Furnished zones and areas

Bene and its loose furniture division, B-Loose, provided a one-stop-shop solution for Celgene for all furniture requirements: workstations and storage for open plan and cellular offices, seating and loose furniture for all break-out areas, teapoints, canteen, business lounge and meeting rooms.

»Flexibility, functionality and quality were very important factors when looking for a supplier for our workstations and storage. Bene met all of these requirements and we are very pleased with our new work space.«

Celgene

Bank of China

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

Bank of China Limited is one of China's four state-owned commercial banks. Its businesses cover commercial banking, investment banking and insurances.

Briefing

Bene worked closely with London based architects Pringle Brandon to provide solutions for workstations, storage and task seating for Bank of China's new London headquarters. The products identified as best suited were Bene T-7 workstations with storage returns, Bisley storage and Humanscale Liberty Task seating. Bank of China chose Bene due to the quality and design of the product. The project achieved a SKA rating Silver award which reflects the corporation's values towards sustainability.

Furnished zones and areas

Open plan and cellular offices.

»Bene & Bisley were amongst a number of furniture providers who tendered for the Lothbury Project. Their polished pitch, clean lines of the furniture design and the overall quality look and feel of the product made it our number one choice.«

Sharon Scanlan, Vice President – Projects

Aegis London, London

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

AEGIS is a Lloyd's syndicate and part of a facts long-established mutual insurance business, providing clients with specialist knowledge, continuity and security across many classes of business.

Briefing

AEGIS appointed architects Mansfield Monk and fit-out contractor Interaction for the design of their new office space in the City of London. Quality, transparency and a welcoming ambience for both clients and employees were requested. The architect designed the scheme to accommodate the projected growth needs with striking finishes that reflect the company's new branding. Bene furniture was supplied for all cellular and open plan offices and Bene’s B-Loose division supplied all loose furniture items.

Furnished zones and areas

Waiting area at reception, lounge, meeting rooms, open plan and cellular offices.

»Bene and B-Loose proved to be the right furniture suppliers for our new office space – the product quality, design and service approach made it an easy choice.«

Hayley Connell, Company Secretary

Kingsley Napley

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

Kingsley Napley is an internationally recognized law firm based in central London providing a wide range of legal expertise.

Briefing

Bene worked closely with architects Daniel Watney who aimed to provide a light and highly functional office space for Kingsley Napley’s fee earners and support staff. Bene’s working walls were selected due to the flexibility, transparency and acoustic privacy as well as their superior quality.

Furnished zones and areas

Reception, meeting rooms, cellular and open plan offices.

»We were looking for a solution that would compliment the building’s architecture, maximise occupancy levels without compromising on comfort, and would deliver the “Wow factor” for our employees. Bene surpassed all expectations.«

Darren Jesse, Financial Director

Infrastrutture e Gestioni Spa

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

Infrastrutture e Gestioni Spa (IG) is a technology consultation firm with a focus on energy production and project management. Their projects include the development and operation of large power plants in Italy and North Africa.

Briefing

With approximately 40 years of experience in the industry, the company has enjoyed significant growth in recent years. A new office was necessary to meet the challenges arising from a greater workload and new technology, especially in the areas of communication and process orientation. Together with Bene's partner in Rome, DEC, 60 high-end workplaces were designed and installed.

Furnished zones and areas

Management, Concentrated work, Lounge, Meeting / Conference, Reception.

»Our new office especially needed to reflect the new business situation. DEC and Bene proposed an excellent concept and implemented it perfectly.«

Andrea Buffa, Projectmanager IG Roma

Peneder, Atzbach, AT

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

Peneder is active throughout Europe in the construction, fire protection and steel industries. In 2010, 500 employees worked on their own authority, generating a turnover of about EUR 107 million.

Briefing

As an internationally renowned company in the building industry, Peneder had high expectations for their new office building, requiring an excellent concept of utilisation and top quality spatial design. It was designed to express innovative creativity and expertise. Long-lasting products and a timeless design that reflects the high-tech character of the company were also needed. In addition the workstations were required to be ergonomic, the work environment employee-oriented and attractive. They placed particular emphasis on the topic of communication – both regarding the conference rooms located centrally on every floor around the lobby and regarding the zones for informal communication. Comprehensive acoustic solutions, ultra modern media integration and intelligent lighting were also realised. Project development, planning and the design of the office space was done in close cooperation with the architect’s office.

»Our company stands for quality and innovation. Our goal was for people to see and experience these values in our offices.«

Karl and Franz Peneder, Owners Peneder Holding GmbH

Sodexo, London

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

Sodexo designs and delivers comprehensive service solutions across the public and corporate sectors, including food services, hospitality and total facilities management.

Briefing

Sodexo’s move to new headquarters was predicated on delivering changes to working practice, promoting a confident culture and providing an inspirational workplace for its staff. Further, it presented an opportunity to project its brand and demonstrate it service offer to its clients. Bene worked with the designers to help create zones to allow for new ways of working and for Sodexo to benefit from the maximum use of space efficiently.

Furnished zones and areas

Bene PARCS and seating was used in breakout areas, informal meeting zones, restaurant dining, reception and waiting areas.

»The Bene people have been a pleasure to work with and we are delighted with the Bene products; they make an essential contribution to the mix of our new office scheme.«

Alastair Page, Director of Capital Projects.

The stuff that rooms are made of

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Textiles are making an appearance in offices. The era of pure, cool uniform, materials appears to be passé. Today, work environments are wanted that allow for emotions and create an atmosphere using fabrics and colours. Offices are therefore dressing up.

For decades, fabrics played a subordinate role in offices. Here and there, you found wall-to-wall carpeting and an occasional standard set of curtains, but they were all practical and not cosy. Those who wanted to be en vogue expressed their fashionableness through glass and metal: "Aesthetic but cool" was the motto. Melamine was the material that communicated the message of an era: Hard, smooth, cool and washable.

Of course, this functional approach to furniture and the interior design of offices has distinct, proven advantages. Everything always has a clean and new feeling about it. Coffee cups can’t leave permanent stains on the reflective surface of desks. Fewer visual distractions allow office workers to concentrate on the essential. Seriousness and professionalism are communicated.

Over the last 50 years, where wood was used, it was also subjected to the necessity of polished functionality. Textiles on chairs and sofas were rare: Whenever hard materials were out of place, leather – which also has a smooth surface – dominated.

Stuff happens

The current redefinition of traditional office work and corresponding redefinition of traditional office spaces has created an opportunity to take a fresh look at the materials. Enter: textiles!

Because coolness and distance is not wanted everywhere; there is an increasing demand for a relaxed atmosphere and human interaction. Team meetings and talks with customers are more successful when held in an environment that allows or even emphasises the expression of emotion. Textiles offer advantages in this regard and can be seen with increasing frequency within the four walls of offices.

A new trend? Count me in!

Page through new catalogues and design reference books and you will immediately see: there is a liberating preference for EQ (emotional intelligence) over inhuman functionalism. It almost feels like a collective exhalation: We don't want metal chairs that keep us from relaxing. We need sofas, a living room atmosphere and fabric everywhere. Companies such as Google & Co. have demonstrated on a global scale how being childish at the office and can promote creative high performance. A tower of pillows anyone?

In a nutshell: The use of fabric serves as a medium for communicating different, more lively messages. And communication, both horizontal and vertical, is a key element of a well-functioning company. The areas in which communication occurs will continue to be functional, but they can also be human. In addition, the increasing density of workplaces means that employees need to communicate value and identity in a different way.

PARCS by Bene can be considered one of the forerunners of the new trend: A room-forming ensemble of furniture with the goal of creating an inspiring work environment for meetings, team work, presentations, waiting and relaxing. Of course, the fact that textiles play a major role is a matter of course.

Living in a material world

Whoever uses fabric material should use the best. In the case of PARCS, this led to a closer relationship between Bene and the Danish company, KVADRATKvadrat. In addition to the quality, there was also need for a comprehensive line of colours, textures, materials and patterns. The match was a good one: As a leading global player in its sector, KVADRAT is known and respected around the world for its fabrics used in offices and other interiors.

The company was founded in 1968 as a small textile firm and resides in Ebeltoft on the Danish East Coast, which is also where the warehouse with a total of 800,000 metres of fabric is located. KVADRAT has set up shop in 20 countries around the world, and 90 per cent of its overall sales are exports.

In recent years, KVADRAT has become an important player in design and art promotion in addition to producing textiles. One example is the "Textile Field" project by the highly successful designers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec. KVADRAT is developing concept cars together with BMW.

A characteristic of KVADRAT is its careful selection of colours and patterns for its collection which some think reflects the clear light of Scandinavia and the ocean view offered by each one of KVADRAT's offices. Natural textiles and sustainable production are of great importance as illustrated by the ISO 14001 certification and several eco awards like the EU flower.

Material, functionality, effect

What is required of textiles and fabrics, particularly in the context of the office?
They primarily need to be fire resistant or at least hardly flammable. In addition, they need to be robust, which means scrub-resistant for upholstered furniture: Traces of wear should not show. This is measured by "scrubbing events." In one test procedure, the robustness of the material is measured by how many "events" it survives.

Biological considerations and the origin and processing of materials, yarns and dyes are also important. This is important not only for ecological reasons, but also because it helps to create a healthy office atmosphere. Biologically harmless natural products prevent the release of chemicals and thereby help create a productive, healthy atmosphere in the spaces in which work is performed.

Functionality involves a range of considerations such as harmonising with the design, an attractive appearance or pleasantness and sitting comfort. The body senses quality and the texture of the fabrics both consciously and unconsciously and reacts with positive emotions and a sense of well-being. The borders between functionality and effect are fluid. The feel and appearance, which includes both colours and patterns, as well as the visual elements of the texture and surface have a strong psychological effect when people enter the room and they immediately influence one's mood.

"Colour is permanently linked with texture and shape. It is more than just the pantone code," is the credo of textile designer Giulio Ridolfo, one of the numerous designers who help KVADRAT develop its materials. He is referring to the internationally used code of colours with its thousands of nuances created by the American company Pantone LLC.

This credo is also reflected in Bene’s seating furniture collection which boasts more than 350 colours. Mustard yellow and blue tones in various shades are presently à la mode, especially the blue-green tone cyan, as well as warm grey tones with an added touch of the colour lava.

But what colour goes with what?
If you don't trust your own feelings or just want some objective input, you can refer to the "Fabric Inspiration", a guideline that was developed by the PARCS designers of PearsonLloyd. "Fabric Inspiration" is a combined reference work: It provides a selection of approximately 45 contextually defined colours and demonstrates how PARCS can be ideally designed in terms of colour and texture.

This opens up new horizons for solutions to current office design issues. Let the stuff of your dreams become the fabric in your rooms.

Nicole Kolisch

Living Spaces: Brand worlds & flagship stores

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Glitter, gloss and glory

In our current Office.Info series, we are visiting spaces with a special identity and exploring the whys and wherefores of their design and impact. This time, we will visit the image stores of some hip brands: staged brand worlds that provide you with a real experience.

There is something to the saying that spaces have character. Regardless of whether we want to work, learn, teach, communicate, entertain or relax in them – the space "created" for this purpose usually makes a clear reference to the idiosyncrasies of its users and their activities. But whether or not it "functions" is another question and depends entirely on whether it reaches us emotionally. In the final analysis, impact really is more than the quadratic root of room height + wall colour + floor space.

When you’ve got a six pack or a great body you want to highlight it. So do the people who clothe you. The "sales advisors" at the cult fashion label from NYC, Abercrombie & Fitch, all of them the young and beautiful people that we would love to be, are part of a shopping concept that wants one thing above all – to be a sensual experience. And that in the broadest meaning of the term: A perfectly staged lighting concept is added to the elaborate multi-level interior architecture of the A&F flagship stores, as well as opulent colours, a dominating musical setting and omnipresent scents that accompany the visitor long after they have left the store. A&F’s target audience loves the beautiful and expensive world of luxury. And wherever the next store opens, as in Milan in 2009, there are always hundreds of brand fans waiting hours before the doors open to their new shopping shrine.

The trend is easy to explain. First, globalisation makes wares available anywhere, anytime; second, the Internet and online shops have opened up new and convenient sales channels for consumers. This is why the physical presentation of brands has constantly had to outdo itself in recent years to keep urbane, demanding and sought-after customers in their shops.

The effective and successful idea behind this is called three-dimensional brand staging, and the somewhat older term experiential marketing is giving way to the hip idea of a brand experience. Stores with great staging, with corporate architecture, with intelligent events and pure emotion – these are the customised temptations for a modern clientele that is ready to buy.

Immersion in the microcosm

Of course, it isn’t always about fashion, even if all of the new U.S. labels like Hollister or forever21 are paving the way. If you have ever visited one of Swarovski’s flagship stores knows you know that this also works in other branches. Over ten years after Crystal Worlds in Wattens, the first flagship store in the Ginza district in Tokyo was created in collaboration with the Japanese designer Tokujin Yashioka. The facade, with its innumerable gleaming silver prisms, seems to open the door to another world that shines forth in white splendour. Crystals "interspersed" in the floor welcome visitors. The store isn’t named the "Crystal Forest" for nothing. Crystal branches, steps, a tree trunk, a curtain that resembles a waterfall – they weren’t stingy with the products. And all of this without overwhelming visitors. The walls are bedecked with reflective stones that lend visual depth to the space. The white and silver coolness is the perfect stage for the trendy pieces of jewellery and accessories.

Symbiotic: Architecture & Brand

There is no doubt about it: top brands are right to hire top architects for their stores with the goal of creating unique environments for their products. Impressive examples of the breath-taking combination of architecture, design, product and spatial experience can also be found in the Milan, Berlin and New York flagship stores of Bisazza, a world-renowned manufacturer of glass mosaics for interior and exterior spaces. Designed by Fabio Novembre, each location has been created individually and presents the product as an integrated component of the store, giving the space its character.

The star architect from Milan also designed 70+ stores around the world for Stuart Weitzman, the Swiss shoe designer for the rich and beautiful The same design concept is used in all of the shops, with slight variations. The idea: the store as a valuable gift box. The essential element is a kind of endless loop that runs repeatedly through the ceiling and walls in an interwoven pattern throughout the entire store, creating the display area for designer shoes and handbags for the women of the world. For an unmistakable appearance.

Automobile brands also like to celebrate their individual lifestyles in staged spaces. Whether it’s the upper crust of BMW, Mercedes and Lamborghini, or the middle-class market participants like Hyundai and Opel – they all rely on realistic presentation visuals to touch and astound. The polarity between the mobile product and an elaborate, localised architecture often makes the solutions both exciting and surprising at the same time. After six months of renovations, the L´Atelier Renault was reopened on the Champs Élysées in Paris in July 2011. Architect Franck Hammoutène has created an exciting, modular space that adapts to a broad variety of events, exhibits and usages. Including a restaurant and bar – a real highlight of Parisian gastronomy that has to be taken seriously. BTW, in the past eleven years since the atelier was opened, 25 million visitors have passed through Renault’s doors!

Kindred Spirits

Maybe their relationship is very special: fashion and architecture, as creative disciplines, have always been closely related and always had plenty of tales to tell each other. The one as the protective and representative shell of the other. And both focus totally on creativity, aesthetics and design. Renzo Piano designed a tower made of 13,000 glass bricks for Hermès in Tokyo; Massimiliano Fuksas built a tower with a Perspex facade for Armani; and – as is well known – Rem Kohlhaas created a versatile brand world for Prada in New York. Here "real life" is also celebrated, even if it’s a life at the end of the rainbow, with VIP areas, cafés, luxury restaurants, catwalks, event levels, exhibition spaces, or even wellness zones and spas, in addition to the actual sales floor.

Ralph Lauren’s flagship store at 867 Madison Avenue, NY, is considered one of the first completely composed lifestyle stores. Housed in the "Rhinelander Mansion", which dates back to 1890, the store now welcomes visitors to another world with wood panelling, hearth, paintings, dignified furniture, a handmade wooden staircase, cashmere-decked walls and the atmosphere of a private club.

Nike opened a completely cool, stylishly designed and nevertheless enormously popular variation of the flagship store with its store in the Harajuku district in Tokyo in November 2010. The architecture was created by Masamichi Katayama and his firm, Wonderwall Inc. The athletic experiential world stretches over three floors, designed down to the last detail as a "curated exhibit", with "shoe installations" hanging from the ceiling and chandeliers made of 300 white shoe models. Reduction as exaggeration – and vice versa. A visual look that steals the show, even in Japan’s high-intensity metropolises.

The glass Apple

Sometimes flagship stores even manage to become real landmarks in urban spaces. Like the Apple Store on New York’s Fifth Avenue. On the southeastern corner of Central Park, right in front of the GM building, there is a glass cube (currently being renovated), in the middle of which floats the Apple logo. Nothing else is visible. Because the actual store is located below – the cube, designed to be both simple yet ultra-striking, is just the entrance. The glass staircase winds around a cylindrical elevator down into the sales room.

There are no visual distractions there either; reduction to the essential is the motto. Clear, catchy, pure – that defines the store. Wooden tables, stone floors and light are reserved and let the products take centre stage.

The fact that flagship stores also have urban development dimensions can be seen in Peek & Cloppenburg’s latest cosmopolitan house in Vienna. Critics remain divided as to whether the English star architect David Chipperfield has managed to realise his plan, right in the middle of Vienna – which is part of UNESCO world culture heritage – to create a statement that bridges the divide between tradition and modernity. In any event, the building is a tectonically powerful, no-frills construct that serves as a counterpoint. And a statement of a popular brand.

Pop-ups, and not just on the computer

PS: However, if you aren’t so much into shopping at showy events but would rather hunt spontaneously on a smaller scale, then we have an interesting piece of information for you as well: Look out for the so-called pop-up retail stores. With increasing frequency, temporary (designer) shops are popping up around the city; they stay for a couple of days, weeks or months, and then move on to another city. Locations can pretty much be anywhere: a top business location in the centre of the town, a gallery, a loft, a former laundromat or even a private flat. Vacant made its name as the pioneer of this concept in the USA. In the meantime, the number of small but exciting and exclusive showrooms is growing elsewhere as well. In Vienna, for example, it’s worth keeping your an eye on What about the future at www.whatatf.com. Here too, it’s all about having an experience and interactive communication.

Ronnie Sambor
Brigitte Schedl-Richter

Bene Spectrum – XXL

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

After just under two years Bene has freshened up its selection of colours and materials, the Bene Spectrum, with new veneers and melamine surfaces along with extensive additions to the fabric collection. This universal and versatile colour and material system is ideally suited for designing modern offices.

"Colours are an expression of life’s changes and need to be continuously renewed."

The selection of colours and materials in the new Bene Spectrum reflects both tried and true ideas and new trends:

No to tropical veneers! - Bamboo sets the ecological standards

In recent years the hype about the tropical trees has resulted in a shortage on the market. There were hardly any tropical wood types to be found at the most important furniture fairs last year. Bene has already completely removed Macassar and Zebrano from their selection – not least for ecological reasons.
Instead, Bene is now offering something that is still unusual in office furniture in the European market: bamboo veneer. Bamboo is quick to grow back, does not ruin the ground and also makes an excellent construction material and even veneer. It’s as if bamboo was made for the office.

Walnut veneer now comes in more colours

In order to be able to continue offering an appropriate selection of high-quality veneers in the executive Filo, AL and P2 lines, Bene has expanded its spectrum with two new tones of walnut stain in addition to natural walnut. Umbra walnut and anthracite walnut are gentle tones of brown and grey that give the noble executive pieces an exclusive finish.

Colours from nature

Mustard yellow sets the tone – not only in the current autumn/winter fashion but also in the office. A warm mustard yellow can now be found in almost all of Bene’s fabric collections . The hype about blue inspired Bene’s colour experts and designers to include these trendy shades in the new fabric collections and to make the blue-green tone of cyan an accentual colour in the Bene collection – not just for textile, but also for the melamine surfaces. On the other hand, the warm grey tones are not a new trend but rather firmly established. So Bene has added another warm nuance of grey – in addition to clay – to the Bene Spectrum: the colour of lava. It is available as melamine and as the colour of varnish or fabric.

The fabric that PARCS is made of

Bene’s ever-growing seating collection, in particular the PARCS family, called for a more differentiated selection of fabrics. The new, comprehensive and well-coordinated selection now enables the desired diversity of design possibilities. In order to keep an orientation among this diversity of different colours, the designers of PARCS, PearsonLloyd, put together a combination helper consisting of about 45 selected colours: the "Fabric Inspirations". Because for a good combination of PARCS you usually need about three colours on fabrics, and ideally they should have different structures so they highlight the individual elements of furniture. For all those who prefer to choose from the "big picture," there are about 350 colours from 25 collections available.

Have fun designing!

Nicole Schemerl-Streben

Office.Playlist #23 by datenwerk

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This version of the Office.Playlist is brought to you by:

datenwerk

datenwerk creates, programs and manages campaigns, websites and mobile apps. They rely on open data, open content and open sources because openness strengthens the network. They are fellow travellers in the social media jungle of Facebook, Twitter, etc., and their solutions are barrier-free, user-friendly and well thought out.

The motto of datenwerk’s playlist is mashup - various music styles and moods that accompany us through the day. Because often a workday is also a mashup: sometimes cheerful, sometimes annoying or pleasing, sometimes tiring. And sometimes, just sometimes, all you want to do is dance!

Zuno Bank, Bratislava

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

ZUNO sees itself as a new online bank with a regional focus in central and eastern Europe and was founded towards the end of 2010. It is a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International.

Briefing

"Less bank, more life" is the motto of the new financial service provider. The challenge was to translate this atmosphere of freedom into an overall concept for the new building in Bratislava. The bank was looking for a playful and inspiring design in refreshing colours and a friendly ambience, including plenty of different zones for communication and recreation. An open office solution that promotes innovation and functions as a living space. Furnished zones and areas Standard workstation, We-Places – Communication and relaxation zones.

»With this office design you can physically experience our corporate culture. It is lively and inspirational – with many communication zones which support an open mind and creates a friendly atmosphere.«

Michal Ondrišek, Project Leader

DCNS

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

The “Direction des Constructions Navales, Systèmes et Services” is France’s venerable maritime shipyard. The global company employs more than 12,000 people around the world and recorded sales of about €2.4 billion in 2009.

Briefing

The assignment was to furnish 11,000 m² of office space. A high level of space efficiency and attractive storage solutions was required. To ensure a harmonious look, Bene’s colour worlds “Natural” and “Spice” were chosen. The close cooperation between the project partners Silvera and Bene guaranteed optimal project coordination and short delivery times.

Furnished zones and areas

Back office, meeting rooms and management areas.

»Aside from the professional planning and cooperation between the project partners Bene and Silvera, for us, the important criteria were above all the comprehensive colour palette, the complementarity of the products and the well-coordinated logistics.«

Diane Desarnez, BNP Paribas Real Estate

Fraunhofer Portugal Research Center

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Company

At the Fraunhofer Center for Assistive In- facts formation and Communication Solutions (AICOS) in Porto, approaches and solutions are being developed to improve the benefit of information technology for the general population.

Briefing

The new office is as inspiring as the innovative work being performed within. An unconventional design was chosen for the 75 workplaces in an open office layout, as well as for the communication and meeting areas. In collaboration with Pedro Silva Architects, sophisticated room designs were developed that optimally satisfy all the requirements of a team office, including We-Places.

Furnished zones and areas

Concentrated work, Management, Meeting / Conference, Teamwork, We-Places.

»I would like to express my gratitude to Pedra Silva Architects and Bene as well as its local partner, Paris Sete. Our new office fulfils all of our employees’ wishes for enhancing teamwork and enabling concentrated solo work.«

Prof. Dirk Elias, Head of AICOS

'Hold' recommendation by Hauck & Aufhäuser

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Price target EUR 1.40

EAT ART Competition 2011

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Bene London proudly announces this year’s EAT ART Competition! All planners, architects, interior designers, designers and creatives are invited to participate.

Gingerbread is associated with Austria’s Christmas markets and festive decorations, so Bene invites you to make and break with tradition and explore its possibilities as a material for construction and design. We value the opportunity to work with many leading practices that use their creative talents and skills to transform places and spaces, and this is a chance to work on a smaller scale but in an equally imaginative manner.

The winners will be chosen from the most innovative, aesthetic and exceptional ideas that attest to the creative and technical possibilities of ginger bread and will be rewarded with beautiful Bauhaus KAISER idell™ lamps from Republic of Fritz Hansen and runners up gifts from Bene.
Main prizes this year are KAISER idell lamps from Republic of Fritz Hansen, designed by member of the Bauhaus movement Christian Dell in 1931.

Curious?
Follow this link for competition entry form and further details: EAT ART Competition 2011

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail us at events@bene.com

Office.Playlist #22 by Microsoft

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This version of the Office.Playlist is brought to you by:

Microsoft

With the redesign of the Microsoft building in Vienna a bold vision has become living reality: the modern world of work that helps people do their job, supporting and encouraging top performance.

Visit the website www.dasneuearbeiten.at and experience the philosophy behind it, the technology that makes it all possible and the people that have found their home in the new world of work.

And to go with it, this edition of the Office.Playlist has been put together by Microsoft.

High potential at Microsoft Austria: new modes of work

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Almost exactly 10 years after the Austrian headquarters opened at Vienna’s Euro Plaza, Microsoft embarked on a renewal and redevelopment of their entire office structure. The result is a vibrant and diverse office landscape with visions for efficient working in the 21st century. For the approx. 300 employees, the construction phase meant 100 days of difficult circumstances but a wealth of experiences.

The result is a vibrant and diverse office landscape with visions for efficient working in the 21st century. For the approx. 300 employees, the construction phase meant 100 days of difficult circumstances but a wealth of experiences.

There are still roughly 4,500 m2

of office space on three levels. But now when you enter the reception area of Microsoft’s offices in Vienna, you find yourself in a totally new world. The entire ground floor is open plan and can be accessed by both customers and partners. The aspects that used to subliminally pose a permanent security risk owing to the prevailing environment have now been integrated into the spatial concept – the problem has been solved with transparency and a high-grade setting, enabling a wide variety of situations that encourage communication and encounters.

Showing the signs of age

"Why did we decide to redesign our offices? Our aim was to increase our efficiency and improve our use of floor space, update the technical infrastructure and also create functional and functioning spatial possibilities that are adapted to suit our procedures and work processes," says Alexandra Moser, manager of the "Information Workers" business group. "Over the years it had become clear that although we generally had sufficient space in our previous office, we needed a far greater number of meeting rooms, for example, for smaller team discussions. And there were not enough areas for real concentration or interruption-free phone calls. The cafeteria, on the other hand, was always overcrowded because it was one of the few places where you could meet people spontaneously in attractive surroundings."

Working in the 21st century

At the same time, the office redesign also became an integral part of Microsoft’s corporate vision for 2012, which defined the company’s core expertise as providing optimal concepts and products for working and communicating in the 21st century. "This means that we naturally also require an office that is suited to us, our corporate philosophy of open communication and also our concept of rapid availability, high performance and intelligent customer orientation. And of course, our new office should also attract talented professionals and create a space where people will want to work," continues Moser.

The company’s own knowledge of the subject "New modes of work" was put to perfect use. Microsoft has long focused worldwide on issues relating to changing worlds of work. These results ultimately represent the foundation stone of Microsoft’s product development.
The requirements were therefore clear from the outset: today’s knowledge workers need an environment that allows discussions, encounters and networking while enabling privacy and concentration. They are mobile and work independently of a specific location. The significance of a fixed workplace has been replaced by a kind of "office base", where the office is regarded as an anchor for infrastructure, exchange and social contacts.

Workplace Advantage

The Microsoft concept tailored to this idea is called Workplace Advantage and presents an optimal work environment as the result of the determinants space/technology/people. The focus is on innovation, productivity and employee satisfaction. More than 50 Microsoft branch offices have already implemented the WPA programme, individually adapted to fulfil the specific demands of the local business units and their employees.

Time-saving and employee-minded

The timeline was tightly planned for the Vienna site: the first planning phase began in January 2010. The call for tenders followed in spring, and the planning and commissioning were completed in December. The conversion began on 30 June 2011 and 100 days later, on 10 October 2011, the new offices were officially opened.

Employee inclusion was hugely important from the very beginning. With the help of coordinating, in-house ‘travel agents’, various teams researched needs, analysed activities and developed spatial units. Alexandra Moser: "In our new office, we now have flexible, but very practical types of rooms, such as ‘Call’ – a small unit for concentrated work and privacy, ‘Work’ – rooms for working in small groups, ‘Meet’ – traditional meeting rooms or ‘Think’ – real creative rooms with different visual themes, for brainstorming sessions or other informal work processes."

Microsoft Austria obtained planning support from Graz architects INNOCAD. "It was important for us to work with partners who understood what we meant by modern knowledge work and our wording, and who also had experience with ‘new modes of work’ and what really lies behind the concept," explains Moser.

My office is where I am

For the Microsoft employees, the conversion phase meant difficult working conditions. The majority moved to three surrounding buildings, while some others worked from "mobile" offices, and it was fascinating to experience how and where spontaneous or self-organised teamwork was able to function. Of course the timing took into consideration the fact that many employees were on holiday or away on business during the summer months.

The new office had to live up to huge expectations from the very start. A survey conducted before the employees moved into their new headquarters revealed that they generally expected to increase the creativity in their own work, achieve a better work-life balance, but also – as a result of the new staffing concept in which only around 15 present of the employees have fixed or allocated workplaces – spend one day per week less at the office. This is a development which could well have interesting consequences – for example, a decrease in CO2 emissions of 80 tons per year. In the final analysis, as an employer of high-potential professionals such criteria are also an integral part of employee-oriented working conditions...

All that remains is to evaluate over the coming months whether it has all been successful. The new environment seems highly promising, and new company rules were even drawn up to reflect the new form of office living in order to be able to work efficiently with so much flexibility. Having said that, people have always been responsible for their own empty coffee cups.

If you would like to experience new modes of work live at Microsoft you can make an appointment for an office tour at www.dasneuearbeiten.at.

Brigitte Schedl-Richter

Petra Jenner, Am Euro Platz 3, 1120 Vienna

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Work and lifestyle at the cutting edge: In our conversations with contemporaries, we examine the claims, clichés and ideals that circulate about our workplaces - and hardly anyone has been confronted more with such ideas in recent months than Microsoft manager Petra Jenner.

"It was a good thing that I didn’t see the office when I interviewed with Microsoft Austria. That would have been a reason for rethinking my decision", says Petra Jenner. The software company’s old office space actually offered a lot of room, but was "not really appealing or used creatively." Time to change things, the new boss decided, and led her more than 300 employees in a renovation plan that definitely qualifies as a pioneering project in Austria. As she moves on to the Swiss branch after her successful change management, she will leave above all one thing behind: an exemplary space for communication and creativity.

During the renovation, you gave up your established workplace in the building. Where are you working now?

To be honest, everywhere and nowhere. Truly, "my office is where I am."

What do you associate with the phrase, "the new world of work"?

Well, I could talk a half an hour about that subject alone... I think that the most important thing to associate with "the new world of work" is that we really create a space of interaction, where people enjoy coming to exchange ideas and work productively together... and above all don’t just come because they have to. So I go to work, but I also go to exchange ideas with my colleagues on a specific topic.

How do you experience that personally?

As a manager, the "new modes of work" place a lot of new challenges on me. We’ve been experiencing it live now for a few months – it has certainly been the greatest social experiment that my managers and I have ever initiated. But already it has become so natural that I can hardly imagine how things were before. This process goes pretty fast.

Are physical workspaces still important?

I think the mixture is what makes it function. There are a lot of tasks that lend themselves wonderfully to virtual work. That’s what we found out in recent months in our interim space – other tasks, though, require a fixed environment. What keeps coming up, though, is simply the need to exchange ideas among people. At the end of the day we’re not robots - we’re people. And accordingly, personal interaction will always be important. The spaces that you find for this purpose are crucial in determining how people interact.

The new office will be furnished with several different themes and theme areas. Do you have a place where you think you would particularly enjoy working?

Everyone who knows of my love of Asia will also know that the "Zen" room is probably the one that I would visit first. Nonetheless: I believe that all of the rooms will have their appeal, precisely because they are so different, are custom-tailored to various work situations, and enable various kinds of interaction. And diversity is what makes the difference! That’s why we’re offering a good balance for the requirements of everyday work life.

Aside from the new office, is there a place where you would really like to work some day?

Yes, definitely. I have a clear vision of this. It would be in my house on the sea. I don’t know where exactly, but definitely with an ocean view. That would be my dream.

We already have WLAN everywhere, and IT enables access to all of the relevant data, so....
all that’s missing is the house!

And on the other hand: Where would you not want to work?

There are a few places. Based on my own experience, I find it hard to imagine working in the USA right now. And I never want to work in a cellular office again, with one cubicle after the other. People can personally design their own area, but that layout doesn’t promote communication. In the end, we’re all people who like to communicate. We’re only really strong as a team.

Does that mean you prefer working with others than alone?

Yes, I prefer working with people, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do my job at all. As people say in my line of work, if you don’t love people, you probably shouldn’t become a manager. It’s very rare that I work alone, but when I do, I really have to have absolute silence. This usually works best at home.

How important is design in the workplace to you ?

The surroundings should be attractive. That’s important. I’m a very visual person. And an attractive work environment helps me personally to concentrate on what’s essential.

Are there certain rituals that are important for you at work?

Of course. People are raised from a young age with rituals, and that continues on throughout your entire professional life. One of my rituals is important whenever I have a lot of appointments lined up. I use every free minute, including travel time, to tune into the people that I’m about to meet with. I got into the habit of doing this several years ago, and in my position, it has become very important.

You’re going to Switzerland, which means you won’t be able to use the new office for very long. Which experiences are you taking with you? What would you wish for?

I want this office, which was designed and created by the team alone, to become a space of encounter, and hopefully the most innovative office in Austria. That’s my greatest wish. That’s why we initiated the project.

The experience that I have gained above all is the confirmation of my faith in teams. A team is simply cleverer than a single person can ever be, and that for me was the most beautiful thing about this project. The office in Switzerland was also renovated at the same time, so we’re going to experience the "new modes of work" there as well.

The Office is Dead – Long Live the Office!

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The equation hasn’t worked for a long time: “One person = one desk” ignores the most important variables, such as process orientation and mobility. These days, when you want to stake out your work environment you don’t need a cellular office as territory, or your own desk as a status symbol. Quite the opposite – less conventional office design often means a lot more in the world of knowledge workers. Because they are mobile and are spending less and less time at a single workplace. A short history of the NTO (Non-Territorial Office).

Desk sharing, business club, hot-desking, flexible office – these terms have established themselves in our vocabulary. The concepts they reflect show how much our work environment has changed, regardless of what corner of the world we’re sitting in or the industry that we work in. But if you think that this development only began a few years ago, you are mistaken. The first attempts were developed and implemented more than two decades ago. The greatest common denominator: non-territorial work.

From teleworking to the non-territorial office

As is so often the case in our highly industrialised world, in the beginning there was oil. In order to save employees from having to commute so often in an age of climbing oil prices and scarce resources, the first forms of teleworking emerged in the 1970s in the USA, from the satellite office to the home office. The foundation was laid in combination with technological innovations that since the 1980s have revolutionised, and continue to revolutionise, our entire communications infrastructure.
The concept of the non-territorial office (NTO) refers to the surprisingly simple epiphany that a workplace does not necessarily have to be a desk that you occupy from nine to five. In many cases, our experience has shown that workstations are empty for long stretches, whether because of mobile work outside the office, the use of other rooms within the building, meetings, holidays or employees who are ill. The economically efficient utilisation of existing office space was and remains one of the crucial reasons for introducing an NTO.

Functions are changing

It has also been demonstrated that it is effective to provide different work environments for different tasks. About 30 years ago, people were still convinced that an office workstation should be designed in such a way that it would be suitable for the greatest possible number of various activities. However, this created workspaces that were not really right for any activities. They did not offer optimal conditions for full concentration – or for interaction. On top of this, space requirements were relatively high, and every workplace had to have access to a lot of technical equipment.

In the mid-1980s, an elementary shift occurred: In March 1985, an article entitled "Your office is where you are" appeared in the Harvard Business Review. The authors, Stone and Luchetti, put an idea on the table that was actually revolutionary. The concept was no longer oriented towards the individual workstation; instead, it identified places in which work was being done away from people’s own desks, again and again. And it was precisely these "other" places – meeting spaces, project workstations, closed quiet compartments for concentration, etc. – that became the focus of design and received the attention that had previously only been paid to the personal workplace.
Today, in an extension of this idea, many work spaces are optimised for specific functions. This saves room and the user can also seek out the environment that best suits their work. Including mobility.

NTO pioneers

In the 1980s, a series of research programmes began investigating the effects of technological developments on office space planning. Many of these took place in IT companies or were commissioned by them. And it was also these same IT-sector companies and institutions that first implemented large-scale variations of the NTO around 1990, such as IBM, Digital Equipment Company (taken over in 1998 by Compag and part of Hewlett-Packard since 2002) or the Shimizu Institute of Technology in Tokyo. Such companies were predestined for these kinds of offices because of their affinity with technology in everyday business, their high mobility and a sufficiently large number of employees.

The big bang, however, did not come yet. Non-territorial work remained limited to large companies in the IT and consultancy sectors, and was only viewed by the broader public with scepticism.

Increasingly mobile

Everything changed in Y2K: In 2003, the Fraunhofer Institute completed the Office 21 user study, which clearly showed how mobile and flexible our work environment had become. Only 39.4 per cent of respondents corresponded with the stationary work model, i.e. people who spend most of their time at their desk. The share of people who worked in an office, but at several different places in the office, was almost as large. About 23 per cent worked relatively often outside the building. The study viewed team-oriented office forms and teleworking as best suited for the future, and the non-territorial office concept was assessed as having an above-average developmental capacity.

More recent research, such as the 2009 Bene-commissioned study, "Space for Thought", by the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art in London, deepened our understanding of the mobility of knowledge workers in detail. Of the four defined work typologies, both the Gatherer and the Navigator are ideal candidates for an NTO. And even the Connector only uses his personal workplace half the time.

Applied psychology

The difficulties associated with implementing NTOs are mostly at the emotional level. Because the individuals are losing their fixed places, they therefore must also give up a certain degree of their private sphere. Today, we still require an extremely cautious approach and good change management when our "own" workstations are to be turned into office space with workstations used by different people. And: the focus should not just be on the advantages of space and efficiency; the "loss" of the personal workstation must be compensated by other offerings – such as diverse, attractive zones and areas that adapt to individual work tasks and enable privacy or recreation. Other offerings such as fitness rooms, cafeterias, meeting zones and much more also belong here. Reaping the actuarial benefits of optimised floor space utilisation while ignoring the emotional needs of employees doesn’t work at all. Dieter Lorenz, professor for occupational science at the University of Applied Science at Giessen, pointed this out already in 2001: "Eighty per cent of the costs in a workplace are personnel costs, and about 8 per cent are room costs. It doesn’t make much sense to frustrate the 80 per cent to save a little bit on the space." Lorenz also emphasised the great potential of non-territorial offices.

An unsuccessful experiment

But: the introduction of the NTO can go really, really wrong.
One example of this is the U.S. advertising agency, Chiat/Day. In the early 1990s, the renowned agency was confronted with a new generation of creative competitors. Former agency head Jay Chiat decided that something had to be done, and that something completely new should modernise the way the agency worked. His vision: the virtual office. Working without fixed workstations, without paper, practically without storage and personal trappings. The office as a kind of art college campus, with groups of couches and tables pushed together in open space, without cellular offices or zones for privacy. Every employee would receive a PowerBook and a mobile telephone in the morning, work wherever they wanted during the day, and return the devices in the evening. A tiny locker was available for personal items and documents. Before the implementation, Chiat supposedly spoke with 100 employees about the idea – but he didn’t take their concerns very seriously because he was so convinced that his concept would work. In 1994, the employees moved into the new office in L.A. ...

The concept of the "virtual office" was celebrated enthusiastically in the media, and the agency was cited in all the headlines as an industry pioneer on its way into the information age. The reality, however, was different: unhappy occupants desperately hunting for free tables, a little bit of privacy or a room where they could concentrate; hiding their documents in corners or in the back of their car, though they had to run in and out to get them. Employees who locked themselves in one of the few closed meeting rooms so they could finally work in peace; users who showed up at horribly early hours to get PowerBooks and phones, of which there weren’t enough. Finally, many of them didn’t even come into the office (this was also part of Chiat’s plan), but outside of the office they were much less productive. And even in the office, people would have to run around forever looking for colleagues who were no longer where they used to be – in short, pure chaos.

Chiat, however, was unstoppable, working with the Italian architects Gaetano Pesce to redesign the New York office as an NTO void of private space. With its intense colours, amorphous shapes and extremely whimsical, yet fully impractical accessories and features, the office was soon derided as "Disneyland" by the users. In the media, it was another success that drew visitors from all over the world, but in terms of the actual work done there, it was just as big a catastrophe as the L.A. office.

When Chiat sold the agency a year later to Omnicon, who then merged Chiat/Day into their own agency, TBWA, the ghost was exorcised. A few innovations, such as the high technology standards, diversity and a tendency towards more open design, remained, but other features were watered down; above all, employees won back their private rooms and areas for concentrated work. Since 1998, the Los Angeles office has been presented as an inspiring city landscape with "Central Park", "Main Street", a basketball court, a bar made of surfboards, and interlaced team areas and workstations. The motto is not "get out of the office", but rather "live in the office". Although this specific design also has a few disadvantages (e.g., a lack of windows), that’s another story...

How to use

Switching to an NTO is typically more effective the lower the occupancy ratio is, i.e. the more users work away from their personal desks. The NTO optimises desk utilisation, reducing the overall number of workstations (and space requirements); the extent to which this can be done depends on the mobility of the users. This has to be surveyed beforehand, individually and thoroughly. If there are too few desks there will be anger and a lack of productivity, which can ruin the whole concept.

The idea shouldn’t be merely to share desks; instead, it should free up space in the sense of a diverse open space, designed to be functional and attractive with team areas, meeting rooms, lounges, interaction zones, recreation areas, think tanks, etc. An informal information, living and communication landscape is a motivating compensation for the loss of the personal workstation.

Hotel software (which also works outside the office) is helpful for people to reserve a workspace, or they can sign up indoors at the reception area. Or they can select a desk just-in-time. Typically, each user parks their own Caddy for storing documents and personal items in the office, and then rolls their Caddy to their selected workspace. Of course they always have a laptop and mobile phone. If the option exists, the user logs into a telephone so that he can be reached at his normal extension.

The most important rules in the NTO: First, the Clean Desk policy, which states that, at the end of the day by the latest, the desk must be completely cleaned off and all personal materials must be stored in the Caddy or taken away, so that the next user arrives at a free desk. This also means, however, that as many documents as possible should be digitised because the space available in the Caddy is limited. Also, if some employees work in a non-territorial manner while others have fixed stations, then the latter group should not receive preferential treatment when it comes to storage space. Everyone should have (roughly) the same amount of space. This is important because it will ensure that the users of the fixed spaces digitise their documents as well so that communication problems don’t arise between employees.

Conclusion: Non-territorial office designs have become a part of everyday life now. Currently, numerous companies of all sizes and in all industries are realising the benefits of this fusion of transparency, interaction and information into a very professional and yet sensible working space. What do they hope to get out of this? A competitive advantage thanks to efficient use of space and process optimisation, including mobility...

Ronnie Sambor, Brigitte Schedl-Richter

Sources:
Franziska Wermuth: Organisatorische und personalwirtschaftliche Aspekte des non-territorialen Büros. Konzeptionelle Grundlagen, Empirische Ergebnisse, Gestaltungsempfehlungen. Lizentiatsarbeit, University of Bern, 2001.

AD HOC Information: Earnings first half-year of 2011/12.

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

- Strong pace of growth in UK, Germany and Middle East
- Solid order intake
- Total sales rose by 14.3 %
- Disproportionate improvement in all earnings figures
- Gross profit margin further increased to 53.7 %
- Active expansion in the growth markets Asia / Pacific

Stefan Sagmeister, 23rd Street, Manhattan

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Work and lifestyle on the cutting edge: In our conversations with contemporaries, we examine the claims, clichés and ideals that circulate about our workplaces. Moritz Bentele invited Stefan Sagmeister, one of the most successful graphic designers in the world, for an interview.

Both a graphic designer and typographer, Sagmeister was born in Bregenz, Austria, in 1962. He studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, and at the Pratt Institute in New York. After living in Hong Kong where he worked for the advertising agency Leo Burnett, he founded Sagmeister Inc. in New York in 1993. His regular clients include Time Warner, the Guggenheim Museum, Lou Reed, the Rolling Stones and Zumtobel AG. He has received many awards, among them a Grammy for the design of the Talking Heads album "Once In A Lifetime". For more info:

Bene: Do you have a "primary workspace", and – if yes – where is it?

Sagmeister: Yes, I do. It’s on 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Do you always like to work at the same place, or do you prefer a change of scenery?

Sagmeister: I only have one workplace, but I am always on the road. I average about 50 trips abroad per year, so I often work in hotel rooms and airplanes as well. I would prefer to do my brainstorming in trains. The best ideas pop up as I watch the landscape fly by. But, unfortunately, that’s not really an option in the United States.

What significance do you assign to the office as a space?

Sagmeister: I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10.

What functions do you ascribe to it?

Sagmeister: It’s all about work. When I am in the office, I focus on work (as opposed to leafing through design magazines, making personal calls etc).

What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it?

Sagmeister: I went overboard with my efforts to keep costs low and rented an office that is far too Spartan. The result is that I can’t receive many clients, because being on the 4th floor without an elevator is just a bit too rustic. We have a sign at the reception that says "Sagmeister Inc., 3rd world offices, 1st world prices."

Do you get the sense that your office makes a statement about you?

Sagmeister: Well, it’s extremely basic so I’d say it gives the impression that I’m really stingy.

Are there any places or locations where you have particularly enjoyed working?

Sagmeister: 1. In the train from Bregenz to Vienna, in a compartment all to myself.
2. In a freshly cleaned hotel room, doesn’t matter where. Bonus if there’s a balcony.

You spend part of the year in Indonesia? What does your work setting look like there?

Sagmeister: The work setting looks good, along with the nice view from the office. (see photo)

Is it true that you recently moved? Why?

Sagmeister: Yes. Because the old office was in the same building as my apartment, and my private life was blending with the public to the point it was hard to separate the two. Now I live in the old studio, but the new one is only a 10-minute walk away. Any farther wouldn't really work for me.

Are there places where you have to work but would rather avoid?

Sagmeister: I decide where I work, so there aren’t really any places that I feel the need to avoid.

You work alone, but also in a team, right? Which do you prefer?

Sagmeister: I like both. I’d get bored if I worked alone all the time. And it wouldn’t really be possible, either. Having said that, I prefer to work on ideas early in the morning, especially because there isn’t anyone in the studio yet.

Do you find your office a place of inspiration, of creativity?

Sagmeister: It must be. That reminds me of a great quote by Duke Ellington: I don’t need inspiration. I need deadlines.

Are there rituals that are important to your everyday office routine? Either routines that you have consciously set or ones that come to you now that you think about it?

Sagmeister: Thinking about things by going off on tangents that have nothing to do with those things.

When you look back over the entire period of your "office life", what changes would you describe as most decisive?

Sagmeister: Good ol’ technology.

Can you tell us about a "wow!" experience that you’ve had in your office?

Sagmeister: My mom did a headstand in the office once. That was a WOW.

What is the most important object in the office?

Sagmeister: I’m sorry to say it’s my laptop.

What's the most personal object in your office?

Sagmeister: I’m sorry to say it’s my laptop.

What is the most important tool for your work?

Sagmeister: I’m sorry to say it’s....

What is your favourite activity in the context of work?

Sagmeister: Closing my laptop.

The thing you most wish for in an office?

Sagmeister: A teddy bear.

How many hours do you spend in your office per day?

Sagmeister: Nine.

What inspires you?

Sagmeister: Manner lemon wafers.

What bothers you most in your work?

Sagmeister: Interruptions. Being interviewed. Awful.

Describe your dream office.

Sagmeister: A railway car that’s been converted into a studio and is always moving from place to place.

Living spaces: Parks

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In our current Office.Info series we are visiting spaces with a special identity and exploring the whys and wherefores of their design and impact. This time we’ll take a look at outdoor spaces, the oases in the urban jungle, the carefully measured meeting zones of the city’s “in-between spaces”: the parks.

There is something to the saying that spaces have character. Regardless of whether we want to work, learn, teach, communicate, entertain or relax in them – the space "created" for this purpose clearly references the idiosyncrasies of its users and their activities. But whether or not is space "functions" is another question and depends entirely on whether it reaches us emotionally. In the final analysis, impact really is more than the square root of room height + wall colour + floor space.
Melanie loves her lunch breaks in the park. Here she can catch her breath and unwind a little from the frantic office environment. She can find a bit of distance and mute her cell phone without feeling guilty, since - in the worst case - the emails can be read anyway. For the next half hour, the carefully landscaped meadow will become a private sphere. Her favourite things at these moments: reading the few last pages in her book, clearing her head, watching people, maybe taking a short power nap. It might just be her imagination, but here the air seems clearer to her than elsewhere in the city. She loves having such a getaway right at the doorstep. Maybe next time she’ll try slacklining - that’s probably a great way to unwind...

Order is important
... or at least that was what the architects of the French imperial parks must have thought in the late 17th century. The generous outdoor grounds of the Baroque epoch were not public urban areas but rather parts of sovereign residences. This is why their architecture often resembled that of the palace - they were frequently designed directly by the building architect, or with the architect’s collaboration. The park was therefore one element in an overall concept. Just like the palace, it primarily had representative functions and expressed power, wealth and dominance over nature. Accordingly, the design of the garden was very artificial and even surpassed the Italian Renaissance gardens in this respect.
The style of these types of gardens was set by the Vaux-le-Vicomte Palace grounds in Maincy, 50 km outside of Paris, completed in the years 1656-1661 according to plans by the landscape architect André Le Nôtre: strictly geometric, symmetrical, hierarchical.
For a long time, the royal owners and their guests were the only ones permitted to use these park facilities. But periods and political conditions change - and now the elaborately designed green spaces - such as the park at Versailles or, since 1779, that of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna have been conquered by locals and tourists alike.

Back to the roots
... was the motto of the English landscape parks in the mid-18th century. This was quite a contrast to the geometrical severity of the Baroque gardens. Gone was the attempt to force nature into a tight corset; instead they asked the question: What can nature itself offer us? Of course there were deliberate modifications here as well, but they lacked the mathematical precision. What the designers wanted to preserve or create at that time were beautiful settings that would bring pleasure to the observer, along with gentle, natural landscapes that could be traversed on winding paths like paintings. Flower beds and visual axes were replaced by a diverse landscape consisting of woods, individual trees and groups of trees, expansive lawns, meandering creeks, ponds, and hills. Often the boundary walls or ditches were "buried" inconspicuously in the landscape, creating the impression that the park was melting together with the surrounding landscape. Small temples or artificial ruins were built as accents and eye-catchers along the horizon. The most important landscape architects of this period included William Kent and Lancelot "Capability" Brown.
Even back then, they had a very modern approach: The focus was no longer on the representative function but the delight in nature, along with rest and relaxation.

Into the city
To think that inner-city parks developed exclusively in step with the imperial parks would be erroneous. One of the best-known urban green spaces was already mentioned in writing in the year 1000 but not made accessible to the public until 1637: the Hyde Park in London. Its use is just as multifaceted as its history. While the park grounds were used for court hunts from the 16th to 18th century, there were also glamorous carriage parades as well as numerous duels here during the 18th century. Located in the north-east corner of the park, Tyburn was where the city’s public hangings took place from the 12th to 18th century. About a century later, the famous Speaker’s Corner was created near the former execution site. To this date, anyone one can hold a speech on an arbitrary topic without pre-registration, as long as they don’t mention the royal family. In 1851, the Great Exhibition - the world’s first industrial exhibition - was held in Hyde Park. A few years later, it was the scene of 150,000 people protesting against the high food prices.
Today the park is a central location in the lives of the approximately three million central London residents. Here the British can enjoy their connection with nature - by relaxing, reading, meeting, picnicking, swimming, jogging, bicycling, rowing, and (with permission), fishing in the more than 11-acre Serpentine Lake. Football and rugby cricket are just some of the games played on the sports field. Horseback riders are also welcome.
Not to mention the large-scale cultural events. Anyone who hasn’t seen a concert in Hyde Park yet really has something magnificent to look forward to. In 2012, by the way, the Serpentine Lake will host triathlon and long-distance swimming events.

Barefoot in the park
New York’s Central Park is probably the most famous park in the world. The green lung of the exciting metropolis, located in Manhattan’s priciest neighbourhood between the Hudson and East River, is the largest artificially created park in the world. Its construction started in 1859. Central Park has about 3.5 km² of recreational space and rest areas for the Big Apple’s residents and visitors alike. An incredible 25 million people visit Central Park each year. And it’s no wonder - here they can do whatever doesn’t bother anyone else. They could be playing baseball, jogging, inline skating, bird watching, identifying plants or attending various events. And, with a bit of luck, they might win one of the 50,000 Green Cards at the annual Green Card lottery.

Yes, they can
Of course a great deal of design goes into every park. Not only because parks don’t just pop up on their own, but because they require thorough planning - as attractive spaces with multiple functional layers. Chicago’s Millennium Park is one successful example. Created as late as the 1990’s on the site of a former Illinois Central Railroad station with support from the architect Frank Gehry, it became one of the most ambitious projects in Chicago’s history. In just a few years, this 10 km² space was turned into a vibrant combination of architecture, landscape design, cultural spaces and outdoor theatres, appealing to local residents and visitors alike. It is the perfect stage for a merger of meetings and communication, one that is inspiring and innovative, liberal and intellectual.

Urban culture meets design
Sometimes parks can even turn experimental, such as the Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park, which is currently being built in Seoul according to a design by Zaha Hadid. The entire project, spanning 85,000 m² and having a futuristic touch, is meant to appeal to both designers and residents. It contains a Design Museum, a multi-purpose park, a library, and various educational facilities. Nestled inside, the 30,000m² park is a green oasis in the dense urban environment. It addresses all elements of traditional Korean garden art, integrating pools, gravel paths, lotus ponds and bamboo groves.
The goal is for the plaza and park to become a central cultural location, providing joy and inspiration to the city’s residents. The design’s flowing shapes represent the movements of thoughts, interactions between all design disciplines, innovation, and boundary-breaking ideas. The historic city wall was also integrated into the overall concept. The plaza and park merge into a shared landscape that makes the boundaries of architecture and nature disappear.
Similar ambitions can be seen in Miami. Located along the coast, the Bicentennial Park is currently undergoing a redesign that is intended to turn it into Florida’s most attractive park. This is not so much about size as about quality - in 2013, this park is expected to be transformed into the Museum Park Miami, integrating the Museum of Science as well as the Miami Art Museum.

Artistic parks
There is already a history of parks being used for artistic installations. A classic example: the Parc Güell in Barcelona, named after someone who wanted to give Barcelona’s Catalan residents a green oasis. Antoni Gaudí was responsible for the architectural and artistic design. His curved lines, organic design, preference for colourful ceramic tiles and slanted columns turned this into a timely document of Spanish Art Nouveau and an imaginative biotopic retreat in the centre of the bustling city.
Change of scene. "I’m glad that there’s finally a hotspot here", Melanie says to the person sharing her bench. Hopefully the laptop battery will last. "Let’s see how long the weather stays pleasant enough to sit outdoors."
How nice to know that Bene’s PARCS, this multi-functional furniture line, is weather-proof... ;)

Ronnie Sambor & Brigitte Schedl-Richer

Office.Playlist #21 by Reinhard Herok - Gugler*

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

He is the CSR representative at gugler* cross media. He sees himself as a provoker and multiplier in CSR matters. In his work he tries to emphasise all aspects of responsible action in our society. Culture, and with it music, are central initiators and carriers of change in society.

gugler* sieht sich seit jeher als Öko-Pionier für eine ganze Branche und schafft damit perfekte Wachstumsbedingungen für verantwortungsvolle Kommunikation und moderne Medienproduktion. Ein ganzheitlicher Blick weit über das Unternehmen hinaus prägt alle wesentlichen strategischen Überlegungen und manifestiert sich in der gemeinschaftlich entwickelten Vision: "Wir sind ein Vorzeigeunternehmen für verantwortungsvolle Kommunikation und für achtsames Wirtschaften zum Wohle der Menschen und der Erde." Auf dieser Basis hat sich eine partnerschaftliche Zusammenarbeit mit Bene entwickelt. Wichtige Weichenstellungen erfolgten für den ersten Bene Nachhaltigkeitsbericht. Und die gemeinsame Arbeit geht weiter.

gugler* has always seen itself as an eco-pioneer for the entire industry. This creates the perfect environment in which to develop responsible communication and modern media production. A holistic view that goes far beyond the borders of the company distinguishes all important strategic considerations and manifests itself in a communally developed vision: “We are a model company in terms of responsible communication and doing business in an attentive manner for the good of all people and the earth.” It is not by chance that we have come to work with Bene and we were able to lay the path for Bene’s first sustainability report. And our work together continues.

Sustainability Report 10/11

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

At Bene, we place great value on individual responsibility. We see ourselves as an integral part of society and are aware of our responsibility. By joining the UN Global Compact, we are sending a clear signal of our commitment.

Thanks to the initiative of our employees, we decided to expand our yearly Environmental Report. It has now become a Sustainability Report which includes economic and social in addition to ecological aspects. Sustainable thinking and acting has long been a tradition at Bene throughout the company’s divisions: from Product and Concept Development and Sales (Sales Net) to Production (CompactFactory).

This Sustainability Report documents all economic, ecological and social measures within the Bene Group. The engagement and enthusiasm resulting from the
development of this report will help us implement many of our ideas in the coming years.

Amongst other, we have defined the following sustainability goals for the coming financial years:
Increase customer satisfaction
Strengthen equal opportunity
R educe the CO2 footprint of our products
Develop Bene production to become CO2 neutral
Implement eco-social innovations
Only process wood-based materials from sustainable forestry

You can find other goals, key performance indices and specific measures for each goal in the sustainability programme.

Sustainability Report 10/11

This report is based on the GRI G3 Guidelines, application level B, self declared.