Island life: König + Neurath

One could easily be forgiven for holding the belief that the idea of a fixed place will soon become obsolete in normal, everyday life. Aren’t we constantly moving anyway – through rooms, around buildings, and above all, at breathtaking speed through a digital age, with the destination still unknown? Some things have already disappeared, like phone boxes on the street, for example; remember those?

The office, on the other hand, remains present – even if for some, it has shrunk to the size of something that fits in a trouser pocket: a smartphone. For most companies, the office is also becoming a place where people are putting special focus on digitalisation – and design too. And despite data clouds and invisible networks, it remains an important interface: between corporate culture and employees. As well as between employees themselves. A meeting zone of ideas, a hub of opinions.

With its broad product portfolio, König + Neurath, a leading supplier of office furniture and space solutions, helps to firmly anchor office communication to a fixed place, in various forms, and not only for today but in the future too – even if technically it has long since detached itself from many of its earlier principles and original location. With König + Neurath’s sophisticated room-in-a-room solutions, employees can connect – not just their smartphones and laptops – but can also disconnect if they feel the need to do so.

One for all. But also sometimes each for themself.

People need contact. And cooperation, as evolution has shown, seems to be the more promising long term option. The architectural form of this seems to have been already discovered some time ago: the open office. At the same time, workers don't want to have to do without certain quieter areas for conducting certain activities – even if these days, with desk sharing for example, they are free to choose a different spot each day.

Areas for extroverts, areas for introverts, refuges for retreat, connection points for everyone – König + Neurath's product portfolio not only reflects the most diverse needs, but also very individual corporate and working cultures. The office is sometimes more open, sometimes more screened, sometimes almost completely isolated. In the best case scenario, the design and furniture used should balance what employees are looking for at their workplace – and often on the same day: collective zones as well as quieter areas.

There are demands that the conventional architecture of an office building often cannot meet. Some tasks require peace and quiet. Others need quick coordination with colleagues. One project needs the input of many during a meeting, the other, concentrates on essentials in focused, one-on-one discussions. This is why König + Neurath's creative approach is both consistent and creative: with the approach of placing flexible and adaptive rooms within the office space. Let’s call it ‘micro-architecture in the architecture’. The office concept, which spans every square metre, remains the same. These individual room implants also take on completely individual tasks. And everywhere: in open office landscapes, in passageways, but also in lounges or dedicated communication zones.

Quiet, please: The Quiet.Box and Quiet.Box Duo

On the street, a telephone box seems almost anachronistic. In the office, on the other hand, it is more up-to-date than ever. Or should we say: ‘communication cell’. Because the need for privacy, confidentiality, to have the option to concentrate or retreat is not left at home when you arrive from there at work. In the office, too, you want to keep your distance sometimes, acoustically above all. To talk undisturbed. And talk without disturbing others. No matter whether on the phone in the ‘Quiet.Box’ model, or face-to-face – live or via video conference – in the ‘Quiet.Box Duo’ model, both offer a small creative space for undisturbed networking. They take up very little space, leaving therefore a great deal of room for the various equipment options.

König + Neurath has devised a simple solution by which one can isolate oneself acoustically, while visually integrating oneself all the more smoothly into the surrounding office architecture. And a variety of design options offer different things. Glass for a more open feel; cast interesting shadows with the light concrete variation; or a more haptic presence with the fabric option. The Quiet.Box and the Quiet.Box Duo are of course supplied with light, electricity and air, and handled like a piece of furniture: delivered quickly, in the cubic or organic design variant, and just as easily set up – whether in the middle of the room, against a wall or configured with others.

New culture of conversation, new ways of thinking: in the ‘Think.Tank’

It’s a well known phrase: ‘No man is an island’. Some meeting rooms, on the other hand, are: The ‘Think Tank’ is its very own world – acoustically too, nothing gets out and nothing gets in. And all this right in the middle of the surrounding office architecture, spread out across every available square metre of space. In this room within a room, people come together with their opinions and ideas. Or they retreat there to develop their opinions and ideas intensively for themselves. Intensive communication in a place that is not connected to its surroundings. But its straightforward, clear forms make it all the more attractive to reconnect with the open office landscape. This is also due to a variety of design options, ranging from light-flooded transparency with opaque surfaces to fabric walls.

Communication zones can thus be installed, exchanges stimulated and short-term refuges created in which employees miss nothing: not even the infrastructure they need for their projects – through the intelligent integration of analogue and digital media.

© Architonic