Hold it together: PALMBERG

Who hasn't experienced this: you are faced with a complicated task, but find yourself getting distracted somehow instead of simply starting work. Thoughts drift, and what your colleagues are talking about seems so much more interesting than the task you are working on. For experienced Zen masters it’s easy to channel those thoughts in the right direction, but what about those sitting in open-plan offices who don’t have skills in the art of meditation?

‘Our environment has a great influence on our ability to concentrate, because the brain tends to constantly jump back and forth,’ neuroscientist Henning Beck explains in an interview in German newspaper Zeit, ‘it is not designed to concentrate for long periods of time. That is why distractions are so seductive.’

For classic black-and-white thinkers, Beck's analysis would mark the end of the concept of the open-plan office. The experts at Palmberg, however, see things a little differently, recognising that working together in one space increases team spirit, colleagues learn to look beyond the end of their own nose, and in direct exchange with others, ideas have the space to develop in more complex and creative ways.

With Palmberg’s new CLAMP system, from Spring 2021, open-plan offices will be able hold on to all the benefits they currently offer, but at the same time, present the possibility of blocking out disturbances. The modular partition walls create room for more freedom of thought, as well as for meetings, for breaks and rest too. It also does without expensive construction costs, because CLAMP can be quickly and easily implemented and remains in position for as long as desired.

‘The fact that employees can choose where they want to work is motivating,‘ says Henning Beck, who himself advises companies on how to translate brain research results into innovative organisational structures: ‘People need retreat rooms where they have control over volume, background noise and the information that comes pouring in. Anything else leads to permanent stress, can make people ill, and negatively affects performance.’

The CLAMP partition wall system not only creates boundaries, but helpful structures and units. Furthermore, with CLAMP every company can react quickly and effectively to ever-changing requirements. The walls can be individually designed – with coloured decorative panels and fabrics, with vertical slats that create openings and with glass that allows for visual openness.

CLAMP is also flexible in terms of height: half-height walls give departments a sense of visual cohesion, while higher versions provide more space in the room. The partition walls can be fitted with power sources, allowing meeting rooms to be fitted with monitors, or for newly created oases of calm to be equipped with relaxing lighting designs.

With CLAMP, the coffee station is not only an unofficial information point for office chit-chat, everything here is also functionally well thought-out. In addition to the option of providing the standard appliances for coffee, tea and lunch heating, the ‘Stick and Load’ wall shelf system, with its holes, solid wood rods and shelves, provides not only a practical solution, but a decorative one too.

For optimised room acoustics, the movable walls significantly reduce the noise level in the office – a real benefit, with office noise proven to reduce performance by up to 30 per cent. The wooden construction of CLAMP is equipped with acoustically effective material at its core. Depending on the height of the partition wall, disturbing sounds can even be entirely blocked out. At the same time, CLAMP improves audibility of desired sound in the room.

CLAMP also makes it easy to adapt office spaces to current infection protection laws, which will continue to govern our lives for some time to come. Whether new requirements mean that it should be easier to maintain minimum distances in shared spaces, or that walls be used as hygienic barriers, CLAMP has solutions at the ready.

The modules are screwed together and can be flexibly retrofitted. Height adjusters are responsible for optimum stability. Dismantling is as simple as the assembly and leaves no trace behind, and all materials and processes used for CLAMP meet Palmberg’s high-quality requirements and sustainability demands.

The office furniture manufacturer from Schönberg in North Germany has been committed to creating feel-good working environments for 30 years, and naturally in its own office- and production workspaces too. So, like all Palmberg products, CLAMP is based on long-standing experience. Besides perfection in design and environmental friendliness, Palmberg is dedicated to creating office spaces that people are happy spending time in, and with CLAMP, they will be. After all, work time is still life time.

© Architonic