Beyond the Desk Brochure

together with its proven sit comfort, for extended periods of working.

The success of its predecessor, Away from the Desk® was established on the highly valued ergonomic support and comfort it offered, now further refined and enhanced with Beyond the Desk® The diversity of the products c o n f i g u r a t i o n o p t i o n s a re d e s i g n e d t o c re a t e a s

more colourful, and relaxed office environment

Why Beyond

the Desk® is designed to help solve the societal changes reshaping our Hybrid workplaces.

Generation Playlist® is the latest research published by Orangebox which discusses the societal changes that will profoundly impact the new Hybrid workplace and how the upcoming generations now entering organisations have a different world view from both their parents and those who preceded them The repercussions of Covid and our climate emergency has profoundly changed our world view Have created a new and more challenging workplace where very different values and requirements reside, and for which we need new solutions

Beyond the Desk® together with Orangebox’s Campers & Den’s® programme of flexible and adaptable meeting rooms, combined with the Smartworking® landscape of collaborative fur niture, offers Orangebox’s clients the best chance to solve the needs of our new Hybrid workplace

Covid hit us hard and in a very different and new way We started with the expectation that it would stay largely in Asia and not really hit our shores in the way that it did W ith so many people dying globally and many suffering from long Covid, it has been a game changer. It has added to the anxiety many already felt, fuelled both by climate change and other more daily concerns

The notion that we are in control of life and that we can influence it as we want, has been vastly diminished for people, a sense further reinforced by war in Ukraine and in Israel As humans we are hard wired to watch for danger (our brain scans for threat five times a second), something that evolved to allow us to survive through more hostile times but remains part of how our brains are wired today and explains why so many of us are now on high alert This is now playing out in the context of our day-to-day life

One aspect of the current crises we face is that these are global events largely beyond our control (we can’t single handily stop a pandemic, end a war, or save the planet). This flies in the face of our strong need for agency and leaves us feeling helpless and even depressed Organisations that themselves are seeking to make some sort of contribution to help change events (net zero, supporting Ukraine, taking good precautions against preventable infections etc) helps mediate this and can create a sense of pride for everyone working within that organisation Which is demonstrating that it gets what’s important and wants to do something to improve the quality of life, for everyone

The challenge for leaders and the senior team within organisations is how do you bring something that’s more compelling, do you make work something that really brings value to people If leaders are thoughtful about this they are asking - what sense of meaning can we bring to our workforce, what are we creating that people can step into and feel this is a worthwhile way to spend their life, that it is a good way to make a difference and a key ingredient to a happier, more enjoyable and fulfilling life.

In the workplace we now need to be creating environments that help people feel valued By making the workplace more vibrant with engaging spaces that show that each of us matter Our workplace spaces and the fur niture and objects within them now matter in a way that we are only just beginning to understand, whether it’s the conversations they enable or the mood they convey

Leaders of our organisations need to take a much bigger role in contributing to people’s wholeness and wellness The workplace cannot further drain already drained attention spans We need to achieve workplaces that boost resilience through the next five years and beyond

Organisations can do a lot to help this, they can create workplaces that people really look forward to coming into and creating work dynamics and a workplace culture that has a replenishing quality Social, dynamic, caring, and inclusive community spaces that are not just for transacting business. We must create spaces that give agency, that celebrate making a contribution within a diverse community that has a productive buzz and banter going on within upbeat spaces And it’s this landscape that Beyond the Desk® has been designed to answer, rather than working within a fully open and reductive hard surface, desk dominated landscape

Will the Hybrid workplace prove to be more productive than the pre-Covid workplace?

The idea that the Hybrid workplace will prove to be more productive than the pre Covid workplace is now a widely shared observation and was certainly the centre of attention in an FT article from October 2023 where Pilita Clark headlined with ‘The ghastly moder n office needs a reboot’ , suggesting that ‘Hybrid working has exposed wasteful, outdated designs that one Silicon Valley boss wants to blow up’ In the article she sourced the highly regarded real time occupational data from XY Sense (XY Sense Workplace Utilization Index Q2 2023) which tracks office space use through 25K workspaces globally Their data from the US, Hong Kong, the UK and six other countries showed walled meeting rooms are now the most heavily used office space by a long shot W ith employees using them on average 67 per cent of the time, compared with just 13 per cent for cheaper, wall-free ‘breakout spaces’, and this demand is rising

“Even though our rate of occupancy is lower than before the pandemic, our meeting room demand is now higher than ever,” said one tech company HR executive quoted in the report “The biggest complaint I get is that our mandate is supposed to encourage more collaboration, but on some days, there is nowhere to collaborate!” The article suggested, ‘This is not a trivial problem’ In the article Clark also reports on the thoughts of Brian Chesky, the Airbnb co-founder and chief executive, who suggests “We still seem to not have enough meeting rooms, almost ever y desk is empty and almost ever y [meeting] room is full This shows that even the smartest workplaces were designed according to principles that need to be ‘completely blown up ’”

This rings true at Orangebox both in the diverse research we are continually accessing and with the client projects that Orangebox is collaborating on. Together with the success of their diverse landscape of meeting rooms, Campers & Den’s®

Before the pandemic we saw the costs of commuting to work as a ‘cost of living’, today we have reclassified it as an expense The average home supports the average employee better than the average office As Hybrid working becomes normalised, we are increasingly investing time and money into creating bespoke home working environments and are sacrificing space to do so

In the early phase of Hybrid working the effectiveness of most workplaces proved mediocre at best, so the appeal towards our home working environment accelerated Why commute to a workplace when our homes are, in general, doing a good job of supporting our work? What’s the value proposition of having to commute into the office, what’s the magnetic pull of the workplace?

These observations are from the Leesman’s Purposeful-Presence survey, which reports that workplaces designed purely around collaboration are less likely to bring employees back as collaboration is now happening quite well from home The drive for getting people into the office should be focused on connectivity, or as they suggest ‘future workplaces should be hubs of connection’

When sixteen out of twenty standard work activities are better supported at home than in the office, the office must change Beyond the Desk® is a product manifestation that you can work in a new, more connected way

What’s the value proposition of having to commute into the office, what’s the of the workplace?

woken up

We have entered an era where organisations need to earn high levels of in-person attendance with environments which help them be both individually productive and socially connected.

source: XY Sense

‘light

on its feet

as possible’.

Extensive research has been directed to realising an upholstery system that achieves a product that’s as environmentally ‘light on its feet as possible,’ with regard the materials and structure used Which also allows a new fineness in manufacturing, shipping, and installation 95% of Beyond the Desk®’s material suppliers are based in the UK and over 50% of those within 10 miles of the factory and this strategy will be pursued globally

The prototype and engineering development of Beyond the Desk® was directed to realising the manufacturing and environmental intelligence of this cost-efficient system Multiple options to manufacture Beyond the Desk® were investigated with all potential solutions considered, realising the goal to find the solution with the lowest embedded carbon - together with all of its other material and environmental impacts

We have also focused on designing a product that could be easily disassembled and which allows the product to be refurbished in a cost-effective manor, to increase its life span The cushions are carefully moulded to encapsulate the seat frame making the initial build process more sustainable and far easier to remanufacture. The seat frame and privacy screens are constructed using FSC certified wood

W ith our manufacturing process, at the end of this products life, each material can be fed into the correct waste stream The seat cushions for example have been designed to include a pocket that will house the seat frame, removing the need to glue the foam to the frame, together with multiple ways of providing easily removable fabric covers

The Upholstery Structure

For the seat frame we found the best outcome is to use wood where possible, which has a low carbon impact. Aluminium has a high carbon impact (heavy energy required to smelt) Choosing, which was not automatic, aluminium is 100% recyclable whereas a plywood frame can only be used for waste to energy, at the end of its life (best case) The deciding factor was to go with the lower CO2eq impact due to the vital importance of the global goal to reach net zero

The Architectural Frame

For the legs, we found our steel leg was more carbon efficient (less than half as impactful) than its aluminium equivalent Additionally tubular steel legs use a relatively small amount of material while giving the required strength and design value

The Upholstery Comfort

Polyurethane foam was investigated to try and steer away from petrochemical based solutions Although we did not find a costeffective product that was suitable, we gained an understanding of the current state of the alter native foam industry. There are many products on or coming onto the market but nothing that could achieve the sit comfort and durability required, at an affordable price for this product We did however highlight an emerging industry of recycling foam back into its original chemical form and re-foaming it We have expressed interest in this alter native and will be able to switch to recycled foam if it becomes more readily available in the future, using the same tools that will be commissioning for our current PU solution

Beyond the Desk® answers the new Hybrid need to create a diverse landscape of solutions within the open plan workplace,

Effective personal spaces (for working in splendid isolation) can be positioned adjacent to spaces that facilitate working with a colleague, a couple of colleagues or a small team, or connected into a much larger town hall gathering. All within one fluid, easy to specify and modify system

Research shows that it makes no sense to waste costly property space, yet that is precisely what is happening thanks to inappropriately designed hybrid working spaces, where rows of desking dominate.

More than a third of office desks are never used, even though workstations in a typical, traditionally designed office take up around 80 per cent of the floor space

The ergonomic intelligence of Beyond the Desk® creates a viable alternative to desk working, while facilitating more diverse and convivial ways to interact with colleagues or concentrating on your own work.

The architectural rhythm and control of Beyond the Desk® creates discipline within open plan spaces (to maintain order and control)

because research tells us that a poor workplace experience will negatively impact the likelihood of an employee’s willing presence there.

We have entered an era where organisations need to earn high levels of in-person attendance with environments which help them be both individually

productive and socially connected.

Beyond the Desk® creates enclosed work settings that via a design fluidly connect to adjacent spaces

language that embraces the need to create - a replenishing and restorative quality. Social, dynamic, and inclusive community spaces that are convivial for work, both individually and collectively.

The vitality of Beyond the Desk® comes from the integration of extensive architectural tabiling.

The metal frame of the upholstery units extends in front of the units to support a range of fixed worktop of varying sizes, together with an upholstered column option for larger tops. Which is further enhanced with a wide range of freestanding tables supported on structural tubes and heavy metal plate bases (to prevent movement). The tube legs of both the worktables and the upholstery units brings a clear architectural design value to the product.

Beyond the Desk® has also been engineered to accommodate fully integrated and easily accessed power. Designed to allow the system to be both adaptable and reconfigurable. The design of this system is directed to achieve the ease with which clients can position of the tables, where they choose with a diverse selection of worktop sizes and shapes.

We

still seem to not have enough meeting rooms, almost every desk is empty and almost every [meeting] room is full.”

Maximising people’s sense of belonging and moving on from the sense of isolation created by Covid (and more recent events) is enhanced by getting rid of anything that divides us by status, or leaves some people excluded - is now a critical asset within a successful organisation. Who can do a lot to create workplaces that people really look forward to coming into and creating work dynamics and a workplace culture that has a replenishing quality.

Beyond the Desk® has an architectural status and presence which is designed to allow the product to successfully control and create viable working spaces, even within the largest of open plan environments and creating beneficial work spaces, for extended periods of time.

A subtle but important asset

of Beyond the Desk® is how the selection of the worktable’s sizes, shapes and position options can change the function and special dynamics of each upholstery configuration,

The rear work shelf creates denser more focused team

set-ups

which, as these configurations illustrate, essentially doubles the potential users for what would be an incremental upcharge.

Even though our rate of occupancy is lower than before the pandemic, our meeting room demand is now higher than ever.”

extends into the highly successful media units,

Our work for Orangebox has always focused on building a landscape of collaborative furniture typologies,

which can be aggregated into multiple combination scenarios, to offer

With our last three projects Woods, Allt and Beyond the Desk® the ability to aggregate to achieve a more powerful narrative, has never been more compelling.

a new function narrative

and a solution towards more

environmentally smart manufacturing and product life cycles.

“

We need to recognise and support settings for neurodiversity in the workplace, because we all have different personality types, different ways of lear ning and different levels of comfort requirements, within open plan work environments.”

The drive for getting people into the office should be focused on connectivity, or as Leesman suggest ‘future workplaces should be hubs of connection’.

new format booth options

sociable relaxing

The biggest complaint I get “

is that our mandate is supposed to encourage more collaboration, but on some days, there is nowhere to collaborate!”

800 units (high back)

800 units (low back)

Fixed Tablets

350mm (round)

Fixed Tables

500mm (round)

1000 mm (round with circu ar base plate)

500 mm (square)

500 x 350mm (rectangle)

1000 mm (hexagonal with circular base p ate)

1600 units (low back)

500 mm (teardrop)

1000 mm (square with square base plate)

1200 x 800 mm (small rectangle with rectang e base plate)

1500 x 800 mm (large rectangle with rectangle base p ate)

Configure it your way.

With 16 configurable seating modules and 14 fixed or free-standing table options, Beyond the Desk is a truly modular soft-upholstery system Due to its light-touch installation process, Beyond the Desk allows its collection to be assembled, disassembled, and then reconfigured, all whilst on-location

Corner units (high back)

1600 units (high back)

Tri unit

Booths

diverse and

architecturally coherent

A good level of privacy

These island groups also illustrate the value of having the mix of back height options that can be easily achieved, because of the products manufacture and assembly intelligence.

Island of One – the insightful mantra ‘don’t commute to compute’ sets out a desirable function for the Hybrid workplace, however the need for private personal calls and personal focused work is now recognised as super critical and perhaps even more important than in our pre Covid Workplaces

This ability to aggregate a wide landscape of diverse collaborative furniture into focused and productive Hybrid working typologies (as illustrated throughout this brochure), has now been

one Together – our team tables have proven valuable in allowing colleagues to work effectively way from the personal desk and the new larger configurations of Beyond the Desk® provides a new alter native for team tables

articulated within a powerful

Avenues, not Corridors – within offices the aditional corridor (motorway) is transitioned into ore scenic routes that encourage stopping and ngaging with colleagues and we call this new ork potential, Avenues.

New Attitudes at Altitudes – our workday info graphic sets out an original agenda of four distinct working heights (altitudes) within Smartworking® and explains why facilitating each of these attitudes, will be critical to creating a healthier and more rewarding mix of work options

Food Club defines the spaces where we achieve social and nutritional nourishment, whether a coffee point, a small café space or a large brasserie

Hybrid is Hard – our new workday reality, with some of us being present and some of us being on screen during our meetings, is addressed with these new fur niture architypes, where design is used to bring enhanced connectivity and a better sense of presence and collaboration.

Orangebox narrative

which sets out distinct Hybrid work settings

Hustle - Bustle are small scale hyper-social spaces are designed to encourage colleague coalescing, team collaboration and presentations, sometimes impromptu, sometimes planned.

Pop-Up/Pop-Down are our new super flexible workspaces that can seamlessly transition from one type of configuration to another, enabled with a new mix of adaptable architectural and mobile fur niture typologies

Limelight – our Town Hall spaces become super critical to help knit our more fragmented work communities back together as we continue to evolve the design of our post Covid Hybrid workplaces

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