Hubs of Connection

beyondthedesk

Future workplaces should be HUBS OF CONNECTION.

Leesman

Routine individual tasks

Informal social interaction

Planned meetings

Unplanned informal meetings

Lear ning

Focused personal work

Collaborating on focused work

Taking a break

Working with specialist tech

Creative collaboration

Audio conferences

Video conferences

Hosting visitors

Large group meetings

Telephone conversions

Document reading

Confidential discussions

Working on larger worktables

Creative thinking

Private conversions

The context of the Beyond the Desk workplace.

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? In the Springtime of Hybrid working the purpose of Relationship Buildings is to create better connected workplace experiences than we are now experiencing in our homes.

When the ‘cost of living’ is now being seen as a ‘cost of working’ and when we have tur ned towards our neighbourhoods at home, Relationship Buildings must be about the potential of new connectivity between work colleagues within the workplace and in the time of Generation Playlist, employers will need to magnetise not mandate to achieve this.

The latest Leesman survey, 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, and Relationship Buildings is our means of achieving change, with Beyond the Desk as a product manifestation that you can work in a new, more connected way.

Everything about Relationship Buildings and Beyond the Desk is about connection.

(Sourced from - www.leesmanindex.com/purposeful-presence)

Beyond the Desk has been

designed as a viable alter native to desk working.

Beyond the Desk is an upholstery system that offers a valuable (and proven) upright lounge sit which combines with easy-to-use fixed worktables, complimented with below worktop power.

Everything about Beyond the Desk is fixed (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

the first phase of our programme of change

Smartworking’s vitality has evolved into Campers & Dens and for the post Covid workplace is gaining traction within the global workplace.

Campers & Dens will be a game changer and it has the potential to evolve into multiple adjacent innovations and iterations, such as Pop-Ups

For Orangebox, Beyond the Desk is a vital counterpoint to Campers & Dens in realising a richer more nuanced and diverse open plan workplace

Beyond the Desk will deliver a proven potential for sales growth and adds to the vitality of the Relationship Buildings narrative in a valuable way.

Architectural Upholstery products AftD, Cwtch (Aspect) and Perimeter have been intrinsic to our success. Their size and presence gives them an architectural volume, making them perfect for dividing up open-plan spaces.

As open plan continues to be the principle interior strategy for office floorplates, the vitality of Architectural Upholster y continues to expand.

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Covid and its fallout has effectively delayed this project for over two years, prototype development has also proven immensely difficult - so a fair question to ask is

Is Beyond the Desk still a viable and valuable product, to invest into production? To which there are powerful answers:

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The architectural range of configuration options achieved by this succinct system delivers an invaluable counterpoint of function and choice to Campers & Dens

The number of new products coming to market within this archetype testifies to is ongoing vitality.

The seating comfort proven by Away from the Desk confirms that this type of upright lounge working offers a real alternative to desk working, especially when combined with the range of worktable configurations and power access offered

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The success of Away from the Desk, suggests that Beyond the Desk is a critical addition to Orangebox’s potential for sales growth

We need the narrative and potential behind Beyond the Desk (we have protected the name) to expand the vitality of Relationship Buildings.

Beyond the Desk has been designed as a viable alternative to desk working and comes into its own when a

shared more relaxed approach is valued for both personal and collaborative work.

The project builds on the success and the lear ns from the failings of a decade+ of Away from the Desk

This presentation illustrates the intended scope of the product and reflects the development work to date as illustrated by the latest project prototypes

These 10 narratives describe the potential of what Relationship Buildings can become and Beyond the Desk adds to this – which will be further expanded within the developments now underway for phase two of Campers & Dens with the aim that each of these bandwidths of function can be realised within our portfolio.

Beyond the Desk when combined with the powerhouse Campers & Dens, the wider Smartworking portfolio and task seating, will deliver vitality and prosperity to Orangebox through the next five years and beyond.

Pop-Up/Pop-Down

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 This product bandwidth is being answered with the next phase of Campers & Dens

Hybrid is Hard

Our new workday reality of some of us being present and some of us being on screen, during our meetings is addressed with these new furniture architypes within Relationship Buildings, where design is used to bring enhanced connectivity and a better sense of presence and collaboration.

Avenues, not Corridors

W ithin Relationship Buildings the traditional office corridor (motorway) is transitioned into more scenic routes that encourage stopping and engaging with colleagues and we call this new work potential, Avenues

Island of One

Even within the increasingly embraced mantra of ‘don’t commute to compute’ the need for private personal calls and personal focused work is now recognised as super critical within our shared open plan workplaces.

Limelight

Our Town Hall spaces become super critical to help knit our more fragmented work communities back together within Relationship Buildings

New Attitudes at Altitudes

Our new workday info graphic sets out an original agenda of four distinct working heights (altitudes) within Relationship Buildings and why facilitating each of these attitudes, will be critical to creating a healthier and more rewarding mix of work options

Hustle - Bustle

Alone Together

Our team tables have proven invaluable in allowing colleagues to work effectively away from the personal desk and the new larger configurations of Beyond the Desk will provides a new alter native for team tables

W ithin Relationship Buildings these small scale hyper-social spaces are designed to encourage colleague coalescing, team collaboration and presentations, sometimes impromptu, sometimes planned

Food Club

Food Club is our Relationship Buildings definition for the spaces where we achieve social and nutritional nourishment, whether a coffee point, a small café space or a large brasserie

Outside-In/Inside-Out

Outside-In/Inside-Out defines a new product architype for the critically important biophilic contributions to our workspaces that create more tranquil environments to help restore and reset our fatigued minds and bodies Together with new furniture typologies that allow us to work outside (when the climate allows)

This scalable architectural product uses colour and texture to soften and domesticise open plan spaces and facilitate effective space division and control.....................................

....................... brings an invaluable acoustic enhancement to open plan environments

Aside from the intelligence behind the engineering and manufacturing prowess of Beyond the Desk it’s the work tables and power access configurations that will deliver the product’s vitality and success.

Our suggested colour palate for the structural frame and legs.

Extensive engineering and prototype development work has gone into achieving the manufacturing and environmental intelligence of this cost-efficient system.

This final design proposal shows the metal tubular frame legs for the upholstery units and the worktables which have a unique cast aluminium leg for the larger tops.

The structural tube leg of the worktables offers an architectural design value to the product, further enhanced with the easily accessed power vase..........................................................

...........................................which is a new plastic moulding, housing a standard power socket (Phase) within

This presentation illustrates both a single socket vase and a double socket unit, positioned below each worktable and supported off the tube table leg.

Both the metal tube legs, and the aluminium table leg have a semi translucent adjustable foot, which combines with the colour options to give a refined level of design finesse and specification options to Beyond the Desk

. The Beyond the Desk units have been engineered to accommodate fully connected power integration, designed to allow the system to be more adaptable and reconfigurable than Away from the Desk.

Beyond the Desk retains key Away from the Desk function attributes, such as the comfort and sitting value (highlighted by research as central to the success of AftD), while achieving a much softer and more domestic design. Which are complemented with new assets that were deemed missing from the original AftD product scope, such as the expansion of the fixed worktops and the rear shelf as illustrated on pages 40-41

Throughout these renders we illustrate a suggestion for a new Skomer/Ramsey hybrid (a truckable poof with a bit of lower back support) A Beyond the Desk ‘visitor chair’ for the semi-enclosed scenarios where a chair will prove too cumbersome.

The modular design of Beyond the Desk’s structural upholstery system, allows the creation of more diverse new format booth options, that are not solely focused on a single monitor.

They are designed to be collaborative in a more sociable and relaxing way.

Through the prototype development of Beyond the Design extensive effort has been directed to realising a product system that lear ns the lessons (successes & failures) of a decade of manufacturing and installing Away from the Desk

a product that’s as

‘light on its feet as possible’

with regard the materials and structure used to optimise a new fineness in manufacturing, shipping, and installation together with the products ability to achieve a second life, with ease

The impressive size and physical stature of the Beyond the Desk upholstery units gives a valuable and controlling presence within open-plan environments.

The upholstery design, colour and texture help to create effective, design rich space division and privacy through multiple configuration scenarios, from the individual to larger groups

The potential function dynamics of each Beyond the Desk configuration can be

dramatically changed

dependent on the worktables specified

The multiple configurations illustrated throughout this presentation are intended to show the potential of what can be achieved with a concise range of tops, as illustrated on pages 38-39.

The Beyond the Desk worktops are connected to the upholstery unit with a structural tube leg that’s balanced with the freestanding leg for the larger shared tops

clients

The point of the system is the ease

with which

can position both the worktop

s i z e a n d p o s i t i o n t h e t a b l e s , w h e re

they choose.

The sales analysis from a decade of Away from the Desk sales also helps to securely predict

the types of configurations that we need to offer

within the Beyond the Desk range

Once we invest in the new cast table leg it can then be offered on complimentary free-standing tables of any size.

The range of work tops also extends into the highly successful media units, at both table and café height

which can be limited to just to sizes because of the knowledge gained from the comparable Away from the Desk sales data.

The 300-deep rear work shelf creates denser, more focused team configurations

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

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........................................ and when combined with the Woods updates delivers effective Hustle – Bustle team spaces that can easily be integrated into large open plan environments, as illustrated on the Relationship Buildings floorplate

environmentally smart

During the development of Beyond the Desk multiple ways to manufacture were investigated with all potential solutions considered, with the goal to find the solution with the lowest embedded carbon - together with all of its other material and environmental impacts.

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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

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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

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Polyurethane foam was investigated to try and steer away from a petrochemical based solution Although we did not find a cost-effective 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 required, at an affordable price 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 alternative 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.

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The seat cushions have been designed to include a pocket that will house the seat frame, removing the need to glue the foam to the frame Multiple ways of providing easily removable fabric covers will be further developed following design sign off

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. W ith the current manufacturing proposal at the end of this products life each material can be fed into the correct waste stream

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Technical Design

The cost efficient structural and reconfigurable architecture of Beyond the Desk has been developed and refined during prototype development. During which multiple structural options were tested and in part mocked-up to establish which would offer the best balance between, our critical cost/environmental criteria

The product will be constructed and supplied in manageable elements which are designed to be easy and quick to assemble on site. The manufacturing methods for each component has been selected with global manufacture in mind, to allow the range to be easily manufactured, within a lower skilled based factory

The decorative stitching of the back upholstery has also been refined during development to ensure ease and consistency in manufacture. To further improve the environmental credentials of this range, we have designed the method of upholstery in such a way as to make it possible to easily re-upholster the units

The framework is predominantly constructed from CNC cut plywood and designed to take advantage of both the strength of the material and the dimensional accuracy of the cutting process. The moulded foams are fixed to the framework to enable easy disassembly at the end of life and are suspended on a bed of elasticated webbing to provide refined comfort, which also helps to extend the life span of the foam

The seat and lumbar cushions are moulded from polyurethane foam which provides dimensional consistency which is critical for this modular design. The use of moulded foams also makes it quicker and easier to construct the seating units and limits the need for excessive amounts of glue, which would normally be needed if constructed with slab foams

The metalwork is laser cut for accuracy and electrically powder coated to ensure durability and the units have height adjustability in the tubular legs to easily accommodate any unevenness in the floor.

The product has been engineered to be easy to specify and we will be providing the IT tools and CAD files to enable specifiers to easily plan their configurations within interior layouts.

These engineering drawings build on the cost-effective structural architecture refined during prototype development, where multiple structural options were tested and in part mocked-up to establish what would offer the best balance between our critical cost/environmental criteria

The manufacture and structural assembly intelligence of Beyond the Desk acknowledges the manufacturing shortfalls of the original Away from the Desk to create a next generation system capable of refined production levels, from mid-skilled assembly facilities

Beyond the Desk’s Island unit allows diverse and architecturally coherent mid-floor units to be created, which when docked together around the island create powerful and commanding freestanding multi-function and directional islands and offer a unique and original asset within this established product architype

Designed to bring discipline and rigour to larger open plan spaces

A good level of privacy is created,

because of the separation achieved with the spacing created by the island unit

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

All the qualitative decisions taken during the development of Beyond the Desk have been focused on creating a product that’s as environmentally light as possible

As low-skilled in manufacture as it needs to be and as easy to install as it can be

A system that’s easy to reconfigure and able to allow a ‘second life’, as best as we can achieve at this time.

The simple timber box frame carcass on which Beyond the Desk is built has won out against more invested and materially more complex solutions, because environmentally it’s by far the best solution

We know from the narrative behind Away from the Desk (and the marketing collateral produced) that how we present products such as Beyond the Desk, is highly influential to the specification and success of the product

This has been illustrated throughout this presentation, especially the mix of the different work tops and how this can change the function dynamics of each configuration.

Technology has fostered the idea that individuals sit at the centre of their own world and fashion it to their individual tastes.

Rebuilding social capital can be a powerful lever for bringing people back to the office.

78% of business decision makers say they need a better reason to go into their office, than just company expectations.

84% of employees are motivated by the promise of socialising with co-workers and rebuilding team bonds.

2019 leadership practices don’t meet the needs for a digitally connected and distributed Generation Playlist workforce