PROOFF at milan design week 2013

PROOFFlab’s ‘work at home’ is a mobile work dormer by studio makkink & beyall images by roel van tour, pim top and mathijs labadie, rotterdam (NL)

dutch office furniture brand PROOFF launched their new home/office ‘hybrid’ products and ‘PROOFFlab‘ during the salone del mobile in milan.new accessories and upholstery were exhibited and a première of PROOFFlab’s work in progress has been celebrated.

PROOFFlab’s ‘work at home’ dormer

what if…?

flexible workers usually work from home, but imagine an colossal empty building along the highway as an indoor office square.the only thing you need to add is your private office. What if vacant buildings everywhere develop growths on their skin when flexible workers catch a work virus and start to set up office with their dormers? the dormer interior is private, this is the worker’s home, but the vast amount of square meters behind it offers publicly shared office equipment.

platform dialogues

platform dialogues during milan design week:among the panelists, ben van berkel – co-founder/ principal architect UNStudio, jurgen bey – director/ designer studio makkink & bey and director PROOFFLab, leo schouten – founder / director PROOFF designboom’s editor-in-chief birgit lohmann, markus benz – CEO walter knoll and jan-christoph zoels – senior partner user experience design experentia.

UNstudio and PROOFF have organized three talk events entitled ‘platform dialogue’.a new interactive online knowledge platform will be launched, aimed at facilitating the open exchange of knowledge, with the ultimate goal of introducing and encouraging the expansion from a collaborative to a co-creative working model for architecture.

‘how can architecture and product design contribute to co-creation? is co-creation a romantic idea driven by the democratisation and customisation of the consumer industry, or a true reflection of contemporary working practices? what are the potential benefits of co-creating within architecture and product design? this session investigates the importance of materiality at the human scale of design. jurgen bey, ben van berkel and leo schouten invite design critics and writers to actively share their opinions concerning the future of co-creation. sharing an interest in encouraging dialogue, innovation and creative exchange through design, they will discuss the process of co-creating within their own practices, as well as the designing of spaces for the accommodation of co-creation.’

and

‘whether it is as a portal to the world wide web or active nano-technologies, the communication between users and materials is no longer only one-way. the surfaces and objects through which we communicate and design provide new tactile and virtual feedbacks. this dialogue has explored the current and future possibilities of Interfaces with each other and through materiality‘.

a view into the exhibition

at the same time and in the same space architectural design studio UNstudio present their interior and product designs. both presentations illustrate the collaborative nature of both practices and their shared interest in encouraging dialogue, innovation and creative exchange.

SHELTER FROM THE CLAMOR

prooff #003 phonebox and prooff #004 niche designed by belgian designers studio axia

visitors can try prooff #003 phonebox and prooff #004 niche designed by belgian designers studio axia (mathieu gabiot and jean loui de ridder). both products provide private and sound-insulating spaces for people using their phones or conducting meetings in public spaces. we have added new accessories to prooff #004 niche, giving the concept more interpretations for an effective work surrounding and making it even more comfortable in use.

prooff #003 phonebox designed by belgian designers studio axia

prooff #004 niche designed by belgian designers studio axia

SITTING.STANDING.LOUNGING. A PLACE BUILT FOR COMMUNICATION.

prooff #002 work-sofas are facilitating the dialogues that were organised and the newest prooff #006 sideseatsee our previous article on the sideseat here

prooff #006 sideseat, designed by netherlands-based duo studio makkink & bey, the same designers behind the ground-breaking prooff #001 earchair is the latest addition to a portfolio of products. it not only encourages users to be interactive and flexible with their working space, but creates privacy in an otherwise public area as well.

prooff #006 sideseat has been designed to present a solution to the blending of work and leisure, public and private.

how do you provide an environment which allows for changes in work focus and accommodates a full capacity workforce at the same time? how do you ensure that your visitor is free to decide how he spends his waiting time? prooff #006 sideseat provides a solution: a self-contained desk, cupboard & chair that moves with you.

prooff #001 the earchair, designed by jurgen bey, studio makkink & bey

on show prooff #001 the earchair, designed by jurgen bey, studio makkink & bey in various configurations. being the iconic first product in the collection and ground- breaking in its purpose of creating a private and sound-insulating space for people in busy areas and open plan offices. the specific design of prooff#001 earchair in combination with the acoustic qualities guarantee a noticeable privacy.

prooff #001 the earchair, designed by jurgen bey, studio makkink & bey

see our previous article on the prooff #001 earchair and rooff #002 work-sofa here.

prooff #005 sittables by ben van berkel, UNstudio

also present were prooff #005 sittables by ben van berkel, UNstudio, designed to integrate multiple purposes into one furniture piece. this mixture of table and seating was originally developed as ‘the longest table for all cultures’. the sittable evolved into a furniture piece suitable for everybody, for many locations and various situations.see our previous article here.