Bene Office Furniture

EYBL international

Architect: ATP Achammer-Tritthart & Partner / Wolfgang Wildauer
Sales Office: Bene St. Pölten

The inside becomes obvious from outside: Textile fabrics for car interiors; research, technology and innovation. A print-screen brings the architecture of the newly inaugurated FAI, Eybl International's centre of research and development in Krems, Lower Austria, to life. Bene's new X Programme lends a high-tech touch to the office floor on the inside, which is consistently reduced to bare essentials.

As a competent partner to the automotive industry, the company runs an innovation network headquartered at the FAI. After all, Eybl's success is due to short development cycles, long-term customer orientation and tight cost calculation for the manufacture of high-quality products. As a matter of fact, nine out of the world's ten largest automotive corporations use Eybl fabrics for their vehicles.

Advanced Design to the old factory hall
In designing the new FAI, architects Achammer-Tritthart & Partners / ATP have achieved a metamorphosis: They converted an old factory hall into a modern, futuristic office building which fits in perfectly with Eybl's corporate philosophy. To start with, the architects increased the floor space by adding a new storey. While the ground floor houses the production facilities, the upper floor is occupied by the research division. All in all, the new FAI provides room for 120 staff in the innovation and 80 in the production departments.
A characteristic feature of this architectural project is the clean approach, which enhances the industrial aestheticism of the old factory hall. The ATP architects have structured the attractive, 30-m wide interior space into discreet areas: They have arranged individual desks along the light-flooded window zones, while group offices support communicative teamwork. The central part of the factory hall provides niches for retreat with tabletops combined in different configurations for instantaneous meetings. There are also functional areas for presentations, a server room, a storeroom, and a cafeteria.
In deliberate contrast to the work environment, further tension is created by a rooftop-garden which faces the inside of the building as well as a generous cafeteria which offers an unexpected view of the green Danube wetlands. The colour of green also pervades the office space: Fabrics depicting the wetlands and lighted from behind match the screen of the façade, permitting an intricate interplay between the inside and the outside.

Think X at its purest: an office reduced to bare essentials
The office space features very simple purism. The architects have concentrated on the bare essentials needed for a work environment – a few simple basic elements such as tables, chairs, and storage units. Nothing is superfluous. Bene calls this concept Think X.
The stringent structure of the workplaces is perfectly mirrored by the selected furniture: Tables from the new Bene X9 Programme, supplemented by containers, are configured to form clusters. Bene K2 cabinets not only serve filing purposes but also act as elements to structure the space. Bene's M_Com Tables are on stand-by for spontaneous meetings. The choice of Wilkhahn chairs, consistently uniform in black mesh design, follows the stringent formal approach.
Think X also characterises the clean construction of the simple but ergonomically perfect four-legged tables and the elegant thin Compact desktops. Bene's platinum and aluminium colour scheme lends a "Future Lab" appeal to the office. Think X reflects the company's identity as it communicates what Eybl stands for: research, technology and innovation.