Bene Office Furniture

PARCS

DESIGN BY PEARSONLLOYD: DESIGN PROCESS

PARCS is the result of collaboration between Bene and PearsonLloyd that started at Orgatec 2006 in Cologne, Germany. An informal meeting revealed the first notions for New Meeting Environments. They discussed a different kind of furniture for the middle zone: these new zones and areas in today’s office are a counter point to tradi-tional workstations.

Bene went on to commission PearsonLloyd to conduct research into how people work in the office, how they integrate when leaving their designated workstation, and what happens when they interact outside formal meetings or conferences.


Activities


Ergonomics


Visual and acoustic screening

PearsonLloyd initially played the elimination game - identifying the territory that was definitely not part of New Meeting Environments. It was agreed that the formality of the boardroom or the acoustic privacy of an enclosed meeting room was outside the project’s remit, as was fixed, desk-based activity. Six months later, PearsonLloyd presented their findings and a project proposal.


The design process

A large part of the project was dedicated to precisely defining the task right from the start. From the outset the design process uniquely considered each individual working scenario. Each was extensively developed and researched, investigating (team work, presentation, relaxation, etc.). Thorough analysis of different ways of working came first, with no concern for design details until this was finished. This deliberate division of intellectual and tangible design created parameters for a design development with a very particular dynamic.

This joint project between Bene and PearsonLloyd endorses Bene’s growing reputation as a designled, agenda setting organisation. Whilst many companies have been developing individual products to furnish these midzone meeting areas, this is the first time that anyone has taken a holistic, cultural approach – all in line with Bene’s ethos "Our product is the workspace solution".

Bene’s production site and it’s partnerships with external suppliers played a vital role in the development of PARCS. A design concept can be brilliant but the true value of it will only be apparent when building the actual piece of furniture.

"The subtlety of getting the right signals that will engage with people; where it will have the right sense of where technology works with it, where space works with it; where light works with it – these are not things you can ask questions about in order to get a didactic answer. We tried to find out what will trigger an emotional response in people that will make them feel like using a space in a certain way or go to a place for a particular need."

Tom Lloyd, PearsonLloyd