Vitra’s Club Office

Club Office is now open at Vitra’s headquarters based in Birsfelden, Switzerland. Developed as a flexible working space for the company’s own research and design team, Club Office features different settings for various types of work. Club Office incorporates new and existing Vitra products, all designed to support productivity.

The pandemic has taught us that people can work wherever they find suitable conditions and can stay connected—home, outdoors, or a café. Yet, employees don’t want to return to the office just for individual activities. They want to meet with their colleagues and have enriching experiences. The concept transforms the workspace into a place for collaboration and innovation. “The Club Office is an approach to office design that’s intended to emphasize the importance of social interaction,” said Melissa Shelton, president, Vitra North America.

While many manufacturers acted in response to the pandemic, Club Office was already in alignment with the Vitra ethos, and how the team and their clients were thinking about work. “Our clients requested agile office products many years before the pandemic. This was already part of our design process, and our consulting process. Club Office was not created in response to a trend,” Shelton noted.

With the need for flexible, mobile pieces, new furniture has been introduced in conjunction with the launch of Club Office. Updates have also been made to existing Vitra products that are ideal  as we begin to reorient public and private spaces. “For us, enhancing existing products is really important. It’s a central pillar of our sustainability strategy. We have made updates to some of our most well-received products for the agile office environment, so that they can continuously meet the needs of our clients,” Shelton added.

As we return to the office, there will be a range of meetings and socializing, which Shelton said are vital, yet to be replaced by technology. “There are great support tools that allow us to work remotely, but a Zoom meeting cannot replace the culture-building and bonding that happens with face-to-face interactions.”

Three key areas are central to the Club Office concept: a public section, a semi-public area, and a private zone. Shelton explained each section, and highlighted some of the Vitra furniture that is best utilized in each.

Public

The public space is for spontaneous meetings, discussions, and gatherings.” Shelton said. In the public area staff often “meet and retreat.”  They can gather and have some privacy, while still being connected to what happens in this public section of the Club Office. The Alcove Sofa, developed by Vitra with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, has been synonymous with modern working environments since it was introduced in 2006. Vitra and the Bouroullec brothers partnered again to further develop and expand the system, called Alcove Plus. The furnishing becomes a partition element with numerous configuration options, easily transformed by any user within minutes.

An employee can use this versatile system rather than sit in a large conference room to make a call or have a quick chat. “Alcove Plus provides a sheltered space. There are some acoustic properties provided by the higher panels which reduces the noise and the distractions. You can even close one of the paravents, which are part of the update, to make a room-within-a-room. I think it’s essential to provide this type of piece so that teams can actually do their jobs within the office,” Shelton said.

Semi-Public

 The semi-public area is used for more formal collaboration, and it includes furniture that allows staff to quickly adapt the space. “This section is where we see teams coming together for standing meetings, one-on-one or in small groups. You may be onboarding a new employee, or training a teammate, and you want to have some time with them that doesn’t require a completely private space,” Shelton noted.

In this area, staff members need solutions that are mobile and user-friendly. “We see furniture that’s stackable and adjustable. A sit-stand desking system like the Tyde 2 works really well here,” Shelton added. Another option created by Vitra in partnership with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Tyde 2 is an update to Tyde, introduced in 2012.

With the new bracket construction, desk lamps, monitor arms, and other accessories can be attached to the edge of the tabletop. The technical components underneath the top can be concealed with different covers or cable trays made of molded polyester fleece. The system has also been expanded to include meeting tables.

Private

The private zone is best for individual, focused work. “It’s about ease of use and adaptability for someone who is dropping in and needs space for heads-down work, a plug and play solution,” Shelton said. She also noted that the Club Office products are perfect for home use.

“A lot of our clients are trying to figure out how they can take some of the elements from the work environment and bring them into the home, but in a very tasteful way. We have office products in our portfolio that work perfectly well in a home office environment. The Antonio Citterio-designed ID Chair, for example. It has been in our collection for many years, and we’ve just updated the full family,” Shelton noted.

Indeed, the enhanced ID Chair Concept includes a new and highly breathable PU-foam-free seat—the first of its kind made of a 100% polyester cushion, an innovative material originating from bed mattresses. There are revised armrests, new colors and materials, and an even wider range of fabrics supplemented with Reflect, a material made of recycled polyester.