Everyone happens to define traffic, work or even the house environment “a jungle”. Today’s project has turned this comparison into an actual work: designed by Ippolito Fleitz Group, it’s Walter Knoll’s stand on the occasion of the brand’s exhibition at Orgatec 2014. Awarded with the IF DESIGN AWARD 2015, the project focuses on communication and identity, the key themes of our new working worlds as well as Walter Knoll’s core characteristics.
The stand is designed as a response to our changing ways of working as the classic workstation is becoming less and less the locus of communication and creativity. This new face of the office is embodied by the new ‘Seating Stones’ collection by Ben van Berkel consisting of organic, freely positionable seating providing the prelude to the exhibition stand. The organic language of the furniture is presented against a wild backdrop of jungle plants. This striking image illustrates how new work environments are liberating themselves from the traditional context.

From the main entrance, a central axis that is further emphasized by fins attached to the ceiling, runs through to the cafeteria at the far end of the stand. The stand interior itself is calm and contained. Four different spatial scenarios are grouped around the central axis. Short texts on the walls provide impulses to consider the significance of future and present work environments.
Large-format, suspended images, which are also contained within a carbon curtain, help zone the space and provide a narrative context. Image motifs and accessories relate to the theme of nature and enliven the product presentations. They invest the clear geometry of the stand with a domestic dimension, while allowing a concentrated focus on product presentation.
The middle zone displays how versatile the Walter Knoll collection can be. Work worlds need not be considered as closed systems, but can be freely composed thanks to the infinite combinability of the products.
The exterior skin of the trade stand is illustrated with a graphic translation of the free flow of integrated communication – while allowing the eye to catch glimpses of the stand’s interior.

INFO: www.ifgroup.org

PHOTO COURTESY: Ippolito Fleitz Group