Ben van Berkel / UNStudio’s Seating Stones Series was launched by Walter Knoll at Orgatec 2014 in Cologne last week. The Seating Stones series is designed to encourage active participation and personalisation in the space creation of the contemporary office environment.

The Seating Stones series is designed to encourage active participation and personalisation in the space creation of the contemporary office environment. Within the workplace layout versatile, flexible and dynamic spaces for communication can be configured and reconfigured with ease, creating transitional islands for both work and recreation.

Contrary to fixed furniture configurations in common spaces, the individual elements of the Seating Stones family are designed for ease of placement and reconfiguration, responding to different types of gatherings and spontaneously altering group dynamics. The Seating Stones series therefore does not dictate the spatial configuration of communication, it instead enables the users to determine this according to their needs at any given moment.

The Seating Stones family
The Seating Stones series currently comprises six individual elements, each designed with specific characteristics for use, but which when grouped enable a wide variety of configurations.

Seating Stone 1 (Lounge): Inspired by the rhythmic smoothness of geological formations, the original sculptural Lounge Seating Stone exhibits a playful take on spatial awareness and versatility, presenting myriad possibilities for placement, colour, texture, arrangement and communication.

Seating Stone 2 (Side): Easy to swivel and designed to enable communication, this rounded chair can be turned with ease to face other users. There are two versions of Seating Stone 2: one with an armrest on the left and one mirroring this with an arm rest on the right.

Seating Stone 3 (Tub): As a variation on Seating Stone 2, this chair is similarly easy to turn, however it has a more orthogonal form and armrests on both sides.

Seating Stone 4 (Silent): Designed to enable privacy during communication, the high back of this tall chair curves at the top to envelop the user, creating a sense of retreat and concealment.    

Seating Stones 5 & 6 (Pouf – small / medium): These poufs, in two sizes, can be casually clustered for brainstorming in teams, or can easily be moved to join other configurations of the Seating Stones family. The Seating Stones poufs can also be interspersed throughout spaces housing individual works stations for use during ad-hoc communications in more concentrated work areas.

Project Facts

Client:Walter Knoll
Location:Herrenberg, Germany
Description:Family of seating elements for office spaces
Size/s:variety of shapes and sizes
Materials:Body:steel frame and PU Foam, upholstered.
                Seat Comfort by belts
Status:Completed
Photos: © Hans Georg Esch and Joachim Grothus

Credits

UNStudio: Ben van Berkel with William de Boer, Maurtis Fennis and Marcus Hahn, Henry Roberts. Aneliya Ivanova and Albin Goossen

Advisors

Walter Knoll:Markus Benz and Jurgen Rohm

> via UNStudio