Vitra launches Dancing Office designed by Stephan Hürlemann

Originally developed by Hürlemann in 2017 when planning the PwC Experience Center in Zürich, the Dancing Office from Vitra translates the principles of agile working into office architecture – increasingly relevant as businesses adjust to increasingly unpredictable developments within the workspace. Hürlemann created the system of easily manoeuvrable elements as a response to growth and structural change – to be as flexible as possible so that users can adapt and efficiently redesign their surroundings.

Hürlemann refers to these dynamic processes as a ‘choreography of work’. In addition to fixed, static office areas, this requires free spaces, undefined zones or ‘dance floors’ that can be modified, using mobile, flexible furniture with which users can create different work situations.

A central element in Dancing Office is the Dancing Wall – a mobile partition panel and modular system at the same time. Thanks to its mobility and modular structure, it can be used in open spaces to create work environments, define uses and provide functions such as visual and acoustic privacy, create presentation surfaces or vegetation walls. Made of a solid wood base on wheels with a mounted frame, it becomes a well-equipped piece of furniture with many configurations. Now more than ever, it’s all the more important to design the work environment in such a way that the architectural elements and furnishings help employees to keep their distance – without having to think too much about it.

An important characteristic of Dancing Office is the fact that it motivates users to take initiative and to become actors in the workplace. Having recently re-opened the office space in Zürich the team at Studio Hürlemann have still been able to define the layout of their new workspaces in line with new safety guidelines and standards. For example, mobile Dancing Walls and the flexible acoustic curtains have been used to create alcoves and niches with single desks. They are spacious and make it easy for people to maintain a safe distance from each other.

Photo credit: Dejan Jovanovic