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The office by Nendo

Returning to fundamental principles, the installation “shelf + desk + chair = office” designed by Nendo for Kokuyo stand at Orgatec 2014, asks what an office actually is.

While our demands on office space become only more and more diverse, office furniture has not changed along with these demands and remains oddly standardized.

In contrast, Nendo’s installation tried to capture the spirit of Kokuyo Furniture by returning to the fundamental principles of the office and asking what, ultimately, an office is.

Nendo, Shelf + desk + chair = office, Kokuyo Furniture. Object 2: desks and floorspace appear when the shelves are scattered right and left. An experiment in transforming shelving’s vertical levels into office three-dimensionality.

For Orgatec 2014, Nendo brokes the office down into its smallest components – desks, chairs and shelving – then put it back together again, creating new relationships between the component items to explore the possibilities of future office space.

Instead of opting for the usual smooth, glossy office furniture finish, they used a varied matte finish and carried the muted black through the entire colour scheme. Combined with Kokuyo’s newest chair, the Inspine, the rough, primitive design shelving and table created an arresting contrast.

Nendo, Shelf + desk + chair = office, Kokuyo Furniture. Object 1: removing some of the shelves turns part of the shelving unit into a desk. Exploring the boundary between horizontal surfaces intended for storage, and those intended for work.

Nendo, Shelf + desk + chair = office, Kokuyo Furniture. Object 3: shelves and desks mingle, and space appears inside by cutting out their overlaps. Searching for a new way of gathering together and a new spatial relationship with desks, in which we’re enclosed by our desk, rather than sit facing it.

Nendo, Shelf + desk + chair = office, Kokuyo Furniture. Object 4: a consideration of the boundary between ‘on-‘ (office) and ‘off-duty’ (lobby and amenity) furniture.

Nendo, Shelf + desk + chair = office, Kokuyo Furniture. Object 5: some of the shelves become a staircase. Sitting on them transforms them into benches, and when accessed from behind they’re a closed desk. A thought experiment into the relationship between dynamic and static space, and the different functions of front and back.