Every now and then a new innovation comes along from creative minds that can change the way things are done. In this case, we’ve got designers Johan Kauppi and Bertil Harstrom of Glimakra that have come up with a solution to noisy office furniture.
Endeavoring to bring about a functional room acoustic environment they’ve come up with office furniture that absorbs sounds. Their new line of sound absorbing office furniture is called Sabine. It’s named after Wallace Clement Sabine, the physicist credited with establishing the area of architectural acoustics.
The way the team developed the furniture was by making each piece from storage furniture boxes. Each independent and grouped together in widths of four and heights of four. Different legs can be picked ranging from wood to metal.
You can configure these pieces to be either like dividing walls or in cubical form. The outer layers are of pressed felt that adds to the acoustic efficiency. The variety of configurations is limited only by imagination. Sort of like using big felt covered LEGO blocks as furniture.
This new technique could lead to less stress in the workplace. For busy government offices, especially those that service the public, this solution to office furniture might turn into quite a nerve saver.
The workplace is fraught with all sorts of problems. From chatty phone use, computer and other mechanical and electronic sounds, to even noisy customers or clients. Cutting down on that noise leads to better concentration where needed and that means more efficiency from the staff.
It will take sometime to see where this approach is heading, but if It get trendy, you’ll see it all over the place.
Fads come and go, but when something of somewhat of an efficient nature comes along and is also attractive, it tends to stick around for a while. So far the colors for this furniture are rather drab, black, white, gray, but as it catches on, you’ll see more vibrant colors as well as patterns. Companies can have their brand logos printed on the furniture, as long as they don’t compromise the efficiency of the acoustic technology involved.
Adaptable to children’s furniture or the classroom? We’ll have to wait and see. Anything that can dampen down the dins of kids is more than welcome.
Overall, this new approach to office efficiency may have more broader application and it will be interesting to see what transpires over time.
Image credit: johankauppi.com