Atelier / Fantoni, Gensler

When one of the world’s largest and most successful architecture and design firms decides to renovate the work spaces of one of its offices, it is natural to think that it looks for the most reliable partner on the market to design and develop together solutions and furnishings that can ensure the ideal conditions for a modern and functional environment: flexibility, innovation, versatility.

So, when a few months ago Gensler, California-based architecture and design firm with 48 offices and over 6,000 employees worldwide, started the renovation of its London offices, it contacted the Italian company Fantoni – leading manufacturer of office furniture, partition and storage wall systems, sound-absorption systems, MDF and chipboard panels and melamine floorings – to collaborate to design the open spaces and to develop an exemplary model for enhancing the work spaces and the human potential.

The combination of profound knowledge and skills in their own working areas, a shared vision and the same aptitude for experimentation, that have influenced the whole renovation project, led to the development of a new system of office furniture which has been produced by the Friulian company. Atelier is a solution designed to cope with today’s work organization, based on flexibility and technology, known as Smart Working, bringing benefits to both companies and employees.

The modular structure of Atelier brings together a wide variety of spatial functions, fitting easily the continuous technological evolution of the work environment thanks to a new composite scheme, subdivided into four main elements: a configurable workstation, a 105 cm high multifunction and configurable collaboration table, a bookcase-containing system and a group of containers including a mobile pin-board, which allows employees to move their note-boards to start a meeting anywhere in the office.

The project is completed by a refined cable management system which allows the smart workers to remain always connected, even moving among the different work stations, from the Collaborative Spaces to the Social ones and from the open areas to more private ones. The high innovative content of Atelier has already been awarded with the Trophée de l´Innovation 2019 in the Furniture category of Workspace Expo, the international Working Environment exhibition taking place every year in Paris.