Workbays Village

Following a workshop led by Camille Blin and Erwan Bouroullec in 2017, Master Product Design students from ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne present “Workbays Village”, a project inspired by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec’s customizable office partitioning systems manufactured by Vitra.

With Workbays, which they created for Vitra a few years ago, the French designers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, who regularly collaborate with ECAL, have developed a micro-architectural system that redefines the working environment and breaks with the typical rigid planning structure of offices. Thus Workbays create distinct areas where individuals or groups can retreat from the general office environment to carry out specific activities. The units come equipped with everything users need: work surfaces, seating, optional storage and power connections. The structure of Workbays consists of slim aluminium profiles and organically shaped wall elements made of pressed polyester felt.

“The ECAL students suggested we devised new typologies for these working environments, adding novel features and supplying them with new accessories”, says Camille Blin, the designer and professor who headed the project. So the Master Product Design students worked for a full semester under the watchful eye of Erwan Bouroullec and invented new structures that call to mind Japanese capsule hotels, a prototyping workshop, a gym, a bar, a garden or a resting area. For each of these spaces, the students created specific and original objects, ranging from Bluetooth loud-speakers to miniature lamps reminiscent of stadium ones, desk pads-cum-bags, a semi-standing stool, a cable-covering carpet, in & out wastepaper baskets, multi socket trays or a desk wall with vases and pins.

A 3D animation film specifically created by TRAUM Inc. presenting these unusual Workbays can also be seen at the exhibition.

Vitra Campus - Fire Station
Exhibition opening times
2 October - 6 November 2019
Monday - Sunday, 10 am - 6 pm