Designer Insights: The Future of Offices
Vol.8 Spatial Design Guided by What Your Body Feels: Yusuke Oono’s Vision for Offices
The desks and bookshelves in the office are also designed by Oono. The desk consists of a fibreboard top supported by angle bars acting as beams and IKEA legs. The evenly spaced holes in the angle bars not only create a visual rhythm, but small items can also be hung from them.
The bookshelves use semi-transparent polycarbonate boards that are four metres long. The supports are shelf rails which allow the positions of the shelves to be freely adjusted. "The semi-transparent shelves diffuse light, softly illuminating the book spines. Sometimes, the cut ends of wood catch the light and sparkle, which I like", Oono tells while smiling.
"There are many things you don’t understand before you actually try building a project, and there are aspects you can’t get a feel for based on drawings alone. While the beauty of structure and form is important, I always want to remain true to what I feel: whether something feels 'right' or 'off'."
Oono’s pick for chairs: Designed in Germany
For computer work, Oono chose office chairs from the brand Wilkhahn, and for meetings, moulded plywood chairs from PAGHOLZ. Both are German brands. “I want to create an environment where one can be natural, with nothing obstructing bodily sensations.”
Wilkhahn, a long-standing German brand drawing from the Bauhaus and modernism movements, was a natural choice for Oono, who was born in Germany. The PAGHOLZ chairs, commonly used in school music rooms, were familiar to him. "Lightweight and unobtrusive, these chairs suit this space."
