As companies and their teams are now working in a hybrid set-up, certain questions have to be addressed: Who is coming back to the office? What for? Is the former work environment still suitable? What does the office now have to offer? In response to these questions Vitra developed the ‘Club Office’.

The physical act of going back to the workplace has become a conscious choice for many – one that is guided by the tasks that lie ahead, the required level of interaction, and the need for direct access to human and physical resources. The physical workspaces that we now build should complement the home office and provide added value for both the company and users. At Vitra, we have always utilised our own offices as a field for experimentation, a place in which we test concepts and products and then translate the resulting experiences into improvements and new ideas, sharing the results with you. Understanding that the Vitra team comes to the office with a desire to feel part of a larger whole, because they want to meet their colleagues and seek new knowledge and experiences, Vitra built the first Club Office at our head office in Switzerland in spring 2021.

Acknowledging the hybrid nature of contemporary work, the Club Office is divided into three areas – public, semi-public and private. The Club’s ‘members’ – consisting of employees from all parts of Vitra as well as the company’s close external partners – encounter a whole range of different spatial scenarios and collaborative settings within a small footprint of less than 300 square metres.

The public section provides members with a welcoming space for spontaneous meetings, a forum for discussion, debate and mutual learning. Comfortable, inviting furniture such as the sofa systems Soft Work and Alcove Plus are used here. The public area is open and accessible to all employees and close partners of Vitra, and can be visited by external guests.

The second, semi-public area is dedicated to more formal collaboration. Members come together on a planned basis in spaces that can be reserved, for example, for project work – often over a period of days and weeks. Yet agility is still required, and thanks to flexible furnishings like Dancing Wall, Stool-Tool and Tip Ton, collaborative spaces can be quickly and easily adapted and rearranged – even multiple times a day if needed. This environment is designed for workshops and productive teamwork. With the help of Comma, an office system consisting of just a few individual elements supplied in a kit of parts, Club members can construct their own surroundings to solve the problem of the day, week or month.

The private area of the Club allows members to focus on individual tasks and provides an environment for teams that engage in communal working. Individual tasks might be taken to the home office, which is one option for focus work, or to furniture typologies such as Alcove Work. While most members of the Club float naturally from one part of the Club to the next and shift from one working mode to another, some are closely tied to their team and its physical neighborhood in an office. Often these teams are deeply engaged with the daily operations of a company, rather than with project work or management. A communal working environment invites this way of working.

Do you need support in planning or redesigning your offices? We look forward to hearing about your project!

As its name suggests, the Club Office has been inspired by the many groups that people form all around the world, be they chess societies, sewing circles, football squads, or debate teams. These are clubs formed by likeminded people who get together on their own terms, collaborating, sharing ideas and building energy for a larger goal. The Club Office shares this same spirit. It is the home of the organisation, and a unique representation of its purpose and values. It is the simplest, and often only, physical manifestation of a company’s identity, and so becomes a place of belonging. In the Club, the company can host its community: members, customers and partners. Their rituals are linked to this place, and their memories and experiences are rooted here. The Club embodies the culture that a company is looking to build: it is the home of a winning team that both existing and future members want to be a part of. And, of course, just as no two companies are alike, so too will every Club Office look and feel different.

Many offices still remain empty, the meeting rooms and kitchenettes deserted. But as the return to the workplace nears, certain questions become increasingly urgent: Who is coming back to the office? What for? Is the former work environment still suitable? What does the office now have to offer? In response to these questions, we are debuting the ‘Club Office’. Our latest e-paper looks at the development of Vitra’s own Club Office, which is our response to the need for a post-pandemic workspace, as well as in-depth spatial solutions and the latest product updates.

With decades of experience, the Vitra Consulting & Planning Studio offers consultancy services and tools to assist partners, decision-makers and employees in rethinking their offices and transforming them into future-proof workspaces. A tried-and-tested process yields the foundations for a customised interior. Our teams will advise you on how to reinvent your offices with the focus on your employees’ needs and design improved work experiences for your entire organisation.