After having inaugurated the new showroom in Milan on the occasion of Milan Design Week, the Principles collection designed by OMA for Unifor will be launched in France during Paris Design Week; while Unifor is not expected to be present at Orgatec.
To present this complex office furniture collection – made up of over one hundred elements, declined in four sizes and organized into five families – Unifor therefore seems to favor its own exhibition spaces rather than trade fairs.
Undoubtedly, on the occasion of Milano Design Week, Unifor was able to bring a wave of innovation and panache to the slightly dulled office design landscape.
The change of showroom, from the historic location of Corso Matteotti (what will become of the splendid floors designed by Scarpa?) to via Pasubio, in the iconic Feltrinelli Foundation building by Herzog & De Meuron aroused great attention and the new Principles collection in the new large spaces extended also to the external square has found an adequate and surprising set to showcase its infinite composition possibilities.
The collaboration between Unifor and OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) for the study of this furniture system began in 2018, when the Molteni Group company and the international architecture studio founded by Rem Koolhaas designed the furnishings for the common areas, operational and lounge of the new Axel Springer headquarters in Berlin.
In the following years the research continued until the development of this complex and unprecedented collection both from a conceptual and formal point of view.
The Milanese installation –indoor and outdoor because the furnishings can also be outside- offered an unusual workplace image using the more than 100 elements that make up the collection, organized in 5 families: Tables, Spines, Sofas, Soft Furnitures and Screens, available in 4 sizes S, M, L, XL and available in different colors.
The rigorous design and the strictly functionalist approach are combined with flexibility and the freedom to organize one’s space / time within dynamic workplaces devoted to people’s wellbeing.
All elements are wired to ensure the possibility of working anywhere even in virtual mode.
The screens, thanks to the multifunctional base, take on the function of blackboards, acoustic panels, flower pots, lamps, coat hangers, supports for audio / video systems.
The connection of vertical partitions of various heights creates a backbone on which worktops, seats or shelves are joined as needed.
In particular, the generous shapes of the sofas – linear or curved – and the padded islands – square, round, triangular – make this collection absolutely recognizable, among which the original “donut” shaped, destined to become a new icon of meeting and interaction places.
