From a Cellular to Open-Plan Office Layout

Even in an era of remote and hybrid working, the office still plays a key role. Because people can virtually pick and choose where they work, companies are focusing even more strongly on making offices pleasant places to be.

As part of the revamp of a 1990s office building in Mainz, financial services provider Coface wanted a versatile room structure and office furniture that boosts employee well-being, productivity, and health.

At a glance

Multipurpose furniture for changing settings
Versatile seating with plenty of customization options
AT Mesh – a healthy, ergonomic option

The team at designfunktion, commissioned with the project’s interior design, pondered how to turn the new premises into intuitive-to-use, hybrid spaces to reflect a human-centered workplace.

These criteria took the planners straight to Wilkhahn. After all, at Wilkhahn, people and their needs have always governed the development of new furniture. The company’s maxim has always beenthat anyone who designs furniture or spaces, designs the environment and relationship of people with each other.

The art of redesigning the Coface space from its cellular layout to a modern open-plan office involved, above all, using versatile office furniture that meets personal and communal needs and has a consistent design throughout.

We wanted our offices to be open plan and tweaked to allow new styles of working. We didn’t want any walls, doors, or obvious hierarchies. Wilkhahn’s office furniture with its crisp forms and broad color palette was ideal for the modern, new-work interior-design concept. The furniture has featured in our company for many years, ultimately because it’s such good value.

Mario Salzmann, Coface’s facility manager

Multipurpose furniture for changing settings

For the redesign of its office premises in Mainz, Coface is aiming for a modern working culture, flat hierarchies and an open-plan office space

Rooms to retreat to for deep work
Rooms to relax in and chat – from meeting rooms to kitchens, a cafeteria and lounges, project spaces for co-working and networking
Settings for more physically active days at the office
Multipurpose Occo conference chairs
Ergonomic AT Mesh office task chairs for dynamic sitting

People involved in the project liaised closely with the team at Wilkhahn and an interior design concept for Coface was born. The goal was to create an open-plan space to work in that could be used in different ways and whose smart design encouraged people to change locations frequently and literally add more movement to the working day.

In terms of creativity and productivity, this aspect was crucial to the planners because it prompts those chance encounters and chats that are so invaluable. Wilkhahn’s furniture was ideal for the dynamic design of the interior. The items are lightweight, versatile and stand for well-being, collaboration, identity, and a sense of purpose in the workplace.