Dezeen promotion: these visuals by Italian brand Arper show how its modular furniture and room dividers could be used to promote social distancing in offices and airports amid the coronavirus crisis.
The Back to our Spaces project is intended to show how Arper designs can be used to modify public spaces, as lockdown measures ease and more people begin to leave their homes to go to work and travel.
“There is an opportunity to reimagine the spaces where people find connection: offices, schools, work from home areas, shared and personal environments,” Arper said.
“Today, the world appears different. It has changed before our eyes over the past few months.”
In response to these lifestyle changes, Arper has envisioned airports, lounges and offices outfitted with its seating and room divider designs to assist with social distancing practices. Arper said the products “are extremely well suited to the unique moment we are experiencing — and every other moment to come”.
The company’s modular Kiik sofa is arranged in rows in a visual of an airport, with low, table-like dividers between each seat. The spacing contrasts with current benches in airports, in which individuals are expected to sit directly next to each other.
“The Kiik modular sofa can be easily transformed to adapt to new needs,” said Arper. “Each discreet seat can be rearranged to suit the environment and moment – from individual seating to grouped benches with space in-between.”
Another airport-like lounge is shown with long rows of seating with protective screens, to create even more privacy and help isolate people as they wait.
Arper has also created several rendering of offices layouts with its Paravan Mood dividers on top of desks that were previously open and communal. Larger barriers are designed as wall dividers as well to create nooks.
“The Paravan Mood collection helps to reinterpret the break out areas,” Arper said.
“The addition of Paravan Mood dividers to tables can create distance without sacrificing important social interaction that happens in these spaces, leading to new ideas and foster a sense of shared culture.”
Other rooms in Arper’s Back to our Spaces proposal are filled with Stacy chairs that have built-in desks and Cila Go chairs with private storage underneath. The two chairs are based on traditional classroom desk designs, and the Cila Go option is complete with wheels for added flexibility.
“Cila Go reinvents today’s classrooms, presenting opportunities for modular, flexible learning that suits the needs of the individual,” Arper said.
The Italian brand was founded in 1989 by the Feltrin family and is headquartered in Monastier di Treviso, which is about 25 kilometres outside of Venice.
Arper focuses on the contract sector, which accounts for 80 per cent of its sales, and it has 12 showrooms around the world, including one in New York City’s Soho area that opened in 2015.
Renderings are by Arper.
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