With the El and the Chicago River right outside the window Kimball's space at NeoCon 2015 buzzed with urban energy even before the showroom was installed. O+A's design for the showroom made that buzz an element of the concept-then amplified it with a mix of streetwise graphics, vibrant colors and patterns as eclectic as a ride uptown.
With the El and the Chicago River right outside the window Kimball's space at NeoCon 2015 buzzed with urban energy even before the showroom was installed. O+A's design for the showroom made that buzz an element of the concept-then amplified it with a mix of streetwise graphics, vibrant colors and patterns as eclectic as a ride uptown.
City Chicago
Year 2015
Size 13,000 sf
Team Verda Alexander, Primo Orpilla, Perry Stephney, Elizabeth Vereker, Olivia Ward, Justin Ackerman, Emi Katagiri
Photographer Jasper Sanidad
Before they got into office furniture, Kimball was known for making keyboard instruments. At the height of that business, they produced about 100,000 pianos and organs per year. Now as manufacturers of furniture for work environments they continue to explore how surfaces and textures work together to create harmony—this time in the office.
The Kimball showroom at NeoCon 2015 was a collection of spaces illustrating how the company’s versatile furniture could be adapted to the many kinds of work and leisure activities a modern office typically handles. O+A’s design grew from the concept that every office is a microcosmic city and that the types of spaces in an office correspond to urban neighborhoods, each with its own personality and purpose.
At the same time communications technology now makes it possible to conduct business anywhere. To illustrate that point our firm’s brand studio created custom signage and wall graphics that suggested the electricity and density of a city—geometric shapes that evoked architectural forms and systems of infrastructure. When juxtaposed with Kimball’s sleek, angular office furniture the message was clear—every café and subway station is potentially a workplace.
“We saw the showroom as an eclectic city-scape, woven together through bold colors, textures, and patterns. The result was an exercise in controlled chaos, with contrasting languages, rough and refined materials.”