“A to Z of Modern Living: Future-Proof Design at Furniture Manufacturer Vitsœ’s Headquarters in Leamington Spa”, 2019-01-06 (; backlinks):
Vitsœ was founded in 1959 to manufacture the designs of Dieter Rams, of Braun’s golden years’ fame, a luminary designer who’s championed functional, considered design for well over 60 years. The company is best known for its production of Rams’ 606 Universal Shelving System, a do-it-all, have-forever modular system that can take the form of a few shelves or host an entire inventory of an university library. “I don’t regard this as a piece of architecture. I regard it as a way of thinking”, says Mark Adams, Vitsœ’s managing director, as he shows us around the firm’s Leamington Spa headquarters, which the company moved into in late 2017. “We developed the design with academics for years before building anything”, he says, explaining that the plan was essentially finished before it was handed to architects only at the delivery stage.
…At their new headquarters, Mark is fastidiously explaining elements of the building’s construction and evidence of those decades of work becomes apparent. With restrained enthusiasm he reels off details about the beech laminate veneer used for the building’s frame that he found in a German factory six years ago; about not building to conventional sustainable building standards, which he calls “box ticking exercises”; and he later gently explains how buildings are designed the wrong way around when it comes to thermal insulation. “Ours is designed a bit like if it had a Gore-Tex jacket on: it can release moisture, but it stays insulated.” This, Mark says, is better for people’s wellbeing: “Being hotter in the summer and cooler in the winter is better for your immune system.” That expenditure of time and consideration has resulted in a building in which not a single artificial light needs to be turned on during the day—the building’s party trick, if indeed it has one. Inside, daylight is used and amplified, pouring in through the overhead skylights in the sawtooth roof, illuminating the beech frame in splendid fashion.
The building, which amorphously combines manufacturing and office space, along with apartments for internationally-visiting staff, and a restaurant-quality canteen, is truly a mixed-use space. Looking down to the far end, it’s not uncommon for a member of Motionhouse contemporary dance troupe to launch into view above the workstations. “I think it’s completely logical that arts and commerce should be totally interwoven”, proclaims Mark.
…Mid-way into lunch, Mark interjects, inviting us to see how many phones we can spot. We look around and see no vacant faces staring at screens, but rather groups of people chatting and eating at communal tables, while outside a game of pétanque gets underway.