Companies to develop solutions integrating LED lighting in office furniture
Philips and Haworth announced a cooperation to create workplaces designed to enhance employees' well-being in the office. As part of the cooperation, Philips, the global leader in lighting and Haworth, a global leader in the design and manufacture of office furniture, will create innovative lighting and furniture solutions for the European market. The companies will also focus on future-looking research into office design and lighting trends.
At the office and facility show, Orgatec 2012, the Haworth booth will be exclusively lit by Philips.The booth will include the integration of Philips LED lighting in Haworth's office partitioning range MeetYou as well as the "Light as a divider" market research project which uses illuminated LED screens.
"Office workers today want flexibility and comfort from their workplace environments." said Menno Kleingeld, Vice President and General Manager Office Lighting EMEA at Philips. ''Philips and Haworth are both people-centric brands, and the companies are thus a natural fit to work together in creating healthy workspaces."
The companies will develop solutions such as office lounge furniture and screens that integrate LED lighting, creating more effective and aesthetic office environments.
Research has shown that light impacts well-being and performance, and LED lighting from Philips offers unprecedented opportunities to create the right quality of light through color and control. Haworth offers a holistic product portfolio based on research, workplace knowledge, global perspectives and a unique design point of view. Haworth's office furniture can be easily integrated into different working environments and adapt to the ever changing needs of companies over the time.
"We want to help people feel good, remain highly motivated, and perform well by creating office environments that support various work styles," said François Brounais, Haworth's Vice President of European Marketing. "We are happy to collaborate with Philips as an expert in developing people-centric working environments that integrate lighting and are designed around the needs of the individual, the organisational culture, and the type of work being performed."
As a result of greater emphasis on knowledge-intensive work and collaboration, the way people work is changing - and workplaces need to change with them by incorporating lighting and furniture in a far more intuitive way. Employers are looking to create flexible and sustainable office spaces that cater to a mobile workforce. This mobile workforce has varying expectations of office space depending on the type of work they do, which may require more concentration or collaboration, individual or group-focused activities.
Solutions developed by Philips and Haworth will also meet sustainability requirements that are critical to certify office spaces as 'green buildings'. LED lighting is more energy efficient than traditional lighting, and in offices it has the potential to generate significant energy savings. Haworth's solutions also meet sustainability criteria – for example Vados, a Haworth storage solution is up to 100% recyclable, consists of up to 87% recycled materials and contributes to sustainable building certification.
Philips and Haworth have previously demonstrated the two companies' solutions for office spaces when they collaborated in 2010 to create the Haworth showroom in Paris.
