Screen time: Vibe by Kinnarps

It's no great secret that open-plan offices can be difficult for workers. Although they may encourage more open styles of communication and creativity, they present a number of challenges and number one among these is noise.

It doesn't take much to have a significant impact. Even in a relatively quiet office where noise levels only reach 50 decibels – a little louder than a library – research shows that workers can suffer from a 40% loss in concentration. And it's not just productivity that can suffer, noise in the workplace can impact our health too.

“The sound level at the office affects both how we feel and our productivity," explained Jenny Hörberg, Director of Global Range & Design at office furniture specialists Kinnarps AB. "It's important to consider noise as a part of the solution when furnishing workspaces.” Now, Kinnarps is unveiling a new screen series called Vibe that is designed to tackle the problem and complement its Next Office concept, which uses different furniture elements to create a unique workspace.

With gently rounded corners and upholstered in soothing colours, Vibe screens can be suspended from the ceiling by fine cables or hung on the walls. The screens can also be wrapped around individual desks, mounted on wooden legs or castors to create moveable partitions and can also have integrated wooden shelves, enabling the creation of a bespoke office environment designed to suit different noise sensitivity levels. “Vibe offers a wide variety of partition and sound-absorbent possibilities so it can help to create a balanced acoustic environment and flexible spaces for different purposes,” said Hörberg.

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