flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

British company OpenDesk offers open-sourced office furniture

Office Buildings

British company OpenDesk offers open-sourced office furniture

The company connects designers, manufacturers, and consumers to create what they call a “collaborative production” process.


By Adilla Menayang, Assistant Digital Editor | August 24, 2015
British company OpenDesk offers open-sourced office furniture

By turning furniture into downloadable templates, offices can be in charge of sourcing and manufacturing their own products. Screengrab of opendesk.cc/designs

An increasing number of offices are downloading their own office furniture as a measure to decrease their carbon footprint. Companies like London-based OpenDesk are making this possible.

According to Dezeen, OpenDesk has “relationships with 200 makers in 32 different countries, allowing consumers to connect with local manufacturers, and designers to share their creations globally without worrying about distribution.”

“A new consumer experience where any individual can be involved in the sourcing and manufacture of their own products,” James Arthur, Co-founder of OpenDesk, says on the company’s website. “We’re trying to do to Ikea what companies like Airbnb have done to hotel change.”

Examples of companies that have used OpenDesk furniture to furnish and equip their offices include Greenpeace, Kano, and the co-working space Impact Hub.

Related Stories

Projects | Mar 10, 2022

Optometrist office takes new approach to ‘doc-in-a-box’ design

In recent decades, franchises have taken over the optometry services and optical sales market. This trend has spawned a commodity-type approach to design of office and retail sales space.

Mass Timber | Mar 8, 2022

Heavy timber office and boutique residential building breaks ground in Austin

T3 Eastside, a heavy timber office and boutique residential building, recently broke ground in Austin, Texas.

Performing Arts Centers | Mar 8, 2022

Cincinnati Ballet’s new center embodies the idea that dance is for everyone

Cincinnati Ballet had become a victim of its own success, according to company president and CEO Scott Altman. “We were bursting at the seams in our old building. We had simply outgrown the facility,” Altman told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Projects | Mar 7, 2022

An Atlanta office promotes employee well-being

For its new Atlanta office, New Relic, a California-based technology company that develops cloud-based software, wanted to keep employee health and wellness at the fore. It also wanted the workspace design to bolster productivity as well as employee engagement and retention.

Projects | Mar 3, 2022

Move, lift, restore: Repurposing a former post office near San Francisco

In mid-February, a construction crew began lifting a 1940s post office building located in Burlingame, Calif., on the San Francisco Peninsula.

Projects | Mar 2, 2022

Manufacturing plant gets second life as a mixed-use development

Wire Park, a mixed-use development being built near Athens, Ga., will feature 130 residential units plus 225,000 square feet of commercial, office, and retail space. About an hour east of downtown Atlanta, the 66-acre development also will boast expansive public greenspace. 

Office Buildings | Feb 23, 2022

The Beam on Farmer, Arizona’s first mass timber, multi-story office building tops out

The Beam on Farmer, Arizona’s first mass timber, multi-story office building, topped out on Feb. 10, 2022.

Resiliency | Feb 15, 2022

Design strategies for resilient buildings

LEO A DALY's National Director of Engineering Kim Cowman takes a building-level look at resilient design. 

Office Buildings | Feb 1, 2022

Mennica Legacy Tower: GP's latest office complex in Warsaw is uniquely designed

Mennica Legacy Tower marks GP’s first completed project in Poland. The Mennica Legacy Tower was developed by an affiliate of Golub & Company LLC and Mennica Towers GGH MT Sp z o o S.K.A, and delivered in collaboration with Epstein, a design firm with offices in Chicago and Warsaw. 

Laboratories | Jan 28, 2022

3 must-know strategies for developers in today’s life sciences industry

While the life sciences industry had been steadily growing, this growth exploded when the pandemic arrived—and there is no indication that this lightning-fast pace will slow down any time soon.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



Sustainable Design and Construction

Northglenn, a Denver suburb, opens a net zero, all-electric city hall with a mass timber structure

Northglenn, Colo., a Denver suburb, has opened the new Northglenn City Hall—a net zero, fully electric building with a mass timber structure. The 32,600-sf, $33.7 million building houses 60 city staffers. Designed by Anderson Mason Dale Architects, Northglenn City Hall is set to become the first municipal building in Colorado, and one of the first in the country, to achieve the Core certification: a green building rating system overseen by the International Living Future Institute.


MFPRO+ News

San Francisco unveils guidelines to streamline office-to-residential conversions

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection announced a series of new building code guidelines clarifying adaptive reuse code provisions and exceptions for converting office-to-residential buildings. Developed in response to the Commercial to Residential Adaptive Reuse program established in July 2023, the guidelines aim to increase the viability of converting underutilized office buildings into housing by reducing regulatory barriers in specific zoning districts downtown. 

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021