Vitra is presenting in Poland, a new concept for working in an office environment, developed in collaboration with French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

The way one outfits the office as a working environment is governed by technical, economic and social factors-and mirrors the interplay of these forces. However, the office reflects them with a time lapse and thus usually presents yesterday's realities.

This project is advanced one step further by "Joyn"-a new idea for a workspaces in which the office is no longer the only place where people work. Since many of the tasks that used to be part of daily office routines can now be handled at home or on the road, the office's most important function is now becoming providing a central hub for the intensive, interpersonal exchange of information.

As a rule, offices are poorly prepared for this role. Usually, office interiors take their cue from the fixed pattern of individual work and a strict division of labor.

The Bouroullec brothers-26 and 31 years old-belong to a generation that grew up with the Internet, a good starting point for reflecting on a new work scenario. Needless to say, this in itself would not be enough. The Bouroullecs stand out by the way they combine analytical clarity with technical understanding, a great enthusiasm for their work, and pronounced abilities as designers.

A first showing of their work recently opened at the Designmuseum in London.

For Vitra, the receptive, open-minded attitude the duo took was refreshing, especially if one considers they had never dealt with products for the world of work. Conversely, the collaboration was illuminating for the young designers, since at Vitra, product development means not only putting forward interesting product-related hypotheses but also submitting them to scrutiny in technical, ergonomic and organizational terms. This is what has taken place over the past two years in the course of an intensive dialogue with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.