Built for change
For some clients, Vitra is a furniture supplier; for others, we are a full-service partner, offering advice, planning and implementation for workspaces, learning environments and public areas. Beyond layout, furnishings and technical features, sociological and psychological factors play a key role in creating workspaces that inspire and engage.
Size is never a limitation: Vitra delivers projects ranging from small start-up offices to workplaces for thousands of employees. The following projects demonstrate how thoughtful design can ease transitions and inspire new approaches to work and learning.
School of Design Bern and Biel, Schwitzerland
Founded in 1971, the School of Design Bern and Biel (SfG BB) educates around 3,500 students, trainees and course participants across its two locations, offering programmes in creative, artistic, technical and craft disciplines, as well as continuing education. With the main building in Bern undergoing extensive renovation, the school has relocated for ten years to Bernapark, a repurposed industrial site. The SfG is embracing the move as an opportunity to rethink the school and redefine its educational vision.
Vitra joined the project early on to help bring the conceptual ideas for teaching and learning spaces into practical work areas and guide the transition. The goal was to introduce new flexibility in instruction and extend this to the workspaces of teaching staff. The project sought to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and establish more touchpoints between students, trainees, educators and staff. Adequate storage space was another priority, providing space to showcase work and knowledge.
Workstations: 650
Planned surface area: 1161 m2 new construction
Interior design: Vitra Consulting & Planning Studio
Project completion: August 2024
DHBW Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany
In an interview, Professor Rahel Gugel explains how the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Villingen-Schwenningen (DHBW VS) supports innovative teaching and learning on campus while creating an inspiring environment for teaching and research.
What is the DHBW VS and what does it offer?
DHBW VS is a state-run university that integrates academic study with practical experience. It offers a three-year programme in business and social work, combining alternating phases of academic study at the university with practical placements at partner companies. Students not only acquire subject-specific and methodological knowledge, but also gain hands-on experience, alongside the professional and social skills required in the workplace. Theory and practice are closely aligned, with a curriculum reflecting current developments in business, technology and society.
Are teaching and learning formats changing? And if so, what does this mean for the planning of spaces?
There are clear shifts in teaching away from purely knowledge-based, lecture-style formats towards more competence-focused, participatory and collaborative learning. Students increasingly work on project-based, interdisciplinary and problem-oriented tasks in changing teams, often using digital tools and hybrid teaching settings. This has direct implications for spatial planning. Traditional lecture halls are no longer sufficient. Instead, flexible, adaptable learning spaces are now required for a variety of activities, including group work, presentations, focused individual study, creative processes and informal exchange. Spaces therefore become an active part of the teaching process, facilitating future skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, self-organisation and digital literacy. The transformation in teaching methods is driving a fundamental change in how spaces are designed: the need is for versatile interior landscapes that treat learning as a social and situational process.
What prompted DHBW VS to rethink its learning spaces?
Our aim was to consolidate the study programme on a single, centrally located campus, with short distances, modern infrastructure and optimal parameters for collaboration between faculties, students and industry partners. This strengthens spatial connections, creates ideal conditions for interdisciplinary exchange and joint projects, and opens up new opportunities to integrate knowledge.
What insights and considerations informed the spatial concept during the joint planning phase?
The starting point was the experience gained from using the existing spaces. Many were designed for traditional seminars or lectures and fall short when it comes to interactive, collaborative and project-based teaching. It also became clear that newer formats – such as problem-oriented learning, case studies, teamwork, facilitated reflection and workshop-style sessions, as well as hybrid teaching – require specifically tailored layouts. Equally important was the curriculum revision undertaken by the Faculty of Social Work during its reaccreditation process. This informed the development of a new spatial concept, which was designed not merely to reflect the curricular goals but to enable them: spaces are designed to support competence-focused learning, flexible teaching methods and the development of future skills.
What added value do you expect Scout, Reset and Dancing Wall to bring to future working and learning environments?
The mobile, space-saving products Scout and Reset allow rapid and dynamic reconfiguration of spaces for a wide range of teaching and learning settings – from traditional lectures and exams to group collaboration, workshops and simulation exercises.
What added value do you expect Scout, Reset and Dancing Wall to bring to future working and learning environments?
The mobile, space-saving products Scout and Reset allow rapid and dynamic reconfiguration of spaces for a wide range of teaching and learning settings – from traditional lectures and exams to group collaboration, workshops and simulation exercises.
What does it mean for you and your students to be part of a development process in which open spatial structures are tested by its users and continuously reimagined?
For us, it means understanding learning spaces not as something fixed and complete but as environments that can evolve. Being part of this process involves sharing responsibility: together, we can test what works in practice, identifying where spaces genuinely enhance learning and where adjustments are needed. For students, this is particularly valuable because they are not merely users – they are taken seriously as experts in their own educational experience. And for the university, it is an opportunity to do more than just formulate a new culture of learning; it allows this culture to be put into practice in a real-life setting.
Workstations: 70
Planned surface area: 210 m2
Interior design: Vitra Consulting & Planning Studio
Project completion: March 2026
JuveCampus City Zurich, Switzerland
Juventus is an educational institution in Zurich. At the new JuveCampus City location, the goal was to use an existing building to create a learning and working environment capable of supporting a wide range of teaching requirements.
"It was important to us to create learning spaces capable of evolving and adapting to changing educational needs. The new, versatile learning environments at JuveCampus City promote exchange, flexibility and diverse learning formats, while remaining open to what the future brings."
Bea Knöpfel, Co-Founder and Partner, dopo Innenarchitektur
Workstations: approx. 35 Planned surface area: → offices approx. 470 m2 → learning spaces approx. 1600 m2 Interior design: dopo Innenarchitektur Project completion: October 2025
Laufen AG Basel, Switzerland
The bathroom manufacturer Laufen chose Konstantin Grcic's new Scout table system to furnish its new offices in Basel – primarily for functional reasons, though not exclusively.
"With the relocation of our team to Basel, we wanted to move closer to the corporate marketing world: in the heart of an urban environment, closer to the pulse of things and closer to one another. From the outset, it was clear to us that this place, this space, should not be static – it had to be as fluid as our projects and priorities. The challenge was to create an environment that provides structure within a limited footprint, while remaining open enough to accommodate very different modes of working: dynamic action and open exchange, as well as quiet concentration and retreat. The result is an office that makes the most of the available space – a place that is constantly evolving and never and never permanently defined."
Alain Reymond, Design Director Laufen
Workstations: 18–20
Planned surface area: 290 m2
Specialist planning: Vitra Consulting & Planning Studio
Project completion: April 2026