Intelligent lighting and ventilation that adjusts the cabin interior based on occupancy. Fine-tuned soundproofing to quell the hum of passersby. And automatic updates downloaded via 4G technology into a built-in dash. If these sound like premium automobile features, that’s because they are. But this technology has found a new home in Framery’s first-to-market Smart Pods, a series of four models – Framery One, Framery One Compact, Framery 4, and Framery 6 – providing private yet fully connected workspace solutions. In a departure from their classic soundproof solutions, the company catapults itself into a new lane as they implement automotive engineering into their traditionally analog designs. Having poured over some 8,000 pieces of user feedback – collected from over 10 million individual sessions during years of research and development – Framery was able to find four major pain points to address with fortified design solutions capable of adapting to future needs through connectivity.
Framery One Compact \\\ A smart one-person phone booth
FEATURES
It would be remiss to call them bells and whistles. With technology’s rapid evolution, a constant need to stay in touch, and fewer places to escape the din of work-life distraction, Framery utilizes technology to tackle a variety of personal needs – for present day and in anticipation of the future wherever that workplace may be – with an arsenal of proprietary designs. Notably is the incorporation of millimeter-wave radar in a system of devices that transmit electromagnetic waves to detect occupants within the pod so that it may adjust lighting and ventilation accordingly. Users are also able to manually adjust lighting optimized for day-lit natural ambiance, everyday work and tasks, or even a bit of glamor for video calls. The adaptive airflow lets inhabitants choose between a direct or indirect setting, and turns the air over every 60 seconds on average. The patent-pending soundproofing is fine-tuned to the human speech frequency to mitigate noise and provide unparalleled privacy.
Modern conveniences continue with technology’s application to reserve and manage the smart pods within shared workspaces via Framery’s app. Advanced and automated reservations can be booked through Microsoft or Google calendars, or by stepping into the booth, and extended with ease. The same software provides real-time, non-identifiable user data to maintain occupant privacy while helping offices better understand workplace habits and needs. Extending their flexibility further still, the smart pods can be synchronized within the greater office context via Framery’s workplace technologies suite, which accounts for the use of traditional pods and meeting rooms.
Framery One \\\ A smart one-person workstation
DESIGN
Alternative work practices nuanced by global crisis drove Framery to pursue advanced technology in an effort to think outside the box – literally. When it came time to research and ideate, a development team from the Finland-based company traveled to a Belgium factory to explore how the Swedish automaker, Volvo, manufactures its vehicles from scratch. Lessons in surface manipulation and finishing details present themselves in Framery’s fresh material palette through moments like the Smart Pod’s rounded corners.
Highly customizable through the product’s entire lifetime, each Smart Pod can be fashioned with over 3,000 potential color combinations. The technology, furniture, and materials inside the pod can also be changed at any time. And the range is available in a compact, one-person phone booth, a one-person workstation, or meeting pods for up to six persons.
Framery Four \\\ A smart meeting pod for up to 4 people
QUALITY
The typical Smart Pod composition consists of fully certified wood, 20% recycled steel and aluminum, 29% recycled glass, and textiles featuring 80% recycled plastic. But these modular next gen pods boast a 23% reduction of weight having swapped recycled steel and aluminum for some wood components, the equivalent of over 1 million kilos of raw material used in production per year. Not only are they easier to build, easier to ship, and easier to install, their new design promises to last decades using an average 30% less emission-intensive energy during a lifecycle, with 100% recyclability when it’s time to retire them.
PRICE
The myriad of features available on the Framery Smart Pods come at a price surprisingly less than their counterparts, thanks in part to a reduction in material and subsequent lower costs to ship. According to joint research and analysis from the Global Commercial Real Estate Services (CBRE) shows that this product is up to 63% cheaper than newly constructed rooms of equivalent size with an average savings in New York, London, and Singapore that is 49%, 28%, and 12% respectively.
Framery Six \\\ A smart meeting room for up to 6 persons
PAY IT FORWARD
“We want to differentiate, we want to create our own ecosystem, and we want to create a new normal that would help us to fulfill the multiple needs as the best in category for the end user as well as the decision maker,” says Timo Inkinen, head of product at Framery. And to do so requires a continued sharing of ideas – even in the unlikeliest of places. “I believe that there is the desire to make the world better. And especially if you are not direct competitors, then learning from each other is a very important thing in general. And I would say that the culture in Scandinavia is such that collaboration is easier than in some other countries… Instead of trying to hoard ideas, you give some and then you get some. And I believe that that way, you can really make the world a better place.”
