Cloud Table: Work Surface Swirls Through the Room
A single white table surface swirls throughout an entire workspace to offer enough seating for a large number of people at once. ‘Cloud Table’ was created by STUDIO MAKS for the curated Milan design show, Ventura Lambrate. Variation in the thickness of the table as it curves around the space offers room for a variety of functions, from a single person reading a magazine to a small group working on laptops.
The table offers just as much seating for large groups as would a row of more conventional rectangular work surfaces, yet enables larger groups to sit together, promoting a sense of community. The flowing design makes what might feel like a static room seem more spacious and dynamic.
The designers envisioned the table as “a landscape rather than furniture, a social place for people to meet and exchange information.” The design is reminiscent of the more complex, undulating ‘Superdesk’ by Clive Wilkinson Architects. Both creations blur the lines between furniture and architecture, changing the way we interact with a room and each other.
“With STUDIO MAKS we aim to design new environments for all kinds of people at every imaginable scale. Whether these are at the scale of buildings or furniture, or both.”
“For Ventura Lambrate we created a new ‘Table Architecture’ project: the ‘Cloud Table’. The Cloud Table is a successor to the STUDY TABLE. Developments in media-technology stimulated us to further research the possibilities of tables for information exchange and networking. Where in Hong Kong the functionality and use of the table was confined to the walls of the building CLOUD TABLE also addresses the virtual scales. This large yet light and elegantly-crafted table offers a place to be and allows people to connect socially in physical and virtual space.”
“The ‘Cloud Table’ was designed by STUDIO MAKS (Marieke Kums, Gorka Beitia Zarandona, Alessia Nociaro, Zsófia Szoke) produced by the FICTION FACTORY, in collaboration with VENTURA LAMBRATE and supported by the CREATIVE INDUSTRIES FUND NL.”
