Office Efficiency

There is never a shortage of opportunities for innovative solutions in the workplace, and the latest designs for the office reflect the evolving thinking that spaces need to be planned more compactly and sustainably. Among the space-saving solutions debuting at this year’s NeoCon trade show, in Chicago, are Versteel’s Rulo Tilt nesting chair and table, which store easily when coupled together, and Davis’s Basic folding table, which stacks 15 high on a companion cart. Manufacturers are bringing these ideas to their presentations as well as to their lineups. In redesigning its new Chicago showroom, for example, Haworth incorporated energy-efficient GE T5 and compact fluorescents.

When it comes to the lighting market, Artemide, Flos, Luceplan, and Lutron have introduced a new generation of electricity-conserving products including LEDs, miniaturized fluorescents, and smart control systems. Luceplan’s Mix task lamp can last up to 50,000 hours with its LED technology, versus a typical halogen bulb’s 2,000-hour life span. Developments like these are increasingly important in light of recent headlines that the governments of Australia and Canada have promised to ban the sale of incandescent bulbs as part of their plans to reduce energy use and cut down ­greenhouse-gas emissions. Consider the designs shown here—and at NeoCon—as tools for reducing your footprint, environmental or otherwise.