Topo Office System

“It’s a dynamic composition that allows users to work at a variety of elevations—standing, sitting, and lounging,” says Metro senior designer Otto Williams about the new Topo furniture system. The firm’s in-house design group did “road trips” to offices around the U.S. to identify different corporate styles of working, then developed comfortable, useful furniture to support those styles.

The Topo system uses flexible enclosures, translucent partitions, and sliding panels that the occupant can instantly adjust for preference and privacy. The system’s desks, credenzas, and file cabinets are freestanding, while its overhead storage is located at the back corner of the space, so that workers never feel like they’re cowering under a load of stuff. Sliding trays, in lieu of drawers, allow users to comfortably stack work in piles while alternately being able to hide them when necessary.

Finally, the accompanying lounge chair is a fun upholstered disk on a swivel with a slanting back. This is decidedly not your father’s office cubicle.