NASA JET PROPULSION LAB, E-VEIL

Year: 2016

Location: Pasadena, CA

Team: Guvenc Ozel

E-VEIL: THE NEW ENHANCED OFFICE SPACE

As a part of a research collaboration between UCLA CityLab on new modes of workspaces,  Ozel Office proposed an interior layout system for the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab Pasadena Campus. 

The indoor scheme aims to create a versatile pre­programmed variation of office territories controlled by the user. As contemporary workplace requires professionals to constantly change teams, work in collaboration as well as in isolation, the traditional layout of a personal cubicle as the organizing principle of office architecture is no longer practical. In order to face the demand for constant reconfiguration meanwhile allowing the worker to maintain an individual identity and privacy for personal work space, the E­Veil proposes to create user controlled flexible clusters through the use of layered smart fabrics. At the center of the space, a room with a touch screen table serves as the anchor that fulfills both the challenge of individual isolation and small collaboration. The large continuous table can either be used for big group meetings or can be subdivided into individual work stations by reconfiguring the curtains as needed.

When the curtains are not present in the space, the continuous furniture piece allows for an introverted layout where the users can face each other. Through the help of stationary tracks, the furniture surface can be subdivided into 3 subgroups, or 6 individual workstation surfaces as needed. The translucency of the fabric can be adjusted in order to maintain visual privacy or control lighting. The fabric surface operates as a scrim for an array of permanently ceiling­mounted projectors, allowing every partition to turn into a collaborative workboard when needed.