Haldane Martin was invited by Google to design and furnish the co-working areas for the Umbono Tech Incubator in Woodstock, Cape Town.
The layout of the space sought to optimise the heritage architecture of the Old Castle Brewery, where the space is situated. Communal desks were grouped around the existing I-beam columns and in front of the beautifully proportioned window bays.
The Umbono brand colours were subtly integrated into the space through simple, inexpensive devices like the multi-coloured electrical cable suspending the oversized low-energy lightbulbs. Haldane Martin’s weightless chairs (on castors) were chosen as the primary office chair for their simple, less bulky design.
A desking system was custom designed for the project. The yellow tubular steel legs are literally clipped to the top so that the desks can easily be disassembled without the use of tools. This functionality means that the desks can easily be moved aside. Individual metal storage boxes were also custom designed for each workstation.
