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User review of the flexible furniture wall

13-05-2022
User review of the flexible furniture wall

A proof of concept of the flexible furniture wall, which is a joint innovation project between Bruynzeel, Tengbom and OBOS, was installed in one of OBOS’ smallest apartments in Sweden.

The test period

During the spring of 2021, people around Trollhättan, Sweden had the opportunity to apply and test the flexible furniture wall in one of OBOS’ apartments. The participants got to try the flexible furniture wall overnight. To fully use the flexible wall and to test and try all the features.

We wanted a varied test group and considered that a Living Lab would be the best solution. We also wanted them to have a little more time to experience the pros and cons of the wall and be able to use it. We wanted to see if this is a product that we will be able to market.

Mathias Karlstad, Research & Development Manager, OBOS

More spacious apartment

91% perceived the apartment as more spacious thanks to the addition of the flexible furniture wall. "It is striking just how few square meters need to be added to a room to make a room feel more spacious.” – anonymous. "At the moment I am living in a small apartment, it is about the same size as this apartment. But this apartment feels much larger.” – John Andersson, Architecture student

Using the flexible furniture wall

Before arriving to the apartment the participants received a welcome letter with an instruction video of the flexible furniture wall, which is operated both by a remote control and a user interface.

  • 36% found it very easy to start using the flexible wall.
  • 36% found it difficult to start using the wall.

    To protect the users, one of the safety features prevented the wall from moving when the bed was not completely folded down or up. The error displayed was not sufficiently clear to explain what was happening.

Once I understood how the furniture wall worked, it felt like a very simple procedure. I have no problem seeing that it becomes a natural part of one’s everyday life.

John Andersson, Architect Student

Improvements

As this was a demo, we received a lot of good ideas on ways to improve the flexible furniture wall. The suggestions covered various aspects, from the design to functional improvements. Suggestions included optimizing the placement of the lamp button, using dimmable lights, improving the bed legs, incorporating a remote control in the user interface, and improving the bed folding mechanism, among others. 

It was interesting to see the interaction of the users. There are a lot of new ideas. This is an ongoing process, but I am fairly positive that we have found an easy solution to build, implement, and operate, a solution that can deliver a lot to users.

Joao PereiraHead, architect High 6 project, Tengbom

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