3form Debuts New Open Office Solutions at Salt Lake City Co-Working Space
Co-working can be so much more than just an easier avenue to get start-ups off the ground — it can also be a platform to facilitate tangible change for people in need and the planet. That idea is what drives Impact Hub, a global co-working network focused on incubating entrepreneurial interest in social justice, tech innovation, and environmental sustainability. Since their founding in 2005, they’ve opened over 100 offices across 50 countries, with their most recent outpost located in Salt Lake City.
“We’re located in this gorgeous former carriage factory that’s just drenched in natural light,” explains Heidi Dress, director of Impact Hub’s Salt Lake City location. “When we moved in, we were able to keep the majority of the original elements like the windows, flooring, and pillars, but we needed to update the space to accommodate an open office environment.”
Because of its mission-based approach to co-working, creating spaces that easily facilitate collaboration and team-meets was essential to the Salt Lake Impact Hub’s success. The team designated a bright, atrium-like area on the third floor called “the Alcove” for this purpose, but soon realized that while the space was beautiful, its wide open floor plans didn’t provide visual or acoustical privacy. That’s when they called on 3form to remedy the situation.
3form transformed the Alcove into a functional and beautiful co-working space predominantly through their new ILTUO system. Launched in fall 2018, ILTUO is a highly flexible, space-shaping design solution that allowed Impact Hub to recreate the amorphous Alcove into a chat space, an office space, and a collaboration space. Based on the forms found in the alphabetical letters in its name (I L T U and O), ILTUO is endlessly customizable and configurable, with full-height and half-height wall options. It can also integrate with other 3form products, such as Hush Bars, to offer auditory privacy, as well.
In order to situate the new Alcove within a local site context, the team outfitted the chat space and office space ILTUO systems with Varia Ecoresin panels that incorporated a rice grass interlayer — seamlessly integrating Utah’s state grass into the Salt Lake co-working space. For the collaboration space, 3form drew on their Full Circle program, working with Nepalese artisans to create a spun silk interlayer pattern, connecting back to Impact Hub’s entrepreneurial, mission-based focus.
“Impact Hub has such a rich approach to their spaces that we really resonated with,” Christian Darby, 3form’s vice president of design and marketing, explains. “We both prize an easily-discernible depth of thinking that goes into our respective missions, as well as flexibility in achieving our goals. Our cultures just matched, which made this project so enjoyable to work on.”
Learn more about ILTUO here.
