Landscape Forms is launching the first outdoor system that blends furniture, structure and shelter, power and lighting and the landscape of the building.
Upfit is designed to convert dead spaces into active spaces. It is the first time anyone has taken a systems approach to outdoor spaces for corporate, educational and health care campuses and transit centers.
Upfit was created in partnership with Atlanta-based Arcadia and design firm Kem Studio. The system can create spaces for outdoor conference rooms, outdoor classrooms, outdoor meeting areas or individual, small or large group spaces.
While a building is a building, and the outdoors is, well, outdoors, Upfit creates spaces somewhere in between. The spaces are not completely enclosed, and they are not completely outdoors. The space allows people to enjoy the outdoors while still having many of the amenities they would have in an office, classroom or meeting space.
The adaptive structure has a sleek, modern style and the flexibility to create intentional outdoor environments. It provides shelter from the elements, power, light, technology display, surfaces — all the things people need to learn, live, work and relax outdoors, at a portion of the cost of indoor real estate.
Similar spaces are being custom built, but Landscape Forms is the first company to use a systems approach for these spaces, said Kirt Martin, vice president, marketing and design. “So it's scalable in terms of function, its scalable in terms of the size, it's scalable in terms of the aesthetic and price,” he said.
The structure is where Arcadia comes in. The company makes the all-aluminum frame that provides the structure of Upfit. It also makes the louvers on top of the frame that can be opened or closed using a smartphone, laptop or controller mounted on the structure, depending on the weather or the position of the sun.
The louvers create a raintight seal, and the water from the top of the structure is channeled through the support beams and to the ground — an important consideration for the landscape designers who typically work with Landscape Forms. They can also be set to close when they sense rain. And storms are nothing for Upfit to handle. They are tested to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.
The well-thought-out amenities are what make Upfit truly unique. Designers can specify it with outdoor monitors, LED lighting can be used to change the mood at night and bicycle racks are an option.
An aluminum structure makes up the backbone of the system, and designers can use it to hang a variety of slatted walls, including whiteboards or monitors. Worksurfaces can be hung from the walls, either in-line or entering the space from the side. A variety of tables and outdoor seating can be added as well.
Consider each element a building block that makes it easy to specify. Martin said Landscape Forms sees custom structures being built, but not a “systematic approach” that takes the pain points out for designers. The Unfit system also makes it less expensive and much more flexible for its customers. He said Landscape is coming in at half the cost of a custom-built space. Since it is scalable, designers can control the cost.
Upfit is being launched with a small statement of line — the structure, a utility wall, a slat wall, a louver and a green wall, and then with glass marker boards and colored-glass options.
“No one has anything like this,” Martin said. “And it's really spacious outdoors for people to work, learn, live, care, play, travel. It's a really simple system that allows people to get outside and do what they want to do. People lament all the time about not getting outside enough, but yet, we really haven't provided a holistic solution for that to happen in terms of supporting them with power, supporting them with lighting, supporting them with information or digital display, or marker boards outside.”
Part of Landscape Forms' design process is to conduct market validation with key design firms. Martin said when they showed the product to the design firms, the question wasn't about price — it was about how soon they could get it.
Designers, he said, see the need for Upfit for rooftop sits, in between buildings, on corporate campuses, on college campuses and for public spaces. Still, it is a different kind of sale for Landscape Forms, which usually works with landscape designers, not interior designers. The company typically comes in at the end of the project, outfitting outdoor spaces that seem to have the smallest budget in a building project.
That doesn't mean there isn't a need, especially as tech corporate campuses in sunny locales like the Bay Area in California and Austin, Texas, become larger, with open spaces in between buildings that are underutilized. Technology has allowed for outdoor work as well. Workers and students can grab a laptop and head outside.
To market Upfit, Landscape Forms has created several scenarios for each vertical market it serves. The company has created potential uses for transit, health care, education and corporate campuses and built applications on how you can design and lay out space. They understand they need to educate the market a bit about how Upfit can be used, but the company is confident it can prove the product's value.
“At the end of the day, the outdoor space is the least expensive space to invest in with the biggest return, and it's often the most overlooked space,” Martin said. “So when you look at this, and you compare square footage cost, indoor versus outdoor, there's no comparison. This thing wins every time.
“If you have a small office, and you want to encourage people to get outside for mental health or for boosting creativity, where do they go? They go out to a table maybe with an umbrella? Well, that doesn't scream serious work is happening there, it actually screams the opposite, like someone's on break, right? So if we can make purposeful places where real work can happen or real learning can happen, that's an OK thing. Right?”