Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Studio Other & Elkus Manfredi Architects Create Smooth Sailing

Noosha Hodges

 / 

July 23, 2021

Supporting Flexible and Adaptive Workspace 

Studio Other, a creator of custom solutions for commercial interior environments and workspaces, has announced the release of Smooth Sailing, a new product created in collaboration with Elkus Manfredi Architects. Smooth Sailing is designed to support a flexible and adaptive workspace, with extensive options for use. Studio Other engineered Smooth Sailing while Elkus Manfredi Architects provided complete product design informed by expertise in workplace strategy.

Smooth Sailing is a monitor rail system designed to offer workplace flexibility and quick adaptability for in-office needs. The product has the capability to shift a private office from solo use to a collaborative workspace within moments. The Smooth Sailing rail provides nearly limitless viewing options for individual users, a team meeting, or full presentation viewing mode. 

Smooth Sailing is an eight-inch high monitor rail system that allows users to mount one or several monitors and move them horizontally along the entire rail length, vertically at any angle, and forward for close-up viewing. The new product can also move with or separately from the desk, providing sit-to-stand options and stand-up meetings.

Smooth Sailing features an 8-inch high rail with the ability to hold one or multiple monitors. It can attach to any monitor arm and has customizable installation options for any desk width. The unique design allows users to move the monitor(s) horizontally along the entire rail length, vertically at any angle via the full articulation of the monitor arm, or pulled toward viewers for close-up observing. This enables users to pull out a monitor for visibility for anyone to the left or right in the room to see. The new product can also move with or separately from the desk, providing sit-to-stand options and stand-up meetings. The Smooth Sailing rail system can independently rotate 90 degrees, is discrete and installs on a wall above a desk or within a workstation, and keeps cables out of sight.

“As office space becomes a tool for success rather than a status symbol, the furniture should be responsive to reconfiguration and technology integration without disruption," said Elizabeth Lowrey, Principal and Director of Interior Architecture for Elkus Manfredi Architects. “The ability to move the monitors from the individual seat to the collaboration table with the touch of a finger means no downtime adjusting to different tasks in one office."
Providing a practical solution to in-office content-sharing, Smooth Sailing is ideal for individual tasks and just as effective in the same workspace for a group interaction. The rail can attach to any monitor arm and has customizable installation options for any desk width and multiple different-sized monitor screens. The rail can also be tailored to color-match any office and work with many wood types.

Studio Other has a plethora of knowledge in workplace design, and because Studio Other and Elkus Manfredi shared a human-centric approach to this product, the partnership was a natural. This convertible office tool can be used in any office environment, from law firms to life-science research centers. Studio Other can custom-engineer Smooth Sailing for use with multiple-sized monitor screens and can also tailor it to color-match an office and work with many wood types. The entire design functions to create a “convertible office,” meaning it moves between being an office or a room for collaborative sessions. 

“Our goal is to provide a practical solution to content sharing, enabling flexibility for employees to define their spaces for individual tasks and work just as effectively in the same workspace within a group interaction,”said Charlotte Wiederholt, President and Creative Director for Studio Other.

Smooth Sailing offers in-office flexibility and adaptability with its capacity to shift a private office from solo use to a collaborative workspace within moments. Monitors can be moved from the individual seats to the collaboration table with the touch of a finger, meaning no downtime adjusting to different tasks in one office.

Smooth Sailing joins a new suite of products for the future workplace, designed by Elkus Manfredi, engineered by Studio Other, and inspired by the natural organic forms of Boston Harbor, found outside Elkus Manfredi’s office in Boston. Suite products include Harbor Stone® System, a first-of-its-kind alternative to traditional orthogonal workplace benching systems that introduces more humanity to the workplace with increased user control. Other products are in development.