i29

Panta rhei means ‘everything flows’. We wanted to give the students of this public high school that experience in relation to learning. Our main insight: learning doesn’t only take place in the classroom; it often happens when you’re relaxed and not even aware. That’s why poems pop up in social areas throughout the school.

We commissioned poet Erik Jan Harmens. Together with Panta Rhei students he wrote poems on themes like insecurity and friendship. The poems almost seem to flow on the carpets we design. From a distance they form intriguing graphic patterns. The informal furniture was made to measure. It’s dynamic and mobile, so students can work in groups or individually. We designed asymmetrical tables that can be linked together in all kinds of ways and in square, circular or star-shaped set-ups.

The jury of The Great Indoors Award describes it as: 'A whimsical setting of colour-coded islands enlivens the ordinary interior of an office for the unemployed (sic). Spaces separated by colour, instead of by walls, enforce the humane design concept that people should not be placed in boxes.’