CeRRI - Transformation Lab
For the Center for Responsible Research and Innovation (CeRRI) at Fraunhofer IAO, we designed and produced bespoke interior constructions for the new Transformation Lab in Berlin, a 200 m² space dedicated to shaping transformation processes for companies and public administrations. The brief asked for an environment that could hold method-driven workshops with multiple stakeholders, present work across posters, physical objects, and digital media, and stage immersive AR experiences. We answered with a family of mobile wooden constructions, conceived as a long-term infrastructure that can be reconfigured year after year as the way of working evolves. The architecture is deliberately open: every element is built to be moved, refitted, and reinterpreted, so a strategy session at a whiteboard can flow into prototyping, and an analogue meeting can become a hybrid AR session without changing the room.
Modules & Modularity
The wooden frames act as a base that accepts a diverse set of quick-fit modules, each tuned to a specific way of working:
- Horizontal presentation surfaces in aluminium sheets and recycled plastic sheets
- Vertical whiteboards / magnet boards in high-quality coated steel
- Vertical pin boards in felt, softens the room acoustically
- Vertical powder-coated steel panels in varied shapes, for magnets and Post-its
- Vertical felt shapes for pinning
The connection logic is built directly into the wood: the slats of the freestanding frames and the wall fittings are milled with continuous grooves, so the smaller panels slide in from the side, while the larger horizontal surfaces and full-size whiteboard and felt units hook in from above. No tools, no fixings, no fuss. The same grooves run along the wall fittings, turning the perimeter of the room into an additional working surface. All freestanding pieces roll on soft high-performance castors for silent, effortless mobility, and the AR carts were specifically designed to carry equipment safely while looking inviting enough to set the stage for immersive work. The result is a kit that lets the team compose the room around the method, not the other way around.
Responsible Design
Every wooden element is built from locally sourced beech and finished with an organic wood oil in a fresh salmon rose. The constructions are screwed rather than glued, so parts can be exchanged, repaired, and, at the end of their long life, separated cleanly by material and returned to their respective recycling streams. This logic of clean separation runs through every component: wood, steel, aluminium, recycled plastic (pressed from old computer mice, keyboards, and 3D-printer filament spools), recycled felt (PET bottles). Nothing is bonded into a dead end. The system is designed to age well, to be serviced rather than replaced, and to keep its materials in circulation. A quiet but consistent answer to the lab's own commitment to ecological, social, and economic sustainability.
