At +Halle, we work with architects, urban planners, behavioural scientists, and cultural entrepreneurs to better understand our public space. This approach, is an integral part of who we are as a business, which is why we have developed a plural design methodology resonating with the shifting times we live in. We call it the Annual Briefing. 

Once a year we invite designers and experts to investigate one behavioural theme. During the briefing day, we articulate a given purpose as a narrative, presented along with opinions from diverse sets of experts. The architects and designers then have come up with one collection each, directly responding to emerging behaviours. Throughout the year, the teams meet to share thoughts and give feedback. In this peer exercise, critical questions are raised.  As a result, multiple, often radically different, collections of furniture are developed, all individually speaking to a particular purpose yet fostered by a collective mind.

AB—01: Dwelling

The Annual Briefing on ‘Dwelling’, saw MSDS, Nick Ross and Form Us with Love deep dive into the theme of short rests, daily contemplations, and deep reflections. The outcome: three collections resonating with different durations of dwelling, all pointing to the same distinct purpose. ‘The brief gave us some boundaries, but in the end, everyone’s interpretations were different. With a philosophical framing, as opposed to a technical or market-driven approach, we were allowed to think about dwelling from all angles before we began our design,’ says MSDS Studio co-founder Jessica Nakanishi.

AB—02: Sharing

The Annual Briefing on ‘Sharing’ saw Snøhetta and Form Us with Love collaboratively investigating the theme of social gathering and exchange. The final collections: two distinct takes on intimacy, one open and one closed. ‘It’s the form in which we gather that makes the brief fascinating: inspired by the idea of furniture acting as a facilitator for exchange, we can see how Summit speaks to new ways of coming together. Traces of landscape architecture feed into the design—introducing a soft, mount-like, structure at play—which remains a reference point for the design to this day,’ says Martin Halle, Creative Director at +Halle.

AB—03: Producing

The Annual Briefing on ‘Producing’ saw BIG, Raw-Edges Design Studio and Form Us With Love explore the dynamic nature of productivity in the public realm. The result: Three hybrid collections combining productivity with both movement and privacy. ‘Our third briefing proposed a series of interesting relationships: between productivity and wellbeing, productivity and distraction and between shifts of production throughout the day. It is in weaving these multiple behaviours that we see the collections representing a new take on individual space, where you are encouraged to switch pace intellectually,’ says Martin Halle, creative director at +Halle.

AB—04: Defining

“During the annual briefing on ‘Defining’, which took place in isolation during the pandemic, we had a very fruitful discussion around the idea of ownership in the public realm, how much privacy and distance an individual needs versus how much you are drawn to participating in a group or social space, even from afar. For instance, we looked at opportunities of remaining private, but still allowing for a more social interpretation. Such dialogues helped us draw up the criteria for how we can possibly come to define public seating in the future,” says Martin Halle, creative director at +Halle.