Studio BBPR for Olivetti ‘Spazio’ Sideboard in Green Coated Steel with Red Top

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' sideboard, coated steel, plastic, vinyl, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufacturer, hired BBPR to design their New York showroom on Fifth Avenue and to create their first series of office furniture, called Spazio (1959/60). This line included chairs, shelving, cabinet systems, and desks, just like the one shown here. It won the Compasso d'Oro Award in 1962. The cabinet contains compartments with drawers secured on both sides. The top is furnished with dark brown vinyl which adds a sturdy touch the overall industrial appearance. Studio B.B.P.R. was an Italian architectural partnership founded in Milan in 1932 by Gianluigi Banfi (1910-1945), Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso (1909-2004), Enrico Peressutti (1908-1976) and Ernesto Nathan Rogers (1909-1969) who had studied at the Politecnico di Milano. B.B.P.R. was thus an acronym formed from the first letters of their family names. The architects found each other in their opposition to fascism in Italy in the 1930s and 1940s during Mussolini's autocratic regime. The architects therefore believed in developing a style that would have no references to contemporary politics. During the Second World War, they all joined the resistance. However, Rogers, a Jew, fled to Switzerland and both Belgiojoso and Banfi were deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, where Banfi died in 1945. Despite the immense loss of Banfi, their architectural practice continued in the same name as before after...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' sideboard, coated steel, vinyl, plastic, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufacturer, hi...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' sideboard, coated steel, plastic, glass, vinyl, Italy, design 1959/60, production, 1960s. In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufact...

Studio BBPR for Olivetti, 'Spazio' shelving system, coated steel, plastic, Italy, design 1959/60, production 1960s In 1954, Olivetti, the Italian office equipment manufacturer, hir...

A sideboard of the System "Arco" designed by Studio BBPR in year 1963. Its construction is made of black enameled metal, the top panel is made of synthetic resin. The cabinet has two beige slide doors with fine surface work. Sideboard is easy to dismantle, cabinet and top panel can be removed from those supports. BBPR architects also designed the famous building...

Greffage storage unit is composed of closed and open spaces to contain and display objects and accessories. A brushed bronze metal detail on the external side breaks the patterns cre...

Italian modern green wood sideboard by Cappellini, 1990s Rectangular sideboard in green wood. The front features four hinged doors in green lacquered wood and round brass handles. Th...

Italian burgundy metal sideboard Synthesis 45 by Ettore Sottsass for Olivetti, 1970s Sideboard from the Synthesis 45 series in laminate and metal. The rectangular white laminate top ...