(New York, NY – February 2021) Since the onset of COVID-19 and the resulting stay-at-home orders, video conferencing has grown exponentially and ushered in a new era of hybrid work. To this end, Spacestor is proud to introduce Residence Connect - a UL-Listed workplace pod with impressive acoustic properties and integrated technology that provides the ultimate video conferencing experience. Built from the ground-up and developed in partnership with one of the world’s leading tech companies, Residence Connect is fully engineered to facilitate more effective collaboration with remote colleagues. In addition to equitable features and ADA-compliant options that ensure inclusivity for people of all colors and abilities, the design reflects a high regard for sustainability and user wellbeing with Red List-compliant materials.

Residence Connect solves many of the challenges that offices around the world are facing as they begin to re-populate: increased noise pollution due to more frequent video calls and a correlated drop in productivity. This often leads to inappropriate use of phone pods for video calls, which are ill-equipped for long-term sessions and detrimental to user health & wellbeing. Residence Connect encourages a more efficient use of real estate, offering a dedicated place for video conferencing that is separate from the main workspaces and removed from audio-visual distractions. 

“We all have a new emerging challenge as we gradually return to our workplaces,” says Nic Baxter, Spacestor’s UK Managing Director. “It’s no longer video meetings where everyone’s at home, but a blended or hybrid situation where some are now back in the office. Driven electronic noise and half-conversations are very distracting for nearby colleagues, and of course some meetings need to be completely private, too. Residence Connect meets all these needs, comfortably!”

Residence Connect has a built-in dashboard with several features that can be personalized for optimal comfort during back-to-back video calls: a height-adjustable desk and separate adjustable monitor mount for ergonomic support, user-controlled ventilation, and dimmable bias lighting to help reduce eye strain. The pod also ensures ultimate privacy for the user with a state-of-the-art acoustic seal thatboasts a sound reduction rating in excess of 35dB, and a frosted glass panel that obscures the video screen from passers-by

In addition to user comfort, the design process involved a thoughtful consideration of equitable features for a diverse set of users. Non-directional bias lighting and reflective upholstery textiles work together to complement a wide range of skin tones, evenly accentuating and illuminating the user’s skin and facial features on screen. Residence Connect also offers an ADA model to accommodate wheelchair users with 32” door clearance, a level threshold for easy access, automatic door opener, a height-adjustable desk and monitor mount, and more.

“The need for an inclusive video conferencing solution that supports and represents its users fairly is something that we feel very passionately about,” says Russell Kingston, Spacestor’s U.S. Managing Director. “Through extensive user-collaboration and feedback, we’ve put Residence Connect through two years of rigorous testing, so we can confidently say you won’t find a more inclusive video conferencing solution on the market.

Residence Connect also guarantees a safe and healthy experience for users, with a unique ventilation system that pulls ambient air through the top of the unit at a rate that ensures a full change of air every four minutes. This feature, along with carefully-tested upholstery fabrics, fire safety elements, and a seismically-engineered structure, contribute to the pod’s UL Listing. For extra safety, Residence Connect can be further customized with an air purifying add-on that uses UV-C light to deactivate airborne pathogens and microorganisms.

A curated palette of recommended upholstery textiles is available for Residence Connect, along with 20+ standard upholstery ranges from Spacestor’s textile library. The pod’s exterior can be finished with lacquered plywood or MFC in over 40 colors for endless customization. 

About Spacestor
Founded in London in 1992, and expanding to the U.S. in 2012, Spacestor provides uniquely cool and customizable storage and ancillaries, helping blue chip clients globally to create workspace designs that provide experiences and build culture. The innovative family of products includes collaboration pods and booths, zone-dividing for the open office, and several customizable storage lines. www.spacestor.com