Flexible while offering a sense of place. Private but not isolating. Designed for collaboration and to encourage focussed work. These days, workspaces have to tick quite a few boxes – and Steelcase Flex Active Frames do just that.
The recent shift that has brought immense changes to our daily lives has dramatically altered the role of the workplace. In response to the pronounced evolution of the way we work and conduct businesses, the fixed, solid and built-in is giving way to the fluid, flexible and responsive. A modern office has to reflect these qualities to enable easy reconfiguration of space that addresses the evolving needs of the employees and allows the businesses to thrive in the face of inevitable change and potential growth. Permanent walls may not be easy to move, but Flex Active Frames, the new adaptable structures from Steelcase, certainly are.

Steelcase has been equipping designers with inspiring, insight-led and sustainable solutions for educational and professional settings for over a century now. Their latest release represents the level of thought and relevance we have grown to expect from the brand.
With design excellence and environmental considerations underpinning the newest system, Flex Active Frames have been designed to harness the potential of an open office by creating customisable team neighbourhoods. After months of working from home, collaborating and working alongside others has become one of the most appealing benefits of coming back into the office – and the adaptable Active Frames system gives teams a place to call their own.

Available in a diverse portfolio of designs and configurations, the system will help capitalise on the openness of a broad range of spaces. The structures can be reconfigured in response to the changing needs, preferences and the shape of each team – and combine the appeal of thoughtfully designed office furniture with the functionality of spatial partitions.
Designs like Waterfall, L-Shape or 5-High boast outstanding organisational potential while framing a private setting that’s subtly divorced from the rest of the floor plan. The multi-functional elements that feature ample horizontal surface space, like Work Bridge or Work Island, invite in-person interactions, energising collaborations – and provide space for focussed work.
With insight-driven design and the ability to be continuously adapted, the system is bound to keep up with the group’s rhythm, help improve the workflow and further enhance productivity.
Built around the needs of wider teams just as much as those of an individual, Active Frames have been designed to reflect the preferences of the people who use them. A selection of available accessories and add-ons that include coat racks, bookends, quick storage spaces or even lockable doors ensure that all individual needs are catered to within a comprehensive, comfortable and intuitive shared space. And with accent paint colours like bold Electric Indigo, bright Citrine and gentle Sea Salt, the frames are bound to make a statement, elevating the aesthetic appeal of each team space in the process.
Steelcase’s flexible structures generate spaces that foster a much-needed sense of belonging and shelter while ensuring flexibility and visual connection with the rest of the office. They enhance productivity through energised collaboration and quiet, focussed work. In essence, in embracing change, the adaptable Steelcase Flex Active Frames enable teams to do their best work.
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Natural stone shapes the interiors of Billyard Avenue, a luxury apartment development in Sydney’s Elizabeth Bay designed by architecture and design practice SJB. Here, a curated selection of stone from Anterior XL sets the backdrop for the project’s material language.
In the second instalment of our performance seating three-parter, we turn to DKO’s Michael Drescher and Jacob Olsen to peek behind Sayl’s confident architectural form and explore the ideas of inclusivity, adaptability and freedom to move as hallmarks of what sitting your best actually means.
The Geelong College’s Sport and Wellbeing Centre ‘Belerren’ designed by Wardle is designed around bringing in natural light. But Shade Factor’s job was to help modulate and precisely control it for the most important competitive moments.
Steelcase has unveiled one of its largest Asia Pacific showrooms in Hangzhou, merging workplace, brand experience and client engagement in a single flexible environment designed by M Moser.
With Steelcase having reopened its refreshed WorkLife Showroom in Singapore this year, we spoke to Navedita Shergill about some key workplace macro shifts identified in their research.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
As Snøhetta marks ten years of permanent presence in Australia, co-founder Kjetil Trædal Thorsen reflects on Country, civic generosity, regenerative design and why architecture must keep imagining “memories of the future.”
On the occasion of Salone del Mobile 2026, the Opale collection designed by Patrick Jouin for Pedrali expands with two new iterations: a chair and a barstool with armrests.
As part of our ongoing series of intimate editorial dinners with Signature Appliances, we recently gathered a group of architects, designers and industry voices in Sydney for a private conversation around one of design’s most persistent questions: can everyone have access to great design and beautiful spaces?