Thoughtful furniture solutions to create novel spaces, foster collaboration and improve wellbeing

As the school of choice for hundreds of international families in Hong Kong, with 2,700 students across four campuses, FIS is innovative in spirit and supports students on their journey from kindergarten to secondary school in both International and French streams.

Furnware is a long-standing partner to FIS, fitting out learning spaces with innovative furniture solutions since 2018 when the school was set to break ground on its Tseung Kwan O (TKO) campus in the new territories of Hong Kong.

Language learning has always been a great priority of FIS. With French and English bilingualism at the heart of the learning experience, the TKO campus is designed to facilitate bilingual dialogue, collaboration across streams, and innovative teaching approaches. Both French and International streams have shared activities around student wellbeing, commitment to sustainable development goals, and shared campuses to help create a cohesive school community of independent learners and thinkers.

Naturally, the furniture had to be innovative and flexible to facilitate its modern interconnected learning and stimulating bilingual pedagogy.

Furnware Account Manager & Learning Space Design Specialist Marianne Elliott collaborated with FIS for the first time in 2018 to understand its vision for new spaces, pedagogy, and learning objectives at the brand-new TKO campus. 

She recalls the brief as simple – to provide flexible, innovative furniture that would encourage their diverse learners to be creative and collaborative and create fit-for-purpose spaces. 

Furnware’s proprietary 3D learning spaces design tool removed all the guesswork for the leadership team at FIS with a preview of all space layouts and furniture configurations in the colourways complementing their interior colour palette. Staff at FIS appreciated immersive online 3D walkthroughs as they provided a holistic experience and allowed the team to visualise their classrooms in greater detail.

Primary Principal Ross says, “It was very helpful to have a learning space design specialist from Furnware who fully understood the purpose behind our learning spaces and presented us with furniture recommendations specific to different age groups and learning activities – such as Bodyfurn® chairs to promote positive movement and blood flow while seated, various desk and workstation heights giving learners a choice to sit, stand or perch and whiteboard tabletops for students who like to think visually, be creative, and collaborate. The teachers are very positive about their new learning environments and how the students can collaborate and interact without disruption. They can see the positive impact on learning.”

Our ongoing partnership with French International School (Hong Kong) is five years strong, and we look forward to supporting their goals with flexible and innovative furniture solutions in 2023 and beyond.