A3i was an innovative interactive web application developed by Asymptote to help architects, designers, and planners explore, configure, and specify the Knoll A3 office system furniture — real-time 3D manipulation within a standard web browser, years ahead of mainstream adoption.
The A3 office system, also designed by Asymptote, offered curved, translucent fabric-covered workstations, modular tables, and advanced storage and cable management solutions — all customizable through the A3i platform. The project expanded Asymptote’s exploration of virtual architecture into commercial territory, translating the spatial and interface design expertise developed through digital projects for the NYSE and Guggenheim Museum into a tool that replaced static product catalogs with an engaging, spatially navigable environment.
The A3i project expanded Asymptote’s exploration of virtual architecture, moving into commercial applications and leveraging the firm’s expertise from digital projects for the NYSE and Guggenheim Museum. By reimagining the A3 office system as an interactive 3D environment, A3i replaced static catalogs with an engaging platform, empowering users to design and specify personalized office layouts spatially and intuitively.
Space Planning
A dedicated planning module allowed users to explore how A3 workstations could be arranged at the scale of the office floor plan. Cluster configurations — paired, mirrored, radial, and grouped arrangements — were presented as both plan drawings and rendered 3D views. Users could examine different densities and orientations, view cable management strategies, and export DXF drawings directly from the interface for integration into CAD workflows.
This spatial planning capability — operating at the scale of architecture rather than the individual product — distinguished A3i from conventional product catalogs and reflected Asymptote’s insistence that furniture specification was fundamentally a spatial and architectural problem.
Technology
A3i was built entirely in Flash 5 with ActionScript, developed in-house at Asymptote over approximately three months. The application delivered real-time 3D rendering, interactive object rotation, dynamic specification displays, and animated transitions — all within a standard web browser, without plugins beyond the ubiquitous Flash Player. The interface also provided access to QuickTime VR panoramas and animated 3D fly-throughs of fully furnished office environments.
Recognition
A3i was nominated for Best Commercial Site at the 2002 Flash Film Festival, part of the FlashForward conference in New York — competing alongside sites for Benetton and Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory. The nomination recognized A3i as one of the most ambitious commercial applications of interactive web technology at the time.
Credits
- Design: Asymptote Architecture — Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture
- Client: Knoll
- Interactive Design and Development: Brandon Padron, Asymptote Architecture
- Technology: Flash 5, ActionScript, QuickTime VR
- Date: 2000–2002
