Herman Miller Furniture Systems: The Personal Workplace – A System of Office Furniture Designed for Comfort: Computer Manual

01/01/1989

Project Report

Incomplete 11-page document, introducing the idea of a computer program which would provide a process allowing the office users to layout their own offices for themselves, as indicated in the following Table of Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. Process; 3. Installation and Operation; 4. Screens and Menus; 5. Begin; 5. Design; 6. Move; 7. Create.

Authors:

Christopher Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Gary Black, Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

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Content of

Project

The Personal Workplace - New System of Office Furniture 1988 to 1990

Zeeland, MI, U.S.A.

Office Furniture, Designed , Two personal offices with furniture prototypes built by C.E.S.

Client:

Herman Miller, Inc. - Rob Harvey, Vice President

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Gary Black

Design and construction process:

Theree design principles guided the development of the project: 1) Layout of the personal work space by their users in order to meet their own personal needs; this process is achievable through the use of a computer program developed at C.E.S. which carries a worker through the design process. 2) Use of flexible manufacturing techniques, which allow individualisation of each piece of furniture, without increasing costs; the purpose of this feature is to eliminate the modularity that is part and parcel of current systems. 3) The basis of design is the real human needs and desires, not on the latest trend.

Project stages:

Generic rules for office layout process Use of full scale mock-ups Fabrication of full size furniture prototypes and office rooms by C.E.S. Design Development drawings done after fabrication

Herman Miller, the second largest manufacturer of office furniture in the United States, commissioned C.E.S. to develop the "personal workplace", a new system of furniture, which aimed at changing the nature of the American workplace completely. The emphasis was on ...

References

Scientific Research

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Photographs

Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: Photographs of computer screens from an office layout process program 01/03/1989

Project, Design Process

Photographer:

Christopher Alexander/C.E.S., Martinez, CA, U.S.A.

Source:

Slide

Characteristics:

Color

Office space being designed using a basic computer lay-out process program, developed by Christopher Alexander. A step-by-step record of furniture being laid-out in an office space, using a special computer program designed for this process.