Record

Haworth New Office Furniture System: Outline of Computer Program for Furniture Layout

01/09/1985

Design Matters, Layout Process

4-page outline presenting twelve steps of a computer program developed for the office layout process.

Authors:

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

Content of

Project

New System of Office Furniture for Haworth, Inc. 1985 to 1986

Holland, MI, U.S.A.

Office Furniture, Designed , Furniture prototypes built by C.E.S.

Client:

Haworth Manufacturing, Inc. - Tom Hench

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Gary Black, Mark Brinner

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:

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

The new system of office furniture, intended for mass production, was designed in such a way as to be capable of creating the environment for millions of workers, in an endless variety of specific configurations. The line of furniture provided ...

References

Scientific Research

Patterns in Software Development

Areas of focus:

Connections to Other Sciences

Guiding idea:

Software Development

Christopher Alexander had developed a long and diverse relationship to the use of computers in design since the 1960s. It culminated with the interest the computer software community showed to the idea of pattern and pattern languages and how the ...

Reports

Haworth New Office Furniture System: Basic Sketch of Theory and Physical Characteristics of the Office Furniture 01/09/1985

Project, Project Report

Authors:

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

41-page early report addressing the following six topics: 1) Fifty Key Elements; 2) Customer Variables and Builder Variables; 3) Price of Variables; 4) Manufacturing of Elements; 5) Speed of Production; 6) Franchised Local Production Shops; 7) Cuttable Modifiable Materials.