Article

Impersonal Boring Work – A Significant Problem in the Business World: draft of unpublished article

01/07/1989

Paper

Authors:

Christopher Alexander

Publisher:

Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Contents

Correspondence

"Impersonal Boring Work - A Significant Problem in the Business World" draft of article: Letter from the editors regarding the draft, which includes I) A short table of contents to this note, II) The letter, III) Some other comments, IV) Transcript of "Conversation Christopher Alexander / Art Kleiner", and V) Marked-up transcript 20/07/1989

Article Publication, Publication Editing

Sender:

Art Kleiner, Currency Magazine , Zeeland, MI, U.S.A.

Recipient:

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

Medium:

Letter

References

Projects

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 ...

Articles

Vision of a New Workplace - A sketch of a new workplace which is now in process of development by the Center of Environmental Structure and Herman Miller: Advanced version of the 1989-Jul draft titled "Impersonal Boring Work...", but still a draft 01/10/1989

Publication, Paper

Authors:

Christopher Alexander

Publisher:

Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Correspondence

"Impersonal Boring Work - A Significant Problem in the Business World" draft of article: Cover letter to the editors to accompany the dispatched draft 20/07/1989

Publication, Article Publication, Publication Editing

Sender:

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

Recipient:

Art Kleiner, Currency Magazine , Zeeland, MI, U.S.A.

Medium:

Letter