Correspondence

Haworth New Office Furniture System: Letter transmitting a narrowed down list of elements whose combination could give the best representation of a total solution when completed and fully detailed

05/05/1985

Planning of Works, Work Plan

Sender:

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

Recipient:

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

Medium:

Letter

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

Correspondence

Haworth New Office Furniture System: Letter introducing two proposed lists of furniture elements which could be fabricated by C.E.S. and the R/S companies. Furniture preferred to be fabricated by C.E.S. are marked with asterisk. Also, expressing some important points for consideration to be discussed 30/12/1985

Project, Planning of Works, Work Plan

Sender:

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

Recipient:

John J. Rheinfrank, Richardson/Smith Design, Columbus, OH, U.S.A.

Medium:

Letter