Correspondence

Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: In-depth discussion regarding the current situation relating to Herman Miller’s apparent commitment to move ahead with the full version of furniture as developed by the Center for Environmental Structure. Also, discussing the possible disagreements John Rheinfrank might have about this, and offering options which could make the continuation of their collaboration possible. Two more drafts are included

06/04/1988

Design Matters, Request for Feedback

Sender:

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

Recipient:

John J. Rheinfrank, Columbus, OH, U.S.A.

Medium:

Letter

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 ...

Contents

Correspondence

References

Articles

Toward a Personal Workplace: Portfolio of Interiors and a New System of Office Furniture 15/09/1987

Publication, Article

Authors:

Christopher Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Gary Black, John Rheinfrank

Published in:

Architectural Record, No. 1501, pp. 130-141

Publisher:

McGraw Hill Inc., New York, NY, U.S.A.