Photograph

Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: Storage Bench – Photographs

01/01/1988

Finalized Piece of Office Furniture

Photograph of fully functioning prototype piece of office furniture.

Photographer:

Artemis Anninou/C.E.S., Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Source:

Digital, Slide

Characteristics:

Color

Content of

Construction Innovation

Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: Storage bench 1988

Work of Art for Project, Office Furniture Prototype

Created by:

Christopher Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Gary Black

The storage bench is an upholstered rolling seat with a hinged top to allow for storage of bulk items. The funtioning prototype built was finished with acrylic laquer and corduroy upholstery, though analine dye with varnish and brocade could be ...

References

Scientific Research

Color and Inner Light: The Eleven Color Properties

Areas of focus:

Structure of Space

Guiding idea:

Centers and Fields of Centers

Christopher Alexander postulated that centers and the field of centers they create are the building blocks from which wholeness is made. However, he further argued that geometry alone is not sufficient, and that color is the way wholeness comes to ...

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 ...

Drawings

Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: Storage Bench - Construction Drawings 02/12/1988

Construction Innovation, Construction Drawings, Axonometric, Section, Elevation, Details

Designers:

Christopher Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Gary Black, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Medium:

Original on Paper

Size:

8 1/2"x11"

Scale:

1/8"=1", 1/4"=1", 1/2"=1"

The construction process of the Storage Bench – the engineering rationale, description and specifications with detailed drawings; 5-page document prepared for the fabrication and assembly of low bookcase by Herman Miller. Also includes draft of the initial presentation drawing package.