Record

Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: Desk

01/01/1989

Finanacial, Cost Estimate

Six pages with handwritten notes, sketches and calculations for a desk target-cost.

Authors:

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

Content of

Construction Innovation

Haworth New Office Furniture System: Flat-topped desk / Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: Manager's desk 1986

Work of Art for Project, Office Furniture Prototype

Created by:

Christopher Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Gary Black

Red automobile laquer sprayed over MDF to create high gloss surfaces for the desk frame and its drawers, combined with a gray laminate worksurface insert; available in different prescribed colors and dimensions. Furniture prototype incorporated in the Center for Environmental ...

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 ...

Records

Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: Cost estimate - C.E.S. desk 14/10/1988

Construction Innovation, Finanacial, Cost Estimate

Authors:

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

3-page cost estimate for: desk construction, polyester or acrylic melamie finish and finished desk.