Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: Computer Work – The Office Program

23/08/1989

Design Process, Layout Process

Print of a computer program for an office layout process; first attempts by Christopher Alexander to develop a program capable to aid a manager in laying out his/her office to be optimally comfortable and usable. Initial paragraph explains the basic approach of the program with the rest being mainly commands and algebraic algorithms of the steps to be followed.

Authors:

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

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

Records

References

Visual & Audio Materials

Herman Miller New Office Furniture System: A computer aided design program, used for the laying-out of office spaces, adopted to the needs of the user 01/01/1988

Project, Electronic, Floppy Disk

Created by:

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

Three floppy disks and one 2HD hard disk containing the computer aided design program for the layout of offices with furniture. Indicative shots from the program were exhibited in “Designed in California – Rise of the User” on March 2018 ...