University of California Berkeley, College of Environmental Design, Department of Architecture: Office Furniture Layout Program, graduate student wanted

01/09/1986

Administrative, Notification

Announcement asking for any graduate student interested to work for credit, on the realization of a software program which could be used by people for the layout process of office furniture .

Authors:

Christopher Alexander, University of California Berkeley, College of Environmental Design, Department of Architecture, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Content of

Academic Activity

Administrative Matters 1986

Administrative

Includes findings related to: Faculty meetings, retreats and appointments; Departmental teaching, studies, and admissions; Correspondence exchanged among the faculty members and between faculty and students.

References

Projects

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 ...