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Arch 201, Spring 1989: Student paper titled “Some Insights from Researching the Life of Offices”
01/03/1989
Student Work,
Paper
Authors:
Bob Theis, University of California Berkeley, College of Environmental Design, Department of Architecture, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Content of
Academic Course
Design studio on Office Building Design
1989
University Program:
Master of Architecture
Course type:
Graduate Design Studio
Course number:
Arch. 201
Instructors:
Christopher Alexander, Eleni Coromvli
Enrolled students:
Susan Blowers, Tom Dinwoodie, Dil Green, Ora Hatheway, Ross Ishikawa, Cliff Niederer, Soren Pfeffer, Marlene Suggs, Bob Theis, Robert M. Walsh, Chris Winans
Students were asked to examine contemporary office buildings, specify their problems and propose a design process, which would generate a new archetype for office buildings. Emphasis to be given to the criteria and patterns which make the office spaces personal ...
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 ...
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