Students Create Office Furniture Commissioned by Herman Miller

Commissioned by Herman Miller, for New York design week 2012 a group of students put forward their prototypes for this year's exhibition. Many of the office environments that we work in these days are open plan and are designed to encourage team work, but the down side to this is the workers need for comfortable surroundings and privacy. Trying to solve or improve this issue, the students began their design concepts for display during design week.

Below are some examples of the prototypes put forward: "The Integrated Workstation" by Matthew Plumstead includes a horizontal piece of furniture that has been integrated into the workstation itself and adds another element to the way that we work. Plumstead himself believes that this piece successfully includes a third option for sitting when it comes to working."The Alcove Chair" by Mike Haley is a large lounge chair that was inspired by Mike's bad experiences when he worked in a call centre. He found that the break out are within the office and the office furniture and cafe furniture provided very little or no comfort and there was no privacy. This means that when you were on your break, you couldn't relax or rejuvenate. To combat these issues Haley created an extra-large lounge chair that gives the user an area to relax in a number of positions to help recharge during a short break. He also sees the chairs being used in airport lounges and other public spaces.

"The Private Rocker" by Kyle Fleet has used the idea of a rocking chair with an enlarged design to provide not only a comfortable seat but an almost cubicle like design to create a private space. The chair also muffles sound to provide a small concealed space that signals in use by the chai's movement.