Guy Robinson / Industrial Design Engineering

conversation pieces: furniture for the social workplace

Research and development of new furniture concepts that enhance social interaction in the office and provoke new ways of conducting meetings.

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Increasingly dispersed office locations and more remote ways of working decrease the opportunities for face-to-face interaction at work. This project explores the potential for furniture to provide simple ways to promote the type of informal social contact that generates new ideas in the office. Initial user observations in a range of different organisations revealed the need to shorten and simplify the rituals of exchange. Widespread use of white boards and flip charts simply added a formality and unequal hierarchy to meetings. An opportunity was identified for 'instant surfaces' that could allow people to draw and capture ideas flexibly and spontaneously.

A series of three interactive turntables were prototyped at different scales: a small cafe table for 'back of napkin' sketches; a mid-sized mobile table for team meetings; and a large table for more organised group discussions. Three types of data capture were investigated for the turntables: acrylic white board to be written on with a dry-wipe marker pen; a laminated magnetic sketcher that avoids the need to use ink and could utlilise cutlery as a magnetic stylus; and a digital version that records the outputs on the magnetic sketcher. The prototypes were installed at Capital One, a Nottingham-based financial services company, to test levels of participation and productivity. The furniture is planned to be exhibited at the Orgatec office trade fair in Germany this autumn ahead of further development.

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research partner: Harper Mackay Architects

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