By Peter S. Kimmel, AIA, IFMA Fellow
Publisher, FMLink
June 29, 2007—Every year, NeoCon is billed as “the major annual event for professionals who design, plan, or manage any type of commercial interior. Architects, interior designers, FMs, CRE executives, project managers, engineers, building owners, and other professionals gather to learn, network, be inspired, and witness thousands of new product introductions.” This year, NeoCon outdid itself.
Over the past few years, many events occurred outside of the world of furniture, which put new demands on the workplace. Three of these had a major impact at this year’s NeoCon show; each will be discussed in more depth below, along with some other notable developments:
- Sustainability. The manufacturers’ response to this critical issue has undergone a major shift. What used to be “let’s do what we can” or “let’s add the buzzword to our promotional materials so it looks as if we’re active here” has now become “we have a critical responsibility to help save our environment, and we’re going to do our part to do it.” For the first time, when looking at the whole, I think that there is a good chance that we really may be conserving some of our natural resources.
- Teleworking and changing work styles. More people work from their homes or other remote locations, there are more impromptu, informal meetings in the workplace, and there is more of a need to modify workplaces quickly and easily without involving trained outside contractors. These trends have been causing major design changes to the furniture systems over the past few years, and now the solution is one that we don’t have to call “experimental”. Rather, the solution is extremely functional—in other words, it works!
- Smaller monitors for computers. The proliferation of flat-panel screens has eliminated a major reason why work surfaces have been as large as they had become. The furniture manufacturers responded in kind by making the work surfaces (and therefore the entire workstation) smaller, while not detracting from its functionality. Because the panel behind the work surface is closer, it now is easier to reach and get or put something on it.
When these three events are combined, the end result is a very different flavor to the office workspace. It feels “whole” and it not only “works,” but that we “want to work there.” This carries through from the furnishings to the lighting and to the carpeting. In the space below, I will go into more detail, and provide some examples (there are many, many more – we don’t wish to slight anyone who is not included – we are using just enough to illustrate the concepts. Wherever we can, we link to other stories on FMLink, so you can find out more about each product to which we refer.
Sustainability
Instead of merely having a product or two that addressed one aspect of sustainability, companies have started to come out with entire lines of product that are compliant with green requirements.
- The HON Company announced a major commitment to sustainability, and said that its Nature Core fiberboard will be offered as an alternative construction material on the company’s Initiate panel systems. Nature Core is made primarily from a natural fiber, kenaf, that can be spun into coarse, strong threads and is second only to cotton in the volume grown around the world, according to the company.
Steelcase’s latest addition to its Alive Seating portfolio, the Amia chair, does more than serve as a very comfortable mid-priced chair. This Gold award winner in the Best of NeoCon competition incorporates up to 30 percent recycled materials and is up to 98 percent recyclable.
Kimball’s Xsite System is GREENGUARD certified and contains significant recycled content. Kimball is not a part of the NeoCon show, but made its announcement at the time of the show.
Armstrong has introduced WoodWorks Ekos Walls, which Armstrong claims is the industry’s first wood wall system that has no-added formaldehyde and no detectable formaldehyde emissions. The panels’ unique construction consists of a combination of real wood veneers and an acoustical, mineral fiber substrate that contains no wood fibers. The result is a lightweight, real wood product with no added formaldehyde in the adhesives and clear, no-solvent coatings on the surface finishes.
Jofco’s Tahké marks Jofco’s first all-green casegoods collection. Each part of the collection is sustainable—glue, veneer, and wood species. The line was designed by Jhane Barnes.
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HON uses Nature Core fiberboard, a non-woven composite material, for its Initiate panel system. | A system of flexors in Steelcase’s Gold winner Amia moves up and down the back to fit the user comfortably. |  |
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Kimball’s Xsite System is GREENGUARD certified and contains significant recycled content. It is easily taken apart for recycling. It is shown here with Kimball’s Approach ergonomic seating. | Armstrong says its Ekos wall system has no detectable formaldehyde emissions. |  |
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The Tahké Collection is the first all-green casegood product by Jofco. |
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| Shaw’s Evergreen Nylon Recycling Facility is creating carpet fiber from post-consumer carpet waste. |
Carpeting. Many of the carpeting companies have devised ways for one to sample an endless supply of designs without making a big dent into the environment. One result is that the customer has many more choices, in both broadloom and carpet tiles (Bentley Prince Street is one such example), and most have reclamation programs underway.
- Shaw has said that all of the carpet company’s Anso nylon will contain post-consumer nylon fiber recycled through the company’s Evergreen Nylon Recycling facility in Augusta, Georgia.
Tricycle launched Tryk, with simulation designed to reduce waste in product manufacturing and sampling. Tryk enables sustainable design by avoiding the wasteful need to manufacture samples that eventually clutter landfills and provides decision-makers with simulated images of the product. Instead of replicating manufacturing, Tryk mimics the manufacturing process to create an image of the surface, enabling facilities managers to arrive at a final decision faster. Tryk erases waste in every sector, from floorcovering to wallcovering to fabric. Tryk will work with many different carpet companies.
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| The X Series of waste and recycling bins from Arconas are designed to go with the company’s seating line. Included is Smokestax with a 12 gallon butt bin. |
Recycling. We also are seeing companies who realize that those ugly blue plastic recycling bins, while commendable from the perspective of saving our environment by encouraging recycling, do not really add to the aesthetics of the office environment. So we are finding very nicely designed solutions that also serve as receptacles for our recyclable materials.
One example is from Aronas, whose X Series waste and recycling bins is a line of high performance, commercial waste and recycling bins.
Changing work styles
The furniture manufacturers have come up with the idea that many workers would perform better at work if they could feel more at home there. The end result as been a much more human approach to workstation design, with more warmth and personality. Often, the design brings the panels and rest of the workstation together so that they appear as one unit, instead of the traditional work surface hanging from or butting up against a panel. Until now, I had always considered panels and work surfaces as two very different entities; they still are, but now they look as if they are one piece of furniture.
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| The Arrivals line of furniture from Inscape is now available with new storage and configuration options. |
Panels. Another problem in the traditional office has been the “cubicle syndrome.” In a cubicle each worker tends to feel isolated, and one is easily surprised by anyone suddenly entering one’s personal space; although one is in a large open space, one doesn’t feel a part of it. The office is now taking a different look, with a much more open feel. First, the panels are shorter, typically 48″, enabling people to see over them much more easily even when they are seated. But these shorter panels still allow creative ways of attaching needed storage space to them so very little functionality is lost. This brings more natural light into the workstations, and air circulation is better too. Taller panels are reserved for only a few who really need them. For the first time, I am seeing “systems furniture” address the “furniture” part of its name, and what a welcome sight it is!
Inscape’s Platform has always been very innovative in coming up with ways to use the panels as storage solutions. For the worker who needs a lot of storage at the workspace, Inscape’s solution is one of the most elegant, and the “wall” will never look or feel like a panel.
Steelcase has gone in a different direction, where many of its panel solutions are 18″ or more off the ground (except for support at the ends). This is poor for storage, but it opens the space up even further. Another benefit is that a workstation can be smaller, but not seem as small as it really is.
Seating. After nearly every company has come up with its ergonomic solution for the office chair, the next step is to make it more personal, more fun, and even cooler (temperature-wise).
The Hannah swivel tilt chair by izzydesign was honored with an Editor’s Choice in The Best of NeoCon competition. Hannah has more than swivel-tilt action; to use the company’s words it even “offers a fun sense of openness.” When was the last time we saw words like “fun” enter the office design vocabulary? Well-paced perforations help circulate air to keep the user cool.
Davis Furniture introduced its NYO chair and table program in March. The chair is hard—it is not one of the ergonomic chairs described above. It was developed for use as a side chair or around a table; and may be used both indoors and outdoors. The chair comes in many colors, so it too is “fun.” All components of the chair are made from aluminum, except the nylon glides, and so can be recycled, making the product environmental friendly.
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The Hannah swivel tilt chair is small in scale and encourages frequent apposition change. | The NYO series of tables and chairs are made from aluminum, so they are environmentally friendly. |  |
Lighting. The improving personalization of the workstations has carried over to the lighting as well. Many more LED solutions were announced, and some of these were quite beautiful.
One, announced at the 2006 NeoCon show, was accepted into the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection (Herman Miller’s Leaf light).
Another, Haworth’s Brazo Light, won the Best of Competition at NeoCon. Brazo has a fully adjustable, calibrated light control and a precision quality machined recyclable aluminum body.
While, in our opinion, these LED task lights do not provide ample light at the work surface unless there is ambient light, they add just enough extra light to be functional, and have a nice aesthetic quality to boot.
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The Leaf light from Herman Miller was recently recognized for its environmentally friendly design. | Haworth’s Brazo lighting system took Best of Competition plus a Gold in the lighting category at NeoCon’07. |  |
Flexibility and Mobility. The need to meet with others has been reflected by workstations that could accommodate several people getting together at the work surface, or by more mobile equipment so that workstations could be transformed into meeting spaces by swinging them about. The need to make changes within workstations has become easier too, where one no longer needs highly-trained workers to reconfigure a workstation or move some cabling.
Haworth introduced the comprehensive Planes collection of tables, carts, credenzas and podiums, as well as writable boards with easel and wall interchangeable applications. It was awarded Gold in the Best of NeoCon competition in the category for Conference Room Furniture. Highlights of the collection include mobile tables with a flip top; quick-release legs for nesting and breaking down; concealed wire and cable management options; and mobility to reconfigure for collaborative environments.
Vitra Level 34 uses a bench as a plateau for containers, cabinets, shelving, tables, and seating. The 34-centimeter-high bench, which contains the system’s cable management, is the basic element of this multi-functional furniture. Components then can be added to create workplaces, meeting points, storage areas and room dividers.
Turnstone, a Steelcase, Inc. company, introduced its versatile Tour workspace, comprised of seven elements that can be configured into over 80 combinations to fit nearly any office design or specification.
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All of Vitra’s Level 34 components fit on the surface of a bench. | Turnstone features flexible design at a good value. |  |
Training and Work Tables. In the past two years, many companies started to add a wide variety of training tables to their lines. Now, they are getting refined. Many need to be used with computers and must incorporate wire management. Some even incorporate the lighting that must illuminate the work surface.
Teknion’s Marketplace Worktable is a reinvention of the worktable, achieving an uninterrupted and unsupported span ideal for today’s team-based office environment. Winning Gold in the Furniture Systems category of the Best of NeoCon competition, Marketplace is designed around a lightweight triangular truss that creates open spans of up to 20 feet, said to be the longest free span in the industry. It accommodates eight to ten people comfortably and has generous wire management capabilities for intensive technological applications as well as a canopy extending the full length of the table to provide warm, glare-free light.
The Akira flip-top table by Vecta won the Best of NeoCon Gold in the Training Table category and Silver in the Education Solutions category. Akira’s patent-pending folding mechanism and one-handed release lever make it easy for one person to set up, adjust, take down, and store. Akira can be configured in a wide variety of arrangements due to its diverse sizes and shapes, so its works well for both meetings and seminars.
Davis Furniture introduced its Basic Table, a simple-to-use folding table. The design allows users to fold and unfold the pair of legs without turning the table over. The user holds the table with one hand and pulls the lever with the other.
Of course, if all the furniture is moving around, including computer equipment on top of it, a wiring solution is needed. connectrac launched the latest version of its floor-mounted electrical raceway system, the U Series. According to connectrac, the U Series is ideal for training tables and multiple, freestanding desks; it provides unlimited power and voice and data connection points along its raceway track.
The solution even may be applied to more than just the wiring for the computers, and include lighting and HVAC systems as well. Convia, Inc., a Herman Miller Company, was awarded Gold for its programmable infrastructure in the Best of NeoCon’s Workplace Technologies category. This infrastructure, which does not require hardwiring of devices or switches, operates with a remote wand and permits rewiring virtually anywhere and on demand. Its key components can group and power electrical devices to control zones for lighting and fans. Then, through the wand, anyone can modify which device is in which zone.
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Teknion’s new Marketplace worktable has generous wire management capabilities for intensive technological applications. | The NeoCon Gold and Silver Award winner Akira table can be configured in a variety of ways. The racetrack version is shown here. |  |
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The folding Basic Table by Davis Furniture opens by simply pulling a lever—no need to turn the table. | The U Series in connectrac floor-mounted systems solves connectivity problems and provides freedom in planning spaces. |  |
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The Convia Programmable Infrastructure was recognized with a Gold in Best of NeoCon Workplace Technologies. |
Smaller monitors for computers
It seems like just yesterday when over half the work surface areas were taken over by computer equipment—typically a clunky monitor, an occasional printer, and a large keyboard. Real work often was done at an adjacent desk. It sometimes became difficult to integrate the two work surfaces without a major planning effort before work began, or a resigning oneself to a seemingly “unergonomic” way of working on two work surfaces at once. Now, flat-panel monitors are thinner, shorter, less deep, and give off much less heat; printers are often in a common area; and keyboards are smaller.
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| The Slim Line desking system from Humanscale packs a lot of function into a small size. |
One result is that we don’t need work surfaces that are as deep. Not only do these take up a smaller footprint in the office, but it is easier for the worker to reach the new types of componentry that hangs from the panels. And not needing the panels to be mounted extra high to go over the monitors has contributed toward having that panel height come down.
One example of many is Humanscale’s new desking solution, Slim Line, which offers space savings and integrated technology while supporting a suite of ergonomic tools for a healthy and comfortable workstation experience. A built-in power supply, USB dock, and data ports, including speaker and microphone, are conveniently positioned within the user’s reach. Sliding worktop panels keep technology access out of sight and out of the way, and also provide storage space below the work surface.
What happened to ergonomics?
May we become too spoiled by the design of the perfect workstation, where everything is so convenient that we may never have to get up and do any more than swivel our chairs? That is a real concern, because if that happens, we not only can put on a few pounds, but we could be acquiring a few new ergonomic pains from our staying sedentary for too long. Alas, that too has been addressed by a good number of the furniture manufacturers, who have come up with adjustable height work surfaces that are very easy to raise and lower; now, if we’ve been sitting for too long, we just get up and raise our work surface as we rise.
One of the solutions that we saw was presented by: WorkRite Ergonomics. There were many others, including from large companies such as Steelcase, whose work surface can be raised effortlessly with just one pinky.
Neutral Posture’s Ntune Seating is seating that can go up and down and also allows the occupant to stand when needed.
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WorkRite Ergonomics lifts its Sierra Series to new heights in a pin-height configuration and designs add-on options. | The Ntune system allows users to stand at work when needed. |  |
Accessories
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| Part of the new Be Collection, C2 is a personal heating and cooling unit to help solve the vexing issue of personal temperature control. |
And we would be remiss to neglect mentioning Herman Miller’s C2, a part of the Herman Miller Be Collection. It is a personal heating and cooling unit. Does it get any “cooler” than this?
Conclusions
We at last are well on the way toward having an office environment that functions nicely as an office, looks like a well-put together whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, has the aesthetics and warmth of one’s home, is built out of materials that will not destroy our environment, and is a place to where people should want to go. As these new environments begin to proliferate our office landscape, we will learn what else we will need to do to make it even better, and then come to next year’s NeoCon and find out what evolved.
