In his infamous novel Generation X , Douglas Coupland
captured the post-80 's generation of office victims, trapped
behind grey felt faux-walls, gawking at the green glow of trading
indices. Coupland appropriately called these cubicles veal-fattening
pens. We're in a different age now; the open office design today
is all about symbiosis. Gone are the walls. Gone are the huge
mahogany desks piled with papers; gone is the ability to kick
your shoes off without fear of exposing the holes in your socks.
These days everybody's on display and easy-to-reach. Unimpeded
information flow has superceded privacy.
In our Internet age, real estate, the full-time employee, and
costly office space are under transformation. The veal-fattening
pens have been replaced by bee-hive clusters of octagonal work
stations designed to optimize space use. Fewer people have their
own desks; portioning is optional, with foldable semi-transparent
mesh dividers, and curvaceous roll-away walls. The new millennial
office is on wheels —a sophisticated combination of efficiency
and the suggestion that the employee might become disposable.
Your work station can actually be transported to the conference
room on the seventh floor, a meeting on the other side of the
office, or back to the supply closet. Interestingly, as job
permanency becomes more uncertain, companies have recognized
the necessity of making their people as comfortable as possible.
Ergonomics is the buzzword these days.
Ergonomics? What 's that? A grueling weight training program?
Does it involve problem solving or math? No... just sit back,
or stand, and relax. We'll leave the multiple equations to the
designers and engineers. According to the International Ergonomics
Association, the fifty-year-old science of ergonomics—or
human factors—is defined as “the interactions among
human and other elements of a system, and the profession that
applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order
to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.
”It's a tall order for science: Make It Fit Me. From the
length of the vacuum hose to the distance from hip to gear shift
in the cockpit to the graphic user interface, ergonomics is
where engineering, physiology and psychology meet to make people
productive and happy.
Ergonomics fans like to recount the tale of one of the earliest
versions of the lathe. Someone eventually studied its design
efficiency and realized that the ideal sized operator would
be just over four feet tall. Just imagine the lower back pain
complaints! Through design, ergonomics addresses such practical
matters as the reduction of repetitive stress injury to the
hands from typing or alleviation of chronic lower back pain.
The overall economic benefits to the employer are obvious.
Work related illness, the bulk of it lower back injuries, costs close to £11 million annually in the UK alone. Dr. Zoltán Detre, an orthopedic surgeon with American Clinics
International, regularly treats back problems caused by sitting
in front of the computer all day without an adequate chair.
“Lower back pain, that's a 21st century problem,”
he says, also mentioning shoulder and neck pain due to improper
positioning of the computer screen. Stress injuries to the wrists
and hands are less frequent today than in the golden age of
the typewriter, according to Detre, since keyboards are softer
and sponge wrist rests are common. Statistics also say that
we spend a third of our lives sitting—that's more time
in the office chair than in bed. It follows then that the ergonomically-concerned
spend a lot of time thinking about chairs.
Adrienne Almási is the Managing Director of Office Art and
Design, a Hungarian furniture importer that provides consulting,
design planning, and custom fittings. She uses phrases like
“hot desking solutions”— work stations with just
an IT hook-up that belong to no one. She says many multinationals
are globalizing design according to ergonomics and the open
office. As far as chairs go, Office Art and Design recently
fitted one major multinational in Budapest with top of the line
Aeron chairs, designed by internationally acclaimed American
furniture supplier Herman Miller. You want a good chair? Think
lift, tilt, vertical and lateral movements of the arm rests,
a selection of lumbar cushions for the back, and a patented
stretchy breathable fabric. If you swing into work on your rollerblades
and sit down without taking off your backpack, the chair will
absorb its shape. The chair has wheels, naturally, and just
like clothes, it is available in small, medium and large sizes
for 230,000 HUF +ÁFA.
Cost is an obvious reason why the bulk of the top-of-the-line
clients are big multinationals. But, cautions Kimmo Sirviö,
Managing Director of the Budapest offices of Finnish furniture
supplier Martela, “for 6000 HUF,it's impossible to buy
a quality chair. ”To surround yourself with Martela's
smooth Scandinavian designs would cost between $1200 and $3000
per work station. However, Sirviö offers this practical
advice for the ergonomically-aware, but price-sensitive chair
shopper: “If you want to buy a cheap chair, buy one without
arm rests because it's better than the fixed ones. ”Fixed
arm rests, he says, do not encourage movement, and freedom of
movement could be the single most important factor in ergonomic
design. Even Martela's 1.5 kg stackable wooden conference chairs—ergonomics
is easy lifting too—allow for rocking to ease the backs
of fidgety conference goers. The best design houses still acknowledge
that Dr.Detre is right when he says, “a $3000 chair is
not the only solution.” (The doctor's practical advice
is as xpected: exercise, use proper posture when sitting or
lifting, take care in sports.) This is why the designers have
moved on to the electric table, a gift for the lower back, and
a blessing over varicose veins. You can stand at your desk—while
say, talking on the phone—and not have to bend over to
type or access files. Standing meetings are now common in Scandinavia,
says Sirviö, noting that Nokia Networks has a standing
board room equipped with a high table and bar stools to give
the option of sitting, standing, or switching back and forth.
It keeps folks on their toes too, a consideration in psychological
ergonomics. 'Normal desks have not disappeared, but they've
been divided into separate segments each fixed with hand cranks,
so that the monitor, for example, can be elevated or lowered,
and the keyboard table elevated, lowered or tilted. May that
be the envy of the boxy mahogany monster as it enters the antique
market...
Martela's
smooth Scandinavian designs would cost between $1200 and $3000
per work station. However, Sirviö offers this practical
advice for the ergonomically-aware, but price-sensitive chair
shopper: “If you want to buy a cheap chair, buy one without
arm rests because it's better than the fixed ones. ”Fixed
arm rests, he says, do not encourage movement, and freedom of
movement could be the single most important factor in ergonomic
design. Even Martela's 1.5 kg stackable wooden conference chairs—ergonomics
is easy lifting too—allow for rocking to ease the backs
of fidgety conference goers. The best design houses still acknowledge
that Dr.Detre is right when he says, “a $3000 chair is
not the only solution.” (The doctor's practical advice
is as xpected: exercise, use proper posture when sitting or
lifting, take care in sports.) This is why the designers have
moved on to the electric table, a gift for the lower back, and
a blessing over varicose veins. You can stand at your desk—while
say, talking on the phone—and not have to bend over to
type or access files. Standing meetings are now common in Scandinavia,
says Sirviö, noting that Nokia Networks has a standing
board room equipped with a high table and bar stools to give
the option of sitting, standing, or switching back and forth.
It keeps folks on their toes too, a consideration in psychological
ergonomics. 'Normal desks have not disappeared, but they've
been divided into separate segments each fixed with hand cranks,
so that the monitor, for example, can be elevated or lowered,
and the keyboard table elevated, lowered or tilted. May that
be the envy of the boxy mahogany monster as it enters the antique
market... 
