Swastika pattern architects' workstation
desk and drawing board usable from the same swivel chair.
Pinboard. All existing workstations were hard against pinboard walls. It appeared that about four square feet of pinboard per person was adequate and ideally this should be located near the telephone.
Following this analysis we visited several open plan offices and examined all proprietary drawing office furni- ture. This confirmed our ideas regard ing the new basic layout of drawing board, desk and reference spaces, and encouraged us to ramp the reference boards and adopt a working and mounting height of 2ft. 4in, which would enable use of all sections from a secretary's adjustable swivel chair on
castors.
Mock-up
We had now sufficient user study evidence to have a rough mock-up con- structed which for several weeks was tried by both architects and tech- nicians, and was frequently altered and
Far East BUILDER, December 1970
adjusted to meet the many observa- tions which this user-testing brought forward.
The mock-up showed the advan- tage of the lowered working height when sitting and we found that our existing drawing board was sufficiently adjustable to, first of all, provide com- fortable draughting conditions when either standing or sitting, and that, either standing or sitting, and that, when tilted flat at a height of 3ft. 6in., it gave an excellent surface for check- ing and discussing drawings with an- other team member. In sizing desk and reference surfaces to suit our particular needs we created a clear space within the workstation 4ft. square which was adequate to seat an- other team member for discussion or a secretary for dictation.
In visiting other offices, we had been very impressed with the grouping of workstations in 'swastika' plan form. Apart from its illusion of informality, this gave an excellent dual use of units and economy in its coverage of floor area. We have adopted a similar group-
ing not only for these obvious advan- tages but also because it suited our team working and gave to each person a semi-private enclosure, similar in many respects to the 'carrels' we design in libraries.
The final result comprises: our existing drawing board and machine mounted on a light metal frame; to the right a sample table for standing re- ference or the laying out of clips of drawings; to the left a ramped refer ence board at 60 deg. beneath which is a pedestal for the storage of boxes, books and equipment; behind, a 'desk' or writing surface which is in fact the reverse side of the ramped reference. unit; above the desk is a pinboard. The units are grouped in fours, each group requiring a space 18ft. square.
Secretaries' workstations
In our former premises each secre- tary had a tiny office of her own which was claustrophobic and incon- venient because filing was dispersed throughout the office. Despite the
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