Office Workstation Design

Architectural Graphic Standards Design Requirements.

This chart shows the standards and variations in body measurements from which one can design an ergonomic workstation and office. Ergonomics is defined as the fit between the human being and those things with which he or she interacts. It is important that all workstations and spaces be ergonomic to prevent physical problems that may affect work productivity.

Above is an example of a FUNDI workstation, FUNctional and Diagnostic Intgration workspace, which is adjustable and movable in many ways including its ability to be folded closed to occupy little space. It includes all typical areas considered in work space and office design including storage, workspace, communication space, lighting and spatial adjustmants and individual customization. Below is a chart demonstrating the churn rate of different industries, the churn rate is the rate of frequency that employees change location within the office, ussually based on project needs and other situational elements. Technology and office services have some of the highest churn rates and result in the portable workstations shown above or "hotdesks" where a desk is occupied on a "first come, first serve" basis and employees carry their work with them, and occupy the minimum amount of office with the most efficiency by this method but such work place conditions need to allow for customization otherwise people suffer from a loss of identity and location, known as territorializm, and become less productive at their jobs and more productive at surviving in the office space, like animals.

	At the right is an image of a workspace whose space programmimg is based entirely on the workstation unit. At the left is a chart showiing the comfort rate of a percentage of people in direct relationship to air temperature and velocity. This is one example of a climatic control issue that can affect productivity and comfort. See Also Lighting Issues and Acoustic Design.
		Click pic to see full sized image

		At left is shown an example of space occupation and comfort in workstation design based upon the height of the barriers, and partitions seperating them form the rest of the office.

	Duffy, Francis and Cave, Colin and Worthington, John ED.s Planning Office Space, New York, NY: The Architectural Press Ltd. 1976 Aronoff, Stan and Audrey Kaplan Total Workplace Performance, Ottawa, Canada: WDL Publications 1995 Dainoff, Marvin J. People & Productivity, Toronto, Canada: Holt, RRinehart and Winston of Canada Ltd. 1986 Worthington, John Reinventing the Workplace, Oxford,GB: Architectural Press 1997 Wallace, Patricia The Psychology of the Internet, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 1999 Shoshkes, Lila Space Planning: Designing the Office Environment, New York, NY: Architectural Record Books 1976 Marmot, Alexi and Eley, Joanna Office Space Planning, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Co. 2000 Barglow, Raymond The Crisis of the Self in the Age of Information, New York, NY: Routledge 1994