Home office future is integrated
By Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, December 24, 2001
Key Biscayne, Fla. — The home office of the future will integrate furniture and technology into a single workstation, according to studies conducted at North Carolina State University.
In a presentation at the Furniture/Today Leadership Conference, two reports on the evolution of small office/home office furniture predicted that computers will be built into furniture by 2020.
The reports, sponsored by Furniture/Today through the university's Innovation Management program, studied current uses of technology and furniture in office environments, then projected how the two will merge over the next two decades.
Dorene Palermo, who presented highlights from one of the two reports, said the primary concern of most users — at home or in commercial offices — is how they use technology. "The focus is from p2 on what they do to the computer or what the computer does to them," she said.
The primary needs of the vast majority of SOHO users, she said, are:
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Ample work space.
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The ability to hide the office.
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Keeping equipment and information within reach.
Currently, users "want to have furniture to put the devices on," Palermo said. In the future, "furniture will be the devices."
That was the core conclusion of both reports. They diverged in developing conceptual products for the future SOHO user.
Palermo's group, called HoMeX, developed a fold-out computer workstation, not totally different from the more complex armoires now available but with built-in computing capabilities, with a projected retail price of $5,890.
The second group, Make Space Inc., developed a more space-age looking computer command center, somewhat reminiscent of the command chair used by Captain Kirk in television's "Star Trek" series. With a broad array of technical and computing capabilities, as well as ergonomic reclining positions, the Make Space SOHO command center would retail for more than $12,000, the group predicted.
| Palermo: "Furniture will be the devices." |
| Calling Capt. Kirk: There's a future for this computer command post with reclining chair, according to an NCSU study group. |
| An open and shut case: A concept for a fold-out workstation that includes the computer. |
