The Office Playground
Motivated by the playground where children work or learn while playing, the “Official Playground” is a playful closet that provides personal space for work and meetings. Made in steel, chrome and plastic, the playground for adults features different levels that double as storage for your books/documents and other objects, separating interior from the outer space. Users need to climb on top of the playground to participate in high level meetings, which keeps them fit and increases their work productivity.
[ Article Source: the Design Blog ]
Escher Coffee Table
Toby Howes‘ Escher Coffee Table, inspired by one of Escher’s bird & fish tessellation sketches. “Each of the three walnut inlaid arcs slide out to become side tables in their own right, leaving the central zebrano piece to become more & more sculptural as each arc is removed.”
[ Article Source: Contemporist ]
Imaginative Workplaces
There’s no excuse for drab office environments any more, argues Anna Richardson. Indeed, imaginative interiors which offer a bit of privacy as well as great teamworking space are essential for bringing out that creative spark in staff
JUST AS a computer is no longer a desk-bound, 13-inch-plus-screened piece of hardware, most workplaces are not what they once were. With growing flexibility and mobility of technology, rows upon rows of desks have given way to more efficient and creative uses of space, encouraging collaboration and inspiration among the workforce.
One of the clients of interior design group HOK would spend 5 per cent of the budget on loose furniture (associated with breakout areas and informal meeting spaces) five years ago, says Andy Warner Lacey, design director of HOK interiors. Now they often spend 40 per cent.
Where once a couple of high-end sofas sufficed, creating breakout space is more complex nowadays. Designing places for work can span extremes, says Phil Hutchinson, joint managing director of BDG Workfutures. ‘One person’s quiet is another person’s noise.’
Providing intimate, private spaces is just as important as furthering collaboration and teamwork. Enrico Caruso, principal of Gensler London, says people use workspace in four work modes – focus, work, heads-down and collaborative – and a successful organisation has to balance these.
Another consideration is providing employees with a sense of identity and, in many cases, integrating different parts of the business.
WorkSnug – Augmented Reality for London Workers
WorkSnug uses Augmented Reality to connect mobile workers to the nearest and best places to do some work in London. It’s like Sci Fi and it’s free. Leap straight to the iTunes download page.
Trawl the coffee shops of London and you’ll see armies of people hunched over laptops. Perhaps they’re snatching five minutes to check their email between meetings or perhaps this is how they always work. The city is their office.
There’s a huge choice of places to work. From the noise and bustle of the local Starbucks, right up to formal shared office spaces such as eOffice.
WorkSnug is the first tool to make sense of this emerging world. We’ve discovered and personally reviewed hundreds of places to work, rating their atmosphere, noise levels, power provision, even the quality of the coffee.
They use Augmented Reality on the iPhone 3GS to guide mobile workers to the nearest and best places to connect. Simply point and move the phone – All becomes clear.
WorkSnug is an invaluable tool for: Corporate workers · Independent workers · Consultants in all fields · Part-time workers · Creative workers · Students · Job seekers · Start-ups · Journalists
Follow WorkSnug on Twitter: @WorkSnug – Download the app here.
Exotic Wooden Mice
Following on from the Bamboo Keyboard and Mouse, eOffice found these beautiful computer mice made from exotic woods by Russia’s AlestRukov. Each of these wooden computer mice is handcrafted from cultivated sustainable woods and carved, sanded and polished to a shiny finish with linseed oil and carnuba wax. The mice is using finest electronic components, and features an optical resolution of 1600 dpi, and with microswitches rated for over 1 million clicks.
The handmade wooden mice are available in Bubinga, Makor, Sapele, and Ebony woods from exotic locations like Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Sri Lanka. And they are not cheap, prices range from €668 to €859 (about. $996 to $1281 USD), wow! “AlestRukov computer mice are eco-friendly alternative to harmful plastic gadgets polluting our world. The idea behind the product is to get the maximum out of natural materials and extend lifetime warranty. AlestRukov computer mice have warranty coverage of over 5 years and can be upgraded to extend the service.”
The USB Sofa
The USB Sofa by cabracega, including 4 sofas with 14Gb for sharing your files. The Sofas contain inlaid removable disks aiming for storing and sharing contents between users. For sharing, the user just needs to plug one of the 7 cables to his laptop USB port. New addition to your workplace cafeteria?
[ Article Source: LikeCool ]
Pop up Office
Bringing back memories from a sweeter childhood, here is a Pop Up Office made of cardboard, by Liddy Scheffknecht and Armin B. Wagner, Cool – though unlikely to withstand the Big Bad Wolf – or heavier employees.
Pranav Mistry – SixthSense Technology
At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data – including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “laptop.” In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.
DVD that lasts 1000 Years
Perfect for time capsules, new kid on the block Cranberry claims that their new DVD will last 1,000 years. Of course no one will be around to dispute that claim, and by then we’ll be using some kind of organic memory light data cell, but hey! Who knows, maybe future generations will want to see those vacation photos you took of Grandma Rhoda and Aunt Suzy.
Seriously though, I can see this as being a good thing at the corporate level. The DiamonDisc is a standard capacity DVD that can be read with a normal drive. Where it gets interesting is that the disc is resistant to heat (up to 176 degrees), UV, and normal material degradation. No word on if it will survive being microwaved though.
Don’t expect the technology to be cheap though. The discs will cost you $35 each, but the price does go down for larger quantities. You have to send your information to Cranberry to be written to the disc, and then they ship the discs to you. It is possible to buy one of the special burners required to write to the discs yourself, but that drive will set you back a cool $4995.
[ Article Source Computerworld]