The fundamental principle behind Herman Miller's New Resolve office system is easily summarized in six words: It's time to rethink the workplace.
Office work today is more computer-driven and collaborative, and office workers are knowledge workers. Yesterday's stoic, solitary "man in the gray flannel suit" has made way for an increasingly diverse workforce that includes part-time workers, "techies," and consultants. Yet many offices and the furniture in them no longer fully support today's evolving workforce and technology.
Resolve, designed by Ayse Birsel for Herman Miller, represents a breakthrough concept that proposes office systems more closely reflect the way people work today—individually, in teams, and on the move. Resolve is about connections: to people (including coworkers and customers), to technology, and to information. Each of its various workstation configurations, named "constellations," begins with a 120-degree angle (think honeycombs and snowflakes) that places people and their technology right where they belong: at the center of activity, not off in a corner.
Resolve utilizes a pole-and-beam system to provide the infrastructure to support the surfaces, technology, storage, display elements, and wiring of today's office environments. Cables run overhead in troughs, out of sight yet accessible. Canopies reminiscent of flower petals help to define the space and filter fluorescent light. In place of walls, movable screens provide privacy, filter light or block heating and cooling vents.
The screens also may be digitally printed to display identity (brand, team, or personal), way finding, and other graphic treatments.
Resolve's workstations can be lowered or raised to work from a sitting or standing position. Side tables have wheels to roll them wherever they're needed. Bright colors and personal touches including small bud vases attached to each workstation and "porch lights" for groups of colleagues simultaneously create a greater sense of individual space and community.
Each and every element of the system reinforces the design principles behind Resolve: be open, be connected, be flexible, be economical, be sustainable, be inspired, be yourself. Simply stated, Resolve creates an environment that conforms to the worker's needs, and changes upon demand. Its system components can be reconfigured quickly to accommodate new people, projects, and processes.
Resolve is built around the human body. Many of its forms and ideas come directly from the movements, habits, and intuitions of people. Resolve's boomerang work surface brings everything within arms' reach. The openings between its screens and its structure help exercise the eyes beyond the computer monitor. Its translucent screens provide enclosure without cutting out light. It doesn't block windows; it allows for the perception of day, seasons, and things that happen outside the building.
Beyond its implications for individual expression and corporate identity, Resolve can help companies respond quickly and inexpensively to high churn rates (the internal movement of people and workstations) in work environments. The system's built-in adaptability means that it's always ready to accommodate new technologies for communication, learning, and work processes. It provides flexible environments that foster both collaboration and individual work.
Today, when many people can work virtually anywhere they choose, most continue to gather together in office settings to collaborate in achieving business objectives and share in the organizational experience. The Resolve system recognizes this reality, even as it re-solves the challenge of keeping pace with changing work styles and technology.
Herman Miller, Inc., is an international firm engaged primarily in the manufacture and sale of furniture systems, products, and related services, principally for offices, and to a lesser extent, for healthcare facilities and other uses. The company is based in Zeeland, Michigan.
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