Fixing the World, One Contest at a Time

Metropolis Magazine’s 2010 Next Generation® Design Competition, “ONE Design FIX for the FUTURE” is calling for entries. With this year’s theme, they’re looking for one design fix – in a product, a workplace, a city, a building, a landscape or wherever – that “in scale or as inspiration, can improve our future.”

So if you’re a designer who has been in business less than 10 years – or a design student – why not enter? Just think: Your idea might not only win, but with the $10,000 prize in seed money, you might actually watch it come to fruition.
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Achieving the Promise of Programmable Environments

Note: This is the fourth in a series about Herman Miller’s Programmable Environments (PE) initiative. To read the first post, see “Getting Buildings and People In Sync.” Second post: “Cut Electrical Use, Get ‘Stimulused,’ and Earn LEED Credits.” Third post: “Energy Manager Saves Energy, Optimizes Real Estate, Cuts Costs.”

According to Always Building, Herman Miller’s book about PE, “To achieve programmable environments, we think about a digital as well as physical dimension of space.” Integrating the digital dimension can make a building smarter, more efficient, and responsive to the people who use it.
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How Can We Make This a Better World? And What Does Zero Have to Do with It?

How do we balance using our resources to earn a profit while doing it responsibly? At Herman Miller, we look to our statement of corporate values called Things That Matter. One of the nine is called “A Better World.”

Our third annual Better World Report talks about how we’re trying to live up to our Better World values—advocating for the environment, embracing inclusiveness, fostering well-being, and serving our communities. Read it for a look at our progress so far.

And the zero? It graces the cover of the report because getting to a zero operational footprint by 2020 is such a big deal for us. We’re proud to say that we’re 83.5% of the way there. For the full story, check out our video “Zero is hero.”

Energy Manager Saves Energy, Optimizes Real Estate, Cuts Costs

Note: This is the third in a series. To read the first post, see “Getting Buildings and People In Sync.” For the second post, “Cut Electrical Use, Get ‘Stimulused,’ and Earn LEED Credits.”

What if someone invented a simple, affordable device you quickly attach to your car to save you gas? Genius, right?

Well then, check this out. It’s Herman Miller’s new Energy Manager—a simple, affordable device you quickly attach to your Herman Miller systems furniture (new or retrofit) to save you electrical energy, 24/7.
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Cut Electrical Use, Get ‘Stimulused,’ and Earn LEED Credits

Note: This is the second in a series. To read the first post, see “Getting Buildings and People In Sync.”

The nutshell idea for Programmable Environments (PE) is to use technology to fill new or existing buildings with intelligence. The building becomes a digital network so that permanent fixtures become adaptable. You can make them do exactly what you need them to do at any moment, change them instantly, and gather real time information about how they are used.

And it’s easy. Here’s the story:
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Kira: Tales of a Veggie-Fabric

It was a bad year for corn here in northern Michigan. Cool. Damp. Not much sun. Consequently, plants that usually arch over my head barely reached my shoulder, and ears that usually fatten within their green sheaves were the size of a plump thumb.

So, I wondered, what happens to things made from corn in a bad year? Things like corn fabric, for instance?
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What’s New in Green: Greenbuild 2009

Graphic via: Greenbuild

Herman Miller will be heading to Phoenix, Arizona for the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo held on November 11-13, 2009. Hosted by the US Green Building Council, the annual conference—the world’s largest of its kind—offers attendees information on the latest advances in green building practices and design. As a sponsor of the event, Herman Miller is excited about the opportunity to share our progress towards achieving a zero operational footprint by 2020 as part of our environmental advocacy. Join us on Twitter for real-time updates on what’s new in “green” and what’s happening on the show floor.

Getting Buildings and People In Sync

Note: This is the first in a series of four posts on Programmable Environments.

You hear it all the time: “Technology has changed everything.” Well, duh. But it’s not totally accurate. There’s one part of our daily lives that’s largely untouched by the changes. It’s the buildings where we work and live—static, rigid, set in their ways.

While technology makes us faster, our buildings often hold us back. Unable to keep up with change—much less enable change—our buildings become out of sync with us.
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Women’s Service Day: The Power of the Ask

“The power of the ask” refers to what happens when we ask people we know to help: They say yes. Research shows that 71% of people volunteer when asked, compared to 29% who volunteer on their own.
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Walking for Generations to Come

“I’m now walking for my daughter and her generation” were the words of several members of the Herman Miller team who participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Grand Rapids, Michigan in September.
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