>>>PORT- Ran Kuang Master of Design Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Design FOLIO>>>
Clarity lies in the mist of chaos Leafs 森 >>>
MATSU right for you and nature 1 Leafs 森 Project: Type: Designers: Contributions: Movable Workspace - Joint Furniture Workshop Group Project Ran Kuang; Yenan Lin; Alexander Milo Nielson; Rikke Røhl; Esben Eskelund Conduct interviews with office workers and with acoustic professor; Idea generation and desgin development; Presentation outline arrangement Photography and brochure making 1
Workspace: Workspace is the one place we spent the most of our time other than our home. We spend almost one thirds of time at work. When we are awake, half of the activities took place at work. The environment of a possible workplace is crucial to our everyday moods and even our well beings. Movable: A PLACE FOR WORK Nowadays, the place for work is not limited in a cooperation or homebased office. It could be at a home office, on the train, at the airport and everywhere one likes. This is one perspective to look at Movable 33.3% TIME 50% ACTIVITIES FLEXIBLE OFFICE ROOM Another definition for a movable workspace is a flexible office room, which could easily transform to meet different needs. HUMAN INTERACTIONS Also, the word Movable could expand to the movement and interaction people would create with other objects in the room. And we decided to take a deeper look at this one. 2
Five Senses at Work: Which Sense Affects You Most in An Office Environment VISION People see things all the time. The colors in a workplace can help to provoke people s creativity and also enable people to make clear decision. TOUCH There s a lot of things one might touch in an office in one day. Any physical interaction would trigger tactile sensation. People generates different feelings towards different tactile impressions. Feelings of comfort and relaxing results from the sense of touch. HEARING Like vision, people process sound all the time even when eyes are closed. The sound people hear in a workspace has a great impact on one s creativity and productivity. 'By using color strategically and following the basic principles of According to a recent study, if you color psychology, you can promote desired behaviors: whether Perhaps the least can hear someone talking while it s having blue walls in your segregated, quiet rooms to promote studied of the you re reading or writing, your tranquility, or bright colored furnishings in your communal, public senses, in terms of productivity can dip by up to 66%. 3 66.6% areas to boost social exchanges. 2 office design, our DECREASE in sense of touch is productivity closely associated with the emotion of comfort and warmth (or lack thereof ). 1 through senses of VISION and TOUCH SMELL & TASTE Sure, pungent bad smell can be a huge problem, but it is not usually the case in an office environment. For most offices, not much smell can be picked up by a nose. What do exist in an office room might be the smell of the carpet and freshly printed paper, with the aroma produced by boiled coffee as embellishment. ACOUSTIC problem 123 from 'Engage the 5 Senses to Inspire Workplace Productivity' - http://convene.com/engage-5-senses-inspire-workplace- productivity. 3
Interview with acoustic specialist NOISE How to solve bad acoustic In order to reduce noise, it requires soft materials with foam structure inside to absorb as much noise as possible and create not direct reflection but diffusion. Duration Frequency Intensity diffuse Meanwhile, the form of the product should create as much as reflect surfaces as possible in order to prolong the travel distance of the noise. We know that sound has three determine element, namely duration (how long the sound lasts), frequency (high-pitch or low-pitch) and intensity (loud or quiet). During our interview with acoustic specialist, we learn that noise is measured in decibels on the A scale of a sound meter where higher frequencies are weighed more heavily. absorb texture on the surface foam structure When does noise become DISRUPTIVE? > 65dB SURPRISE Accoding to current studies, sound intensity greater than 65dB are believed to distract office workers. Distraction is also more likely when office workers do not have control of the noise source. The prior principle to solve bad acoustic is to interrupt sound waves. There are three aspects in interrupting sound waves: to improve the source of the sound/noise; to change/improve the process of transmission; to reduce noise when sound reaches people's ears. The solution to the first aspect is to create a more delightful sound, which is not the case in an office environment. The third aspect is for people to have protection on their ears, such as ear shield or a headset. However, in an office environment, it is often not allowed to use headset. Therefore, the key to solving bad acoustic in an office environment is to improve the process of the transmission. SURVEY 90% 90% office workers find that conversations and priter beeping are the most annoying BAD ACOUSTIC IS ANNOYING 4
The brand MATSU Concepts & Ideas PEELING WALL MATSU B2B Start its own furniture brand European office furniture brand distributor Ginko Leaves Chinese company with european feel WALK-THROUGH PARTITION new business acoustic problem How might we create INNOVATIVE WORKSPACE for MATSU through solving BAD ACOUSTIC problems? GROWING LEAVES 5
Concept - Growing Leaves Rough Models & Structure Exploration SCENARIO At the same time, the furniture forms a multi-facet enclosure which can be used for a office phone booth in order to minimalize the disturbance. Leaves growing from the wall can create a piece of furniture which could absorb part of the sound and reduce direct reflection of noise created by office equipments such as an annoying printer. 6
Color Product Prototypes Colors are delicately chosen to match the existing MATSU product line. The colors also reflect the nature in order to bring you the right feeling from nature indoor. 101 102 201 202 103 104 203 204 Combination: 100 Combination: 200 301 302 401 402 303 304 403 404 Combination: 300 Combination: 400 501 502 601 602 503 504 603 604 Combination: 500 Combination: 600 Materials The materials used for the product is wool felt, sound-absorbing foam and Polylactic Acid (PLA). Wool felt makes the cover of the product. The unique tactility of wool felt together with the colors create a comfort and relaxing visual feeling. Sound absorbing foam is used to absorb as much noise as possible. PLA, a normally 3D printing material, is used for building the connection parts. It would be possilbe for companies, which has a 3D printer, to easily print out the amount of connections they needed easily. 7
MATSU right for you and nature Leafs 森 The NAME 森 is the Chinese character for forest. It is combined with three same character 木, which means tree in Chinese. The three(multiple) trees form a forest which resembles our design - every single cell is a Leaf; with multiple Leafs, they form the final product. How to assemble Leafs is the new acoustic product from MATSU that will give you quiet and comfortable sound in your workspace. Use Leafs as you like, and in the color combination that is suitable for you. With inspiration from the nature Leafs will try to imitate the feeling of being outside and feeling peaceful. It will improve your work environment and give you the right feeling during the day. Without unnecessary noise you can focus on your work. You can use Leafs to hang on the wall, from the ceiling or even build a sculpture to place on the floor. Combine the Leafs as you want to improve acoustic and make use of an in the unused space. Leafs comes in 3 sizes: small, medium and large. All can be combined but the only limitation would be your mind. Be playful with Leafs and create a variety never seen before. With Leafs we give you back good acoustic. 8
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