ANN ARBOR—Downsizing. Yes, corporations are downsizing not only their work force, but also their work space. So more staff are “working on the move,” which might include working in a parked car, on a train or plane, in a hotel room, or on the dining table at home. To accommodate the needs of these workers on the move, University of Michigan students, in collaboration with Herman Miller for the Home, designed variations of an “Office in a Box.”

As members of Shaun Jackson‘s class in U-M’s School of Art and Design, the students were challenged to design and build a foldaway home office that might be a piece of furniture when not in use as an office. The designs also had to be lightweight, transportable, and perhaps able to be carried as a suitcase that could be set up in a hotel room or at home.

Whatever the design, the finished product had to be able to be quickly unpacked, assembled, and used; claim a clear working space for its user; be able to function within a conventional office setting when necessary; be manufacturable now or in the foreseeable future; be durable but also easily maintainable and repairable; be economically viable with a clear potential to succeed in the marketplace; be more sustainable than existing comparable products; and communicate to its user the values that informed its design and production.

This type of corporate collaboration gives students the opportunity to respond to “real world design and presentation,” says Jackson. “The teams operate as self-contained design firms in competition with one another this time to create a home office that can be shipped in a box, RTA—ready to assemble.”

Herman Miller for the HomeShaun Jackson