Inspiration for collaboration

My research at DesignLab1 has been incredibly fruitful. One of the earliest and perhaps most obvious demands has been for versatility in design. A computer table may used as a dinner table or a workbench, or even a podium for displaying completed work. Work areas also have to incorporate multiple users in all of these situations.

Some of my early ideations are exploring the possibility of expandability. How can a singular table incorporate multiple work surfaces? How does a surface need to change from catering to a single user to a situation involving multiple users, or even no users?

Lighting also presents an interesting problem. The space currently utilizes a plug+play track lighting grid that should allow users to direct light where needed. Oddly enough, this never happens! Instead I've watched users move tables TO areas of light- A similar situation also occurs with the tables: While both the tables and chairs are on rollers, users will move several chairs to the tables, rather than moving the single table to the chairs. It's quite amusing to watch but also valuable insight into how the design semantics of the current furnishings are perceived.

Below are a couple of interesting youtube videos that address issues of scale in an interesting way.