Metropolis - April 2012

enables Steelcase to develop products that genuinely are globally desired.

Ludwig and Armbruster point to the
media:scape® desk system, which was
launched two and one-half years ago,
as a prime example. Says Armbruster,
“We asked, How does the ubiquity of
access to information change the way
people collaborate? And the insights
that came out of that question related
to the idea of giving information a seat
at the table.”
The question addressed a perplexing
fact of modern business life: People
bring laptops to meetings, and when
an attendee raises a subject, everyone
puts their head down and starts goog-
ling. “We thought, How do we democ-
ratize that process in a way that lets
people engage with one another?”
Armbruster says. And so media:scape
was born—a system that allows people
to share what’s on their laptops via
screen projection, thereby converting
an individual information source into
a group tool. The solution’s plug-and-
play simplicity and user-friendliness
can be combined with high-definition
videoconferencing for long-distance
collaborations. “And the original ques-
tion,” notes Armbruster, “didn’t imply
anything about what product might
be appropriate.”
Steelcase’s node® chair grew out
of a comparable inquiry, this one into
classrooms—which, says Sean Corcor-
ran, general manager of the company’s
Education Solutions division, “look
the same as they did 150 years ago:
students looking at the back of every-
one else’s heads.” What research
revealed was a paradigm shift in
education, away from the lecture-and-
memorization model, to a more multi-
modal “active learning” approach
that has students moving around the
classroom and forming teams to,

says Corcorran, “construct their own
knowledge. But there wasn’t much
of a change in how the classroom was
actually laid out, or the furniture in it.”
The node chair, with which Steel-
case filled this void in the education
market, reinvents the classic tablet
arm chair by putting it on casters,
adding a swivel seat, and replacing the
under-the-seat book rack of yesteryear
with a broad dish that’s big enough for
a backpack. “So now students don’t
have to pick their packs off the floor
if the teacher says, ‘Get into groups,’”
Corcorran observes. “And they don’t
have to get out of the chairs to move,
because of the casters.” Another plus:
the built-in desk is adjustable, as,
Corcorran says delicately, “students
are getting larger.”