Summary: | The Danish Workspace Design (WSD) research program aims to develop and test a potential new concept for ergonomists and other workplace consultants who are to engage in socio-technical design processes. The objective of this paper is to report on the trial run of the workspace design concept in a case involving the design and implementation of a new mixing technology in an industrial plant. The case showed how the WSD concept can contribute to an engineering design process. The WSD team assumed the role of workspace designer and, through participatory workshops, achieved an impact on the technological project. The dialogue between users and design engineers was facilitated by intermediary objects such as workbooks, layout game boards, and 3D scale models. In the role of workspace designer, it was important for the WSD team to make sure that the achievements in the workshops were “transmitted” to and sustained in the ordinary engineering design process. In this case, it was found that artifacts such as a layout game board and documents with compilations of ideas and requirements from scenarios for use served as appropriate transmitting devices or as inscriptions of the discussed ideas.
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