When participatory workspace design meets engineering design in collaborative events

The Danish Workspace Design research program has developed and tested a new concept for ergonomists to intervene in design processes. In the case of an industrial manufacturer two sets of workshops were applied. The first set was based on a layout design game. The second set was use scenarios in which the future work processes and ergonomics were simulated. These workshops succeeded in reframing the engineering design project to include ergonomics and work processes. A layout game board, documents with schematic representations and a production manager turned out to be appropriate transmitters of insights and results from the workshop to the engineering design process.