Eames Soft Pad Armchair on Drafting Chair Base Prototype

In The Office: A Facility Based on Change, Robert Propst’s treatise on the deficient state of the workplace (and the remedy offered by his new invention, Action Office 2), he writes, “In office facilities a false assessment of comfort as total maintenance concern coupled with a tendency to group all services around a single seated workstation creates a direction that needs altering.” In other words, people need to get up and move around more. In accordance with that principle, the Eames Office devised this prototype in 1970 as an extension of the Soft Pad Group and potential solution for supporting seated postures at standing-height desks and tables. Ultimately the weight of the chair made it top-heavy, the single point of connection between the base column and tilt mechanism proved to be troublesome. For the prototype, attaching the Soft Pad required custom metalwork and a production model would have required a unique base, nullifying the benefits of a systems approach. The piping on the cushions also distinguishes this example from production models.