Haworth Ideation Group — IRRIGATOR Power & Data Distribution System
Patent Awarded | Business Week IDEA Gold Award (Office Concepts) | NeoCon 1996
As a member of Haworth's Ideation Group, I developed the IRRIGATOR Power & Data Distribution System, an award-winning workplace concept that reimagined how power, data, and furniture could be organized within an open office.
Presented as a fully functional prototype at NeoCon 1996, the system inverted the conventional raised-floor infrastructure by relocating power and data distribution overhead. Fourteen-foot suspended fiberglass structures—nicknamed "canoes"—served as architectural carriers for power, data, lighting, and furniture support, allowing workstations, screens, and accessories to be deployed from vertical posts below while maintaining exceptional planning flexibility.
The project embodied an aquatic design language centered on the idea that "power flows like water." To reinforce this narrative, I collaborated with a West Michigan boat manufacturer to develop the suspended fiberglass structures, drawing upon their expertise in composite construction. Additional elements, including translucent silicone zippered storage bags inspired by kelp and sea life, reflected memories of my childhood on Banks Peninsula, New Zealand, and extended the biomorphic character of the system.
The IRRIGATOR concept received a Business Week IDEA Gold Award for Office Concepts, recognizing its innovative approach to workplace infrastructure and planning.
Following its public debut, the concept attracted significant attention within the design community. Peter Stathis, then Head of the Master's in Design program at Cranbrook Academy of Art, requested that the prototype become part of the school's Design Gallery. Haworth ultimately declined the request because of intellectual property considerations.
The project also represented an early exploration of overhead infrastructure as the organizing element of the workplace. Its introduction preceded the emergence of several later overhead workplace systems, and the similarities between IRRIGATOR and subsequent commercial products have led many—including members of our team—to believe it helped influence later directions within the office furniture industry..
