Core77

Blast from the past: Hi-tech workstation from 1995

By Rain Noe - April 14, 2009

in Object Culture

Gary Fulkerson, who runs a design/engineering firm by the name of The Core Ideation (no affiliation with Core77), sent us these pics of The Webcruiser, a workstation circa 1995. ("Sorry about the mullet," Fulkerson writes, "it was in style back then.")

We love how bulky the monitors looked back then--the workstation almost looks like a James-Bond-villain-esque contraption designed to kill the occupant using the monitor, gravity, and some kind of release switch.

Hit the jump for more photos. Can't decide if you want to see more? Take some time, mullet over.

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Gary

10 years ago

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This was not a serious product meant to be manufactured or even considered for such. The original concept was penned by Mike Risse. This fantasy concept was just a fun thing to have around the studio space. It beat the hell out of Steelcase desk from that era. I actually used the purple one with the Wacom tablet as my desk for a year. If you'll notice the user sits all the way back in the seat, I bet you don't do that in your lame office chair. I was sitting in this thing for more than 12 hours a day and was comfortable the entire time. As I recall the computer was a 66MHz processor, eight megabytes of RAM and a 320-megabyte hard drive. Where now my box has 128GB DDR3 of RAM with 3 CUDA and Tesla GPUs at 14.5GB and 8TB of storage. A few things have changed sense '95. One thing that doesn't show in the photos is that almost everything was adjustable to fit the user. The power adjustable seats were both heated and cooled, even the mouse pad was able to swap over to the left. Most of the comments were pretty hash considering how early in the computer craze this was built (actually in 1994). There was very little innovative computer hardware technology at that time that was available off the shelf. No customer paid for developing this concept in the days of the mullet, it was just for fun.
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Tommi Salonen

14 years ago

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This kind of furniture was designed also by Finnish architect group Valvomo at 1995:

http://www.valvomo.fi/fi/dyncontent/tuotteet_item.php?id=3
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PaulC

14 years ago

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Ken,

Comments were meant re the computer hardware, not the iMac (valid minor point). As for that god-awful mechanical contraption, there were tons of others that made it to market actually.

As for "Design has led the industry away from complexity and towards unification of devices or at least their components as well as their interfaces.", I largely disagree that designers were the main source of pressure for the integration an miniaturization of hardware. Cost-saving technologies were, and the eternal impetus for increased profit. That some designers were quick to implement these, it's all to their credit. But it took a few engineering leaps for that to happen first.
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SeanK

14 years ago

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haha, the wheels (with shocks!) and racing seats are ridiculous. Where are you really going with that 30 pound monitor?
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Ken

14 years ago

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@PaulC
You're forgetting the iMacs! They were able to make the CRT sexy for a hot minute. Design has led the industry away from complexity and towards unification of devices or at least their components as well as their interfaces.

This thing just looks gangly and does nothing to unify the computing experience besides forcing a posture on the user. Thank GOD for minimalist influences in today's tech. I also love the fact that more and more devices require less and less complexity in terms of their interfaces. Look at how many constraints are put on the user in this design. This thing is telling you where to sit, where to put your mouse, that you have to use a mouse, where your feet go, where you look, etc. I'd feel overly confined in such a work environment (not that my current work environment isn't any better). I'm interested in the concept of hot-desking, but I'd yet to see a solution that'll make me a fan. I don't think this product does that very well anyways. The only thing this seems to do well is emulate the arcade experience which is pretty much an echo of the past nowadays and was pretty juvenile in 1995.

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Karlis

14 years ago

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As a designer i don't like it very much, no place for my sketches, coffee, documents. But as a driving sim fan, thats the coolest thing iv ever seen,... Just ad a Logitech wheel and its Brilliant. Some of my friends have tried to build something similar but failed miserably.
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PaulC

14 years ago

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Actually, with the exception of the monitor (to judge by the photos), what has really changed in ... uh ... 14 years? Not much. And you can't credit "designers" for flat-screen LCDs either. So much for design-led "progress".

Designers follow technology and the engineers, and they always will.
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