The office chair
Let’s make alternative workplace strategies work
On your way to the office…
Everybody knows the feeling; again you're later than
usual on your way to office because earlier that
morning you had an appointment elsewhere, and
there’s not a parking lot left anywhere near the
office.
Then you finally walk into the office to the area
where you usually sit to find out that there’s not a
single desk free. After a long search, you finally find
an empty desk on a lower floor, right next to the
copier, where it’s virtually impossible to concentrate.
Alternative Workplace Strategies
The previous example is exactly the opposite of
what you want to achieve as an organization if you
want to introduce Alternative Workplace Strategies.
Our idea combines several innovative techniques
and services to come to a complete solution in the
quest of changing to a sustainable government.
Key in our solution is the ability to monitor the utilization of various municipal
buildings in an interactive way and communicate this to a broad audience.
Previously this could be monitored by the number of people logged on on
fixed PCs. With the upcoming use of wireless equipment this is outdated.
Yet there is a facility that almost everyone uses, and that is the office chair.
Upgrading office chairs
And that’s exactly why we are going to
upgrade the existing office chairs.
We will be using a sensor to determine
if the chair is occupied or not. We put
the sensor on a circuit board with a
WIFI transmitter, which will send a
signal to the nearest router.
This sounds pretty good already, but
you would need a battery or a power
cable to make this work.
Using Piezo energy
For this we have an ingenious solution; we use Piezo elements that we put
on the frame of the chair.
The Piezo elements generate energy by vibration, so when a user sits down
or moves, a small amount of energy will be generated.
This energy is sufficient to operate the circuit board and to make wireless
presence detection possible.
A single Piëzo
element 
 (Piëzo-)Electricity when
applying pressure
Interactive smart solutions
We make this information easily
accessible for a broad audience by means
of e.g. Smartphone applications.
We connect these apps to other useful
data and other applications such as the
availability of free parking spaces,
convenient public transport hubs and
bicycle charging stations.
The information can also be viewed
at conveniently located touchscreens
in the entrance of the buildings.
Eindhoven city centre parking 
 Eindhoven public transport
The result; a peek into the future
Again you are a bit late on your way to the office. But this time, before you
leave, you check with your Eindhoven-app on your Smartphone where
there are free public workspaces.
The moment you see a good location, you immediately reserve this
workspace. The application indicated that parking spaces are
barely available in the vicinity of the building, but provides
a good alternative with a transfer from car to train.
So, you arrive at the office and open the app; it gives a description of the
fastest way to the booked spot, close to the window and some good
colleagues. A spot you always like….
Creating Sustainable Solutions
for a Better Environment
Consultants and engineers since 1928
Mission statement
• We want to contribute to society by
creating sustainable solutions for a
better environment
• We specialise in the design,
improvement and management of
the natural and built environment
Facts and Figures
Tauw Group
Established
1928
Headquarters
Deventer, The Netherlands
Turnover
EUR 114 million
Ownership
Shareholder Foundation
Executive Board
Annemieke Nijhof (chair)
Branch offices
23 offices in 6 countries
Employees
1,100
Contact
• Naomi Keijser
• T: +31 61 18 71 60 4
E: [email protected]