Research: Office furniture, new directions in rehabilitation and training for inmates

Between 2017 and 2019 a research project was conducted between the Integrated Product Design Research unit (IPD-R) and Corrective Services Industries, (CSI), part of the NSW Department of Communities and Justice. IPD-R is made up of UTS product design academics; Pandolfo, Lie, Walden and Nemme and CSI commercialises furniture that is fabricated in workshops inside correctional centres by inmates.

IPD-R was engaged to research and design solutions for office furniture manufacture at CSI. The commercial arm of CSI is interested in making their product more competitive aesthetically and functionally more advanced, while the correctional arm is concerned with rehabilitation and training.

The project has led to the design of a system of fabrication techniques that meet the needs of rehabilitation and training and enables safe and effective construction of a sophisticated range of commercial office furniture products.