The PowerPOST designed by Choi Won Seok and Kim Do Yeop came away with an award in the home furnishings category of the Reddot Design Concept 2009contest, maximizing utility in a minimal amount of space. We'd certainly buy one as an-add piece for build-your-own desk purposes...
PowerPOST functions as a fourth leg for desks as well as an electronic environment for the servicing of electrical appliances used on the desk. The concept represents “eco convergence” by merging two objects into one and therefore reducing people’s levels of consumption. After PowerPOST is assembled and plugged in, a multi-outlet socket becomes a part of the desk itself. Electronic goods can be plugged directly into the PowerPOST table leg rather than into separate multi-outlet sockets. The number of cords draped throughout a room can be reduced as a single cord runs from PowerPOST to a wall socket.
Frankly, we're quite surprised more home office furniture manufacturers haven't taken cord, wire and outlet management more seriously like this design. Build your own companies like IKEA and Crate & Barrel would do well to offer customers work desks solutions with integrated features which help hide and organize wires. The best we've seen thus far is the Bluelounge StudioDesk (shown above), but desktop users would need something larger. Here's hoping 2010 is the year home office furniture begins to catch up with the needs of tech users!
You will need electric outlets everywhere at the workplace, e.g. behind the refrigerator, the stove, and behind the coffee machine. But not everyone could afford to install dedicated electric outlets everywhere you may need, and sometimes we do have to be creative with outlets, and the table with outlets on its leg has provided us with a new choice. Equipping some outlets onto one leg of the table, the designers have successfully solved the problem of messy cords on the floor or the table. Everything is highly organized now!
Designers: Choi Won Seok & Kim Do Yeop