Designing Student’s Seating Furniture for Classroom Environment

Abstract

Classroom furniture is an important facility that helps in providing a conducive, comfortable and functional environment for students in educational institution. To explore the design compatibility of the existing furniture for the of students use in classroom, the study was conducted in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad covering 100 students randomly selected as sample representing 10 undergraduate colleges. Four types of furniture were found to be in use in classrooms viz., sled desks, chair with arm tablet, table with chair and table with bench. The opinion of the students with regard to classroom seating furniture revealed that some furniture parts and their dimensions were inconvenient for use and uncomfortable to sit. From the opinion and suggestions given by the students and the anthropometrical consideration; the guidelines for designing students seating furniture were framed. Two types of furniture designs namely chair with arm tablet and sled desk were evolved to overcome the design deficiency.