Measure and Mis-Measure: Rethinking Anthropometry in Interior Design

Abstract

In this paper, I critique the use of anthropometry in interior design. First, I present an overview of the problematic history of anthropometry, revealing how supposedly objective measurements of human physical diversity were used by scientists, colonial administrators, eugenicists, generals, and engineers to advance immoral projects of racism, domination, control, and violence. Next, examining a case study of the ergonomic design for a seated computer operator, I discuss the practical difficulties designers encounter when relying upon anthropometric data to solve design problems. Discussion of the limitations and inadequacies of scientific/technocratic discourses, such as anthropometry, for understanding cultural objects, such as human bodies, frames the conclusion. I call for the development of new paradigms for understanding the human body in interior space that are responsive to and supportive of the widest possible diversity of human physical and social forms.