Bad Designs on Campus - Submission
Trapped in Class
Problem description: Room 1610 IOE is the heart of the IOE building, and the location of the department’s core undergraduate class in ergonomics: IOE 333. However, the chairs in 1610 IOE are notorious for their lack of comfort and creakiness. Like a lumpy sofa bed mattress, the chairs never seem to fit right; sitting in one for only 10 minutes makes the body go near numb. Because of the discomfort caused by the chairs, students are continually shifting their bodies in an attempt to redistribute their discomfort. However, in doing so, the never-lubricated chairs begin to sing their soprano-like song of squeaks; if only the Tin Man (from The Wizard of Oz) could lend us his oil can for a day, perhaps we could actually hear the lecturer speak. Nonetheless, despite these likely known quibbles, my beef with the chairs is actually about their inability to release a sitting student from their clutches once seated: it is nearly impossible to get up from a seat in 1610 IOE without bumping knees with your immediate neighbor. Perhaps some freshmen wishing to make new acquaintances enjoy this phenomenon, but I do not. Despite my 95th percentile male height, it appears that even those under 5’ 5” seem to have a similar problem. The 21st century equivalent of a portcullis, the chairs make it especially difficult to exit the classroom when lecture is over; perhaps the intention of the IOE departmental staff who ordered the chairs.
Proposed solution:Although a simple solution would be to require more space between chairs, this would reduce the lecture room size. Instead, I propose a rather simple solution. Figure 1 presents a crude representation of the current seat-bottom cushion design of the chairs in 1610 IOE.
Figure 1. Current Seat-bottom Cushion Design
My solution is to simply install seat-bottom cushions with thigh cutouts so that individuals can retract their legs a bit when getting out of the seat. (Solution is shown in Figure 2.) This would provide students with adequate support while permitting them to retract their legs.
Figure 2. Proposed Seat-bottom Cushion Design
Another solution would leave the seat bottom cushions in tact, but simply change the linkage with which they are anchored to the lecture desk. Currently, the seats must move on a fixed, circular arc, due to their overly-simplistic 2-bar linkage design. Figure 3 presents the current seat linkage design.
Figure 3. Current Seat Linkage Design
However, by adding a two separate linkages, such as those shown in Figure 4, the chairs would be able to swivel out in a more-constrained path—due to the 4-bar linkage—thus facilitating an ease of exit.
Figure 4. Proposed Linkage Design
Return to view other submissions