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Furniture Trends in Education & Health Care

The classroom setting that most people remember has changed. Rigid rows of bulky desks and chairs have given way to lightweight, reconfigurable furniture that meets the needs of modern education.

A “one-size-fits-all” approach to instruction no longer works. Different subject matters, student proficiency levels, and a range of other factors require teachers to vary their tactics several times throughout the day.

At the same time, managers of educational facilities must meet challenges such as maximizing space, integrating technology, and optimizing budget.

All of these issues can be addressed with the right type of furniture. Therefore, when evaluating furniture for the classroom, facility managers should seek solutions that provide the greatest flexibility for students, teachers, administrators, and staff.

Creating the Right Conditions
Teachers need to be able to easily change their environment to accommodate their preferred methods of instruction and students’ various learning styles. Adaptable classrooms foster an “active learning” environment that focuses on instilling knowledge, rather than just delivering information. This approach often encourages students to cluster in groups or other creative configurations to foster better communication and idea sharing. Traditional furniture and classroom design, unfortunately, were not conducive to these flexible methods.

However, lightweight, portable furniture makes it easy for teachers and students to alter the layout or use of a classroom. Teachers have the option of configuring rows for tests, circles for collaborative assignments, and semi-circles for lectures or presentations.

Mobile desks and chairs also support active learning by allowing teachers and students to move closer together. For example, teachers can shift around the room from day to day or lesson to lesson. Students can be easily moved closer to the front of the room to improve their attentiveness and auditory experience.

Flexible furniture also offers more ergonomic advantages that can further enhance a student’s performance potential. Facility managers can select desks and chairs with adjustable heights and depths to accommodate each student’s body type. Having furniture that easily adapts to the shape and weight of students makes them more comfortable and receptive to learning.

Reducing Facility Costs
In addition to enhancing the learning experience, portable furniture can help facility managers safeguard their infrastructure and personnel investments. Lightweight, mobile furniture, for example, protects flooring as it easily glides across the floor and virtually eliminates damage to the surface caused by traditional desks and chairs.

The reduction in requirements for maintenance and custodial staff offers additional savings. Having portable furniture means employees do not have to spend time lifting desks and chairs to reconfigure the classroom for the next day’s activities. Custodial staff can also clean the class-rooms more efficiently. In addition, the lightweight design of mobile furniture can minimize back injury—and worker’s compensation costs.

Maximizing Limited Space
Beyond desks and chairs, architectural walls also enable facility managers to maximize classroom flexibility, utilize limited space and reduce expenses. These special walls allow facility managers to instantly convert classrooms from open to closed or change the size of a room based on the number of students. With just four to five basic parts, architectural walls can be easily installed, removed and reinstalled—and at less expense than traditional drywall.

Designing with technology in mind can further optimize a classroom’s space. For example, training and lecture tables can be outfitted with mechanisms that store laptop or desktop computers beneath the table surface. This allows a traditional classroom to be quickly and easily transformed into a computer lab and back again.

When making decisions that impact the educational environment, teachers, administrators and facility managers have more factors to consider than ever before. However, having classroom furniture that fosters flexibility can enhance the learning experience and serve as a smart investment.

Health Care
Traditionally, healthcare facility design featured a standardized style that felt sterile and institutional. Today, the emphasis is evolving toward interiors that create a supportive environment for patients, families and staff.

Furniture represents one of the most important considerations for hospitals shifting to a warmer, more inviting environment. As the design element that everyone personally interacts with, it helps set the tone for the overall healthcare environment.

Issues Impacting Health Care Furniture Factors such as patient needs, business concerns and changing demo-graphics, have a major influence on a hospital’s design and furniture purchases.

From a patient-care perspective, modern hospitals focus more than ever on offering comfort, privacy, dignity and respect. Many hospitals utilize a holistic approach to healing that encompasses the mind, body and soul.

Business wise, hospital administrators face increasingly intense competition. At the same time, they are challenged by the needs to improve financial performance, maintain high-quality employees, and effectively market their facilities and services.

Demographic factors impacting healthcare design include the aging Baby Boomer generation and its expectations of high quality. Other influential demographic issues include the expanding number of family members involved in patient care, cultural differences among patients and families and the increasing role of women as healthcare decision makers. Having the right type of furniture can help hospitals effectively address each of these trends.

Helping Patients and Family Feel at Home
Modern healthcare design aims to create supportive environments that are nurturing and comfortable for patients and their families. A common theory holds that a softer aesthetic will remind patients of home, lead to greater relaxation and, ultimately, reduce healing time. As a result, hospitals are moving to a more residential style and because research has shown that women are playing a greater role in selecting healthcare facilities for themselves and their families, furniture solutions are often designed to fit women’s preferences.

Choosing a residential look and feel offers more opportunities for creative design within a hospital. Furniture, for example, is increasingly designed as part of a collection—rather than stand-alone pieces—to create a coordinated and complementary aesthetic. These collections allow a consistent visual theme to be carried throughout an entire health care facility (similar to residential interior design) from public spaces to patient rooms.

To further establish a comforting, residential environment, furniture fabrics feature more sophisticated color hues. An overall warming of the palette is represented by new colors such as persimmon, burnt orange, gold mustard and cornflowers. Cool colors, such as greens, turquoise and ice are gaining popularity, while seafoam and sage remain the healthcare classics.
 
Designing for Practical Considerations
Bringing the feeling of home to the hospital involves more than just aesthetics. A facility’s design must also accommodate family and friends filling an extended role in patient care. Solutions like sleeper recliners and sleeper sofas provide seating for guests during the day and fold-out beds at night. If needed, folding chairs offer additional seating.

As they move toward creating a more supportive atmosphere, facility managers need to consider the functional requirements of various environments within hospitals and acute care facilities. For example, patient and waiting rooms have to accommodate the increasing size of Americans. The obesity epidemic creates a need for furniture appropriate for people of varying sizes and weights. Seating solutions for hospitals are often designed in different sizes and are durable enough to withstand heavier weight loads—all while maintaining a softer look and feel.

Another practical consideration for hospitals involves reducing the spread of infections. While infection control involves the cooperation of everyone at a health care facility, the use of antimicrobial textiles on furniture can help to minimize bacteria.

Furniture solutions have evolved in response to the rapid changes taking place in the health care market. With furniture developed specifically for hospitals and acute care environments, facility managers have broader opportunities to ensure that their facilities are furnished to create a positive experience for patients, family and staff.

By Brian Krenke, Vice President of Marketing for KI.

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