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If you travel back in time and show a student from the 1950s an iPad or Twitter they'd have a tough time making sense of it; show them a classroom desk, though, and they'd see it's changed little.
Steelcase's IDEO-designed Node chair aims to change that, with a modern re-fresh of the schoolroom desk-chair combo.
Its most significant feature is the casters that allow students to pivot and swivel, following dynamic presentations, or quickly move the desks into circles or conference tables depending on the task at hand. Off-the-floor storage is provided underneath the chair, and backpacks can also be hung from the armrests for quick access to materials. And the generously-sized desk surface is meant to hold an entire laptop without any precarious cantilevering.
Steelcase and IDEO have even taken the physical receiving of the Node into account: Shipped in three pieces, the Node can be assembled in 30 seconds without tools!
Read more about the Node and the methodology behind its design here.
via fast company
Comments
Really not seeing the benefit here, and a fair number of downsides. The materials look nice, but the desktop surface is exactly the same size as existing solutions, and beneath-the-chair storage is already there, too.
The casters are actually a problem, potentially. I can just see harried teachers having to deal with kids rolling their desks around the room, just wiggling them back and forth -- or even playing bumper cars with them. It depends on the inertia of the casters in question, I'm sure. But even a typical office chair kind of roll could be disruptive in class.
The noise issue when desks are rearranged has been handled by teachers already with the tennis ball hack:
http://www.visuallee.com/weblog/images/tennisballs.jpg
Could there be a solution more like that? Allowing quiet rearrangement without actually turning the desks into vehicles?No one has solved it yet.
Can I have the original one back? The new one, while chock full o' features looks medical.
I love the concept of a modular classroom environment and I think this goes along way to help that. I'm concerned about a few factors though.
A: Durability.
#1 The Casters look like 2nd class $20 office chair plastic. Perhaps metal or rubber could take the test of time better.
#2 The rotating table top could really use a little beefing up, kids will likely be laying on them at some point.
B: Human Factors.
#1) The Casters and table top, should have some way to lock. Either after a certain weight load is placed on them, or a click that would engage at least two wheels at once. Why? Imagine anyone standing next to a chair wanting to take a little load off by leaning on it.
#2) I remember my backpack habitually being to tall for under my chair. I wonder how the loading of this will affect a chair while empty of student. (but were all going digital right? no need for backpacks when we just carry our tablets.
Cool...more crappy plastic furniture that takes 10,000 years to break down...but at least you can assemble it in 30 sec's.
A good eye idea is done.
I prefer the original
How do you carve your name into it?
I doubt this desk was designed for classrooms where students would be using it as a cheep thrill. This would be great for progressive learning environments that would benefit from adaptable classroom configurations. Not having to drag your desk back and forth or scoop up all your stuff every time you want to move around would be so nice.
Haters gonna hate. If you had grown up with these and had to go back to the originals, you'd find flaws with the originals. It's only uncomfortable to accept because its so different. Early adopters will be progressive schools that "get it".