Metric Handbook – Planning and Design Data
Edited by David Adler
The book provides a large amount of measurements for interior, architecture and landscape design. The data suggest the differences between male and female measurements. There are also suggestions and examples of designing various facilities, furniture and spaces. There are several charts in the chapter <Basic data design> that provide dimensions of men’s and women’s percentiles, including sitting postures. There is also a separate chart that includes the data of adults of different nationalities. These data are crucial for my project because I am designing chairs for women.
Reading through this book provides me with a new aspect of chair design. The measurements and dimensions are shown as percentiles. Therefore, no design satisfies every individual. As for my project, designing a chair by following the given data is not the solution.
I am designing for females who are eliminated from the dinner table according to my previous research. Therefore, they need to sit for a considerably long period, and they might feel starved or bored by the wait. My design is to help them to feel more comfortable.
Ccc (Cross Culture Chairs)
CCC is a project that explores cultural and social differences through chairs and sitting behaviours. The Sicilian designer Matteo Guarnaccia collaborates with selected local designers and studios from 8 different countries. The project showcases eight chairs that are created based on each country. The project aims to merge and situate the culture in one chair. The ‘China chair’ is designed by Benwu Studio——a design studio based in Beijing and Shanghai, and produced by M.X.M. —— a furniture factory in China. The prototype of the ‘China chair’ delivers a fusion of plastic chairs that are commonly seen and used in China but covered with cushions and red fabric.
I have also included the plastic chair in my research for visual references because the object is just too hard to neglect when talking about chairs in the cultural context of China.
Citation
Adler, D. (ed.) (1969) Metric Handbook: Planning and Design Data. 2nd edn. Oxford: Architectural Press.
CCC (2021) CCC. Available at: https://crossculturalchairs.com/ (Accessed: 1 October 2023).