Anthropometrics

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I can distinctly remember the time between fourth and fifth grade when I grew an unfortunate foot seemingly overnight. Both the desks and the boys in my classrooms were just too short for me and I had accepted the fact that I was bound to be a starter on my middle school’s basketball team. Well, I was wrong and today at 5’3” I am pretty average to the rest of my female peers. But thinking back to the time when my legs scraped the desk tops, I wonder why a greater set of anthropometrics wasn’t taken into consideration in the design of my elementary school classroom. Anthropometrics is “the study of human body measurements on a comparative basis… its applicability to the design process is seen in the physical fit, or interface, between the human body and the various components of interior space” (Panero, Zelnik). Anthropometrics is a part of the design of everything we use in a room. It is evident in spaces that we frequent, especially public spaces, that the design was intended for people with different anthropometrics than others. 

    As I am writing this, I am sitting opposite my friend in a small coffee shop in Asheville.  She is a few inches shorter than me and we share a similar stature. As soon as we entered the coffee shop, we both found ourselves drawn to the bench/chair sitting arrangement as it most appealing among the tall counters and barstools. After sitting here for a while, I tried to cross my legs, but noticed the bench was too close to the table for me to do so, although the girl sitting right next to me on the bench can comfortably cross hers with ease. Also, I can easily rest my arms upon the table to type, without stretching my back unlike my friend who has to stretch to reach her latte. A few feet to the left of us, a man sits in the barstool at the counter and is obviously extending his arms to reach his laptop without slumping over. Opposite of him in the coffee shop, another man is sitting at the identical counter and barstools, but this time he is slumped over to do his work and his legs reach the height of the counter. In the front of the store, the ordering counter reaches the waist of just about every patron that has entered the shop, not including the children. Every worker and customer has bent over to receive or give money back, and it is an awkward height for both sides of the transaction. Although behind the counter, the work station comes up to a comfortable height for the baristas to make their perfect brews. This quick day trip provided many opportunities to see how anthropometrics is used in various public spaces.

Resources 

Panero, J., & Zelnik, M. (2014, November 21). Human Dimension & Interior Space: A Source Book of Design Reference Standards. Retrieved from http://www.idsa.org/bookshelf/human-interaction/human-dimension-interior-space-source-book-design-reference-standards