Cross program event 1th January.
“You walk into a classroom and everything looks the same. All of the furniture — the desks, tables and chairs — is of a uniform style. Maybe there are student desks arranged in neat rows, or maybe there are tables clustered together in groups of four. Regardless of the layout, it doesn’t matter where you plop down: Every seat is exactly alike.
Or, you walk into the room and see a variety of seating types. There are tables arranged in groups of three or four, but also soft seating options. There are traditional plastic chairs, but also stools that swivel or rock.
If you’re a student, which scenario would get you more fired up to learn? Which classroom environment is more likely to unleash students’ creativity and individualism? Which one sends a subtle message that independent thought and activity are discouraged?” Lock 2020
I had never given much thought to the furniture within a classroom, and how this can impact a students learning. During James Corazzo’s talk about pedagogic research, I did think back to a former MA costume student who looked at why people choose the sofa’s they do. She pointed out that so many TV sitcoms have a sofa as a major focus within the shows. Friends, The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons, Fraser, How I met your Mother, the list goes on. Why is the sofa so important? This is the focus of comfort within your home that you share with the family and people who come to visit. Th choice of the sofa we choose inside our homes reflect who we are, what our personality is. We make this decision, not only for ourselves, but also based on how we also want to be perceived by guests that visit us. This is not a private piece of furniture, but one that we invite others to sit on and feel comfortable within our homes. This is what gives us insight to characters in all these T.V shows, its where the most important dialogue takes place. This subconscious association with comfort is what allows students and staff to feel more relaxed whilst on a sofa within a learning environment.
‘At the risk of sounding sedentary, I spend most of my teaching day in this zone [sofa]. I’ve never in any previous studio had “official sofas” … There’s something where its therapeutic and that whole language of couch. People seem to talk easier, they come over, they sit down, the feel comfortable. Things are passed between, laptops are passed across, student might show you something and you put it on your knee.’ Tutor 2
It makes me wonder why I have not seen more comfortable learning spaces within the site I work at? (LCF Lime Grove)
References
Lock, D. 2020. 4 Reasons to Build Choice into Classroom Design — and How to Make It Work for Students Available at https://spaces4learning.com/articles/2020/04/01/4-reasons-to-build-choice-into-classroom-design-and-how-to-make-it-work-for-students.aspx Accessed 5/2/23.
Tutor 2. 2023. Part of the Furniture UAL available at https://moodle.arts.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/1494137/mod_label/intro/PRES_Part%20of%20the%20Furniture%20UAL.pdf Accessed 5/2/23
Malenfant, M 2020. Couch available at https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-fashion/stories/lcfma19-costume-design-for-performance-part-one Accessed 5/2/23.