When I asked Rob Forbes, founder of the modern furniture retailer Design Within Reach, what he considers the ingredients for the perfect work space, he laughed and replied, "A Mac laptop and a Corbusier lounge chair."
It's true, of course, that wireless computing means that students are no longer tethered to their desks in classrooms but can continue their work in cafeterias and hallway niches and outside under a tree in the schoolyard. But much work -- whether it's being done by students in school or at home or by professionals in their offices -- is tackled best in space and furniture designed for focus and efficiency, not more generalized activities.
Schools are beginning to refine the idea of how and where students work. Places like San Diego's High Tech High include workstations very similar to what you'd find in the offices of Google or Yahoo.
Perfectly comfortable and efficient chairs, desks, and lighting often cost more than schools can afford for their students, or teachers can afford for their home offices. The operative axiom here is "You get what you pay for," and fine design is rarely inexpensive. But there's a wide spectrum of well-designed furniture at a variety of prices, and it's important to remember that design that works well lasts for years, and helps us work well.
To be brutally frank, many of us -- students and teachers alike -- work in conditions that, by current ergonomic standards, are just slightly better than primitive: chairs that treat the human body like an alien presence, desks too high or too low and about as cleverly designed as a piece of plywood on two sawhorses, and lighting in which the technical metric of candlepower is only too literally appropriate. On these pages, Edutopia's design elves offer a Christmas list of working tools that really go way beyond workmanlike work.
Credit: Luxo
Luxo Lamp
$183
This familiar classic, designed way back in 1937 by Jac Jacobsen for Luxo, in Oslo, Norway, was made even more famous in a short digital film by Pixar. Specifically called the L-1 8155 Luminaire, the desk lamp has been copied endlessly but never really improved on. In the seven decades since its introduction, twenty-five million L-1s have been sold. Small wonder -- the little Luxo puts light wherever you need it.
Credit: Hive
Panton Chair
$245
Credit: Design Within Reach
In 1960, Danish designer Verner Panton came up with a chair made of a single piece of polypropylene, cleverly cantilevered to provide plenty of support and a decidedly human fit. Vitra continues to make the chair in various colors, including an eye-catching orange-red. Though the Panton doesn't roll on wheels like a typical desk chair, it's light and easily moved.
Compact Study Solution
$1,644
Design Within Reach offers a clean, well-lighted work space that includes the Cinto Stacking Chair with breathable mesh material and adjustable lumbar support, the wheeled Archimede Laptop Caddy, with two adjustable work surfaces, and the height-adjustable Brazo floor lamp (shown right). The Compact Study Solution makes the most efficient use of a small space, either at home or at school.
Credit: Sit4Less.com
Aeron Chair
$749 and up
Designed by Don Chadwick and the late Bill Stumpf for the Herman Miller Company, this handsome, technically sophisticated chair is truly a seat of power. With movable lumbar support, fabric both strong and aerated, and more adjustments for perfect fit than a tailor-made outfit, the Aeron is the chair of choice in Silicon Valley and beyond. At more than $700, it's far from cheap, but it's also the last desk chair you'll ever have to buy.
Credit: HermanMillerSeating.com
Caper Stacking Chair
$249 ($349 with arms)
An excellent and affordable solution to team seating for project-learning tasks, the ultralight (11.5 pounds), simple, and supportive Caper was designed by Jeff Weber for Herman Miller. The chair, with wheels, is produced with a high percentage of recycled material; it comes in fourteen colors, with a hand opening at the top of the backrest for easy carrying.