Designers should consider ergonomics as well as sustainability says Galen Cranz, professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. On 3 October 2007 she visited The Danish Design School to give a lecture: The Chair – Rethinking Culture, Body and Design. The visit took place in connection with her visiting appointment at Designskolen Kolding in September and October 2007.

 
By Pernille Stockmarr

There was a large turnout of students and lecturers from The Danish Design School and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture to attend Professor Galen Cranz’ lecture The Chair - Rethinking Culture, Body and Design. Everybody was seated in Arne Jacobsens No. 7 chairs, listening with rapt attention to Cranz’ presentation on good seating furniture. With eager gestures, Cranz took us on an impressive, illustrated tour-de-force in the cultural development of the chair, describing how ergonomics have consistently lost out to status concerns and the excitement over new materials as the driving forces in chair design.

Too Much Fashion, Not Enough Body

Cranz’ message was clear: Throughout history we have been seduced by fashion, and we have forgotten the body. The role of culture has prevailed, and body awareness has not played any major role. The development of the chair has been less affected by a desire for comfort and practical features and more by a desire to create new technological marvels, among other things through experiments with form and a desire to demonstrate status through chairs.

Galen Cranz’ own background for studying the effect of cultural factors on our use of chairs is neither traditional nor obvious. Cranz originally graduated a sociologist, specialising in urban space and the history of parks, but she became interested in the Alexander Technique and trained as a teacher of the technique. The Alexander Technique is a means of changing and improving people’s physical, mental and emotional state and appearance by working with the relationship between the head, neck and back. Equipped with knowledge about physical well-being and spatial conditions, Cranz saw seating furniture and the chair as an intersection of these two lines of interest and an obvious field of research.

Not the Design But the Chair that is Unhealthy

Cranz applies a multidisciplinary research method, drawing on insights from the cultural development, anatomy and ergonomics perspectives as well as analyses of iconic chair designs throughout human evolution. She documents that the problem is not poorly designed chairs but rather the chair itself. It is not good for us to sit on chairs. From childhood we have the potential for developing excellent and healthy posture. Unfortunately, however, using chairs on an everyday basis is bad for the functions of the organism and leads to a degeneration of our posture. Good table manners and the instruction to sit properly both at home and in school should be reconsidered, says Cranz. She mentions examples of peoples in Africa, for example, who have not been to missionary school and hence have not spent years sitting on chairs and at tables on a daily basis. They have a much healthier and far more attractive posture. However, those of us who have been raised to use tables and chairs should not despair, she says. Through exercise and the use of so-called ‘guerrilla ergonomics’ – that is, by using the available furniture in alternative ways – we can repair and prevent the damage.

An Invitation to Chair Designers

Even though the need to emphasise ergonomics is not exactly new knowledge, Cranz’ lecture makes it tempting to ask whether the perception that she represents will ultimately lead to the death of the classic chair as a basic furniture type. But that is not going to happen, says Cranz. We are cultural beings, and the need for seating furniture is difficult to challenge. It is deeply embedded in our culture, customs and habits. However, we could be pursuing more alternative solutions than we are today, she says.

Thus, Cranz’ invitation to tomorrow’s designers is to experiment and develop alternatives to the traditional chair types like the easy chair, the dining room chair, the office chair, etc. This might involve building mechanisms into the chair that do not lock us into a 90-degree position. For example by facilitating a more laid-back position or with higher seats that are not as deep and do not impose a right angle.

The Absence of Danish Chair Designers

On several levels, Cranz managed to get the audience out of their seats – also in a literal sense. In response to a question from the audience about Arne Jacobsen’s No. 7 chair, Cranz asked everybody to stand up, turn their chair around and sit on it backwards. Cranz, who initially condemned the No. 7 as a chair that encouraged a locked-in, 90-degree position, admitted that if one sat on the chair backwards, with the seat back in front, the chair became much more ergonomic.

Remarkably, this was one of the only times she spoke about Danish chairs. Apart from the scenario with the No. 7 chair, the Danish designers and their classic chairs were most noticeable through their absence. On the one hand it was almost liberating to hear a lecture on the evolution of the chair without any mention of ‘Danish Design’. On the other hand, one was left wanting, curious to hear Cranz’ assessment of the approach of Danish chair designers and their position in this evolutionary process. It would also have been interesting to see the 1960s preference for reclining and modular furniture; for example, the Danish designer Verner Panton was a high-profile advocate for different ways of sitting. It would also have been interesting to view the recent renaissance of the beanbag chairs, including the ‘Fat Boy’, in this perspective.

Ergonomics, Sustainability, and the Experience Society

It was uplifting to witness Cranz’ enthusiasm and knowledge of her field. In her own way, she takes a perspective that lies in extension of the current view of holistic, sustainable solutions. It is a short distance from Cranz’ ideas to INDEX’ credo ‘Design to improve life’. But while today’s designers are generally encouraged to look to other groups in society and beyond their own geographic boundaries, Cranz highlights a crucial area that is highly relevant and pertains to everybody’s physical well-being.

Another interesting aspect of the lecture was Cranz’ idea about focusing on ‘sitting’ rather than necessarily on the chair design in itself. Here she is, in principle, in line with spokesmen of the experience economy. In the experience economy, the focus is on the ‘situation’ and the sitting situation, and the emphasis is on cultivating it as an experience that should satisfy or excite the senses. Cranz’ point is quite different. Her point is the strength and health of the human body. The question is whether these elements might not in fact go hand in hand.

Cranz closed her lecture by arguing that designers should think in terms of fusing ergonomic concerns and sustainable solutions. That is only one of the reasons why Cranz’ research stands out as an interesting example for future design research. By being concrete and close to practice while also including and drawing on theoretical insights and methods she addresses what is a highly pertinent issue for designers. Some might view this issue as exhausted – but Cranz’ lecture confirmed its continued relevance. The large turnout and the huge number of hands eagerly raised from audience members with questions to ask proved that Cranz’ presentation and enthusiasm were indeed inspiring, and that we may safely trust that this form of design research is interesting, useful and applicable to many.

Galen Cranz’ Research

Galen Cranz teaches ‘Body-Conscious Design’ in the Department of Architecture at University of California, Berkeley. Her research in this field is documented in her book, which carries the same title as her lecture: The Chair - Rethinking Culture, Body and Design. Her lecture at The Danish Design School was arranged as part of Galen Cranz’ stay in Denmark in connection with a visiting appointment at Designskolen i Kolding in September and October. In addition to this lecture, Cranz held seminars and courses for design and Ph.D. students during her stay.

Literature

Cranz, Galen (1998). The Chair – Rethinking Culture, Body and Design. New York and London, Norton.
Cranz, Galen (2000). The Alexander Technique in the World of Design: the Case of the Common Chair. In Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapy, Fall 2000.
Can be downloaded at http://alexandertechnique.com/resources/JBMT-alex.pdf

Mind Design #2, 2007