A decade or so ago, college students arrived at school at the start of a new semester, popped open their butterfly chair or threw down a bean bag or two and, voilà! They were ready to learn. Today, things have certainly changed.
Today’s college student expects a well-designed, furnished space that looks more like a luxury apartment. Specified contract furniture for student housing needs to be stylish, comfortable and look brand new. As universities look for ways to appeal to these expectations, it opens up tremendous opportunities for designers. But, while high design is certainly in demand, it can’t come at the expense of curating a space for optimal learning.
When choosing residence hall furniture or student housing furniture, there are a few things to consider.
First, let’s talk budget.
There are surmounting predictions from many economists that enrollment rates at universities across the board will begin to drop in the near future. More than ever, budget is a key factor in the university’s purchasing decision. However, if your design includes durable, long-lasting furniture options, it can help a university keep costs down over the long run.
Our design team here at Blockhouse is continually searching and incorporating high-quality components and materials into the creation of each chair, sofa, loveseat, and any other seating piece we manufacture. We understand the need for universities to balance budget, durability, comfort, and style as a means of making sure their student living investments last decades.
Second, how much floor space are we talking about?
Many student living spaces are small and getting smaller. It’s important to understand the real estate and usable space you have to work with when creating ideal student residences.
At Blockhouse, we offer higher education furniture solutions that can be easily customized for your design – dozens of wood finishes and hundreds of fabrics for a near countless number of style configurations. And, we have solutions to fit smaller residence halls, like our patented C9 Desk/Chest Space Saver. Our team can help you specify the best pieces to accomplish your design goals.
Here are a few other questions to ask yourself as you design the living and studying areas for today’s design-savvy student.
- Does my design balance style with comfort?
Wanting a highly designed space doesn’t mean that students are willing to forego comfort. Colleges also want comfortable furniture that allows students to focus on their studies. - Is the furniture durable?
Not surprisingly, universities don’t have unlimited budgets for furnishing student living spaces. So, the furniture you choose has to last. - Will my design stay stylish for decades?
High-performing finishes, colors, stains, and a wide array of fabric choices are important to your design’s longevity. Students and universities will appreciate variety in patterns and colors as well.
At Blockhouse, our higher education furniture is built with the highest quality materials so you can easily balance comfort and style when designing for student living spaces. Our design team has decades of experience creating higher education furniture solutions that last for years, not just a few semesters.
We incorporate innovations like our proprietary Key-Loc cushion system that lets you easily flip or replace the cushions on many of our chairs, love seats and sofas without having to purchase entire new pieces. And, our fabric selections range from classic to modern and everything in between.
We’d love to learn about your student living design projects and discuss the ways we can help you create custom living and studying spaces for today’s students. Contact us today and let’s get started.