{"id":2628,"date":"2014-12-18T18:36:47","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T18:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydoorsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=2628"},"modified":"2026-02-27T08:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:00:55","slug":"design-phase-out-office-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/design-phase-out-office-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"Take a stand: New design concept aims to phase out the office chair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sitting can be deadly, growing research reveals, causing an array of bodily troubles from organ damage and muscle degeneration to foggy thinking and back pain. One artistic new office design is aiming to combat the negative impact of sitting by eliminating the need for chairs. The project, called “The End of Sitting,” which is, as FastCo reports<\/a>, \u201cpart art installation, part psychological study,\u201d allows office workers to stand, lean, or even lie down while on the job.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Jan Kempenaers via ArchDaily<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The architecture firm behind the idea, Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances (RAAAF<\/a>), calls<\/a> it \u201can installation at the crossroads of visual art, architecture, philosophy and empirical science,\u201d and necessary because \u201calmost the entirety of our surroundings have been designed for sitting, while evidence from medical research suggests that too much sitting has adverse health effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The designers\u2019 goal is simple: they hope their research will lead to “radical change for the [designs of our] working environments.” The design concept itself is also simple; the space has no chairs or desks, but is instead replete with 3D geometric shapes. \u201cViewed from above, the white objects resemble an artist’s abstract rendering of cracked glacial ice more than furniture. They range from waist-height to shoulder-height, allowing workers to change positions throughout the day,\u201d notes FastCo.<\/p>\n

Designers built what they call an “experimental work landscape” over the course of 10 days at Looiersgracht 60, an exhibition space in Amsterdam. As part of a larger project \u2014 “The Landscape of Affordances: Situating the Embodied Mind,” a research project<\/a> that the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research is funding \u2014 “The End of Sitting” isn’t just a conceptual office, it’s also a test case.<\/p>\n

A group of researchers, writers and artists work in the landscape, their actions recorded by cameras and studied by psychologist Dr. Rob Withagen of the University of Groningen. Dr. Withagen analyzes how the project’s participants compare to traditional office workers in terms of movement and productivity.  The study’s results will be published this coming spring, but Dr. Withagen already reports some positive findings: “participants report feeling more energetic after standing\/leaning in the labyrinth than they do in traditional office settings, despite more leg soreness.”<\/p>\n

Until “The End of Sitting” becomes a reality, chronic sitters can follow a few guidelines to counteract the damage wrought by hours of occupying an uncomfortable office chair. Some tips, courtesy of the Washington Post:<\/p>\n