HUMAN DIMENSION & INTERI: A Source Book of Design Reference Standards

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About the Author ---------------- Julius Panero, AIA, ASID, is a practicing architect, interior designer, and an associate professor of interior design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York. He has taught interior design for the last twenty years and was the former chairperson of the Interior Design department at FIT. A graduate of Pratt Institute, where he received a bachelor of architecture's degree, and Columbia University, where he received a master of science degree in urban planning, Panero is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Interior Designers, and a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, London. Licensed to practice architecture in New York, Panero is a principal in the consulting firm of Panero Zelnik Associates, Architects/Interior Designers. He is also the author of Anatomy for Interior Designers and a contributing author to Time-Saver Standards. Martin Zelnik, AIA, ASID, NCARB, is a practicing architect, interior designer, and an assistant professor of interior design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where he has taught interior design for the last ten years. A graduate of Brandeis University, where he received a bachelor of fine arts degree, and Columbia University, where he earned a master of architecture degree, Zelnik is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the New York Society of Architects, the Interior Design Educators Council, and the American Society of Interior Designers. A special consultant to the National Council of Interior Design Qualification, Zelnick is a principal in the New York consulting firm of Panero Zelnik Associates, Architects/Interior Designers. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. -------------------------------------------------------- In examining the relationship between human dimension and dining spaces, the areas of most concern to the designer are the clearances around the table and the number of people a table of a particular size can accommodate. The clearance between the edge of the table and the wall or any other physical obstruction must at the very least accommodate two elements: (1) the space occupied by the chair and (2) the maximum body breadth of a person of a larger body size as he circulates between the chair an the wall. In dealing with the space occupied by the chair, it should be noted that its position, relative to the edge of the table, will change several times during the course of a meal. Towards the end of a meal, perhaps while the person is engaged in informal conversation or in an effort to change body posture, the chair may be extended farther from the table. As a person leaves the table, the chair may be located even farther away. Comfortable clearance should assume the chair to be at its farthest distance from the table.