Blog - Page 23 of 27 - Carroll Seating Company

Published: 9 July 2013

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Categories: Bleacher seating

Is there anything worse than the idea that you might have to eat in the school cafeteria? It’s a dreaded thought, but today’s school cafeterias aren’t the long, hard bench seats of yesterday. These days you can find pub tables, coffee stations, even bean bag chairs in the cafeteria, making it one of the coolest places to be. Wondering how to inject that same feel of safety, calm, and fun into your school’s cafeteria? Here are a few more tips that can help.

Use Every Inch of Space: The space is already there, so why not use it? If there’s a spot where an automated drink station might fit, add it in. Have a space next to a booth for coat hook? Go ahead and add those too. Make certain your design makes use of all of the space available to you.
Balance Durability with Style: Administrators often look toward durability over everything else, and while durability means cost effectiveness, it can also mean discarding style. Don’t do that to your students. As you choose seating, flooring, and more, find the perfect balance between the two. You clearly don’t want to replace everything in two years, but you do want to find something that doesn’t feel quite so industrial.
Get Creative: Looking for some real insight into perfection? Ask your students. Consider a design contest where the winner gets to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony. You could even provide your math and art teachers with a curriculum where students can learn something while considering the layout of the new cafeteria. Students know what they want, but they don’t always know what’s possible. Look to them for a bit of structured guidance, and you may uncover ideas you’d never considered.

The school cafeteria can be a great place to get together, chat with friends, and reconnect, given the right surroundings.

Published: 2 July 2013

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Libraries have special design concerns few other facilities have. Not only must there be the right storage space for books and materials, but you also have to consider the needs of the patrons and the librarians as well. Balancing all of it, whether you’re planning for a new library or renovating an older one, can be difficult, but here are a few tips that may help.

Include Enough Seating Space: If you’re designing a public library, you need to go with at least five seats for every 1,000 people within the service area. If you’re talking about a school library, that number will rely on class sizes. Keep in mind that those numbers shouldn’t include the seating you have in meeting rooms.
Don’t Forget About ADA Accessibility: Seating options, meeting rooms, bathrooms, and even your computer workstations must be wheelchair accessible. You may also want to have other accommodations like computer stations designed for the visually impaired and more so you can serve the needs of your entire population.
Electronic Workstations Play Into Design: Don’t forget that you’re going to need plenty of computer workstations throughout your library. Whether to meet online research needs or card catalog demands, electronic workstations should be readily available to all of your patrons.
Consider the Purpose: Nearly every library in the country has a core of patrons with a different purpose. For example, perhaps it’s research at your library. Maybe it’s current topics and titles. The purpose difference means everything to the design of your library. If you’re talking about research, you’ll want lots of table space, as patrons will not only spread out a bit, but they’ll be spending long hours there, too. If it’s the best seller crowd, create a warm, inviting atmosphere. Go for fewer, yet more comfortable seats, maybe even a fireplace, and good lighting.
Don’t Forget about the Staff: If you’re redesigning or building new, offer the staff a few perks, too. There are lots of great features you can build into the new design that may prove useful. Factor in your volunteer staff, or those temporary staff members you add during the busy season, to this equation too. You may even want to add in dedicated kitchen or break area seating just for your staff members. It may be a nice perk to which they hadn’t previously had access.

Designing the ideal library can be complicated, but there are lots of ways to create a fantastic look that patrons will love.

Published: 25 June 2013

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Does the idea of walking into your office cafeteria bring up horrific memories of that first 7th grade lunch period? An office cafeteria should have a very different feel than your middle school experiences, and careful design can help ensure that’s the case. Not sure how to make certain that your new office lunch room seating does nott turn into 7th grade all over again? These tips can help.

Go with a Restaurant Feel. While family style eating might be appropriate if you have more than one cafeteria in your building, it’s not the best option if you just have one place to eat. Instead, you want your employees to feel comfortable, and restaurant style eating is a good way to do just that. Add some booths in there. Go with some pub style tables. Vary the seating a bit, and your employees won’t feel quite like they’re headed back to school.
Consider Capacity. You certainly want to make sure you have enough space in your cafeteria area, so don’t forget to think carefully about how many people you can seat. If no one can ever get a seat in the cafeteria, they’re certainly not going to plan to eat there on a regular basis. Don’t let these calculations terrify you into going with communal tables. There are many different seating options that still give you the café style you want without resorting to long tables with bench seats.
Consider Other Design Features. Seating is a big part of any cafeteria, but there are other design aspects you may want to factor in as well. Think about your choice of artwork, flooring, and even accessories like drink stations and pay stations, as they can affect the flow and feel of your space as well.

The office cafeteria can be just as hip as you want it to be. Don’t forget to factor the right seating choices into your redesign, and you’ll be on your way to creating a Google-esque feel for your employees.

Published: 18 June 2013

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Athletic lockers are a no brainer, right? You simply need a bit of ventilation, storage for your team’s gear, and a place to stash their stuff while they’re on the field, right? Wrong. The locker room should be a point of pride for your team. Designing the perfect facility can make all the difference in the world to team spirit and that winning attitude that really matters the second they leave. Here are a few things to consider.

The Sport – All athletic lockers were not created equally. What may work out perfectly for a soccer player may not be ideal for a football player. Unfortunately, most teams are limited by budgetary concerns, so many locker rooms have to play double, triple, or even quadruple duty throughout the year. As the seasons change, so do the dominant sports, and that may mean a different purpose for the lockers for every season. If that’s the case in your facility, you want to go with lockers that are big enough to house gear for each sport. In most cases, football will probably be the sport that requires the most gear. To ensure your football players have enough space for their helmets and their pads, you need a 72” tall locker that is both 15” deep and wide. The shelf has to be about 18” from the top to house a full-sized helmet. Players are only going to get frustrated if they can’t fit all of their gear into their lockers as they walk off the field or court, so make certain they have a bit of room to breathe.

The Number of Players – In addition to having enough space for their gear, you want to have enough space for all of the players. The standard size football team is forty players. For soccer, it’s twenty-five. A track team can have as many as fifty members, depending on the size of the school. The same is true for a swim team. Every player needs to have a locker to house his or her gear, and if this means a few lockers happen to go empty for this season or that one, write it off as an expense of the game. Giving each player his own space is key to building the ideal team.

Security – The last thing you want is for players to feel like their stuff is unsafe between games or meets. If you’re sharing lockers from sport to sport, make sure you offer individual padlocks for players or team members. Built in locks typically come with just a few possible combination, making them quite unsafe from sport to sport.

Color Choices – Feel free to get a bit creative with your locker room. Go with your school colors instead of a drab gray or dull green. You want to create a bright environment where players can truly feel the team spirit enthrall them before every possible match or game.

Good locker room design does not have to be limited by budget. With just a few simple considerations, you can build a locker room that is perfect for your team.

Published: 11 June 2013

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Few people have fond memories when they think of the school cafeteria. From nightmares over the interesting food to the forced seating arrangements on those uncomfortable picnic table style seats, looking back on the school cafeteria isn’t always a pleasant experience. Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be the case any longer. It’s completely possible to build a café feel into your school cafeteria, creating a comfortable, fun, relaxing environment that is the perfect mid-day break for students.

Consider a Variety of Seating Options: Go with a nice mix of booths, round tables, square tables, pub style tables, and more to help students feel more like they’re out and about than stuck at school. It will help bring students together, and it may even help some make new bonds that will hold throughout the school day. What’s more, though, is that it can actually make your cafeteria more versatile to students and staff alike.

Add Artwork: You may choose the best seating arrangement in the world, but if it looks institutional, it’s still going to feel that way. Get some customized artwork in there. One decal of your school mascot isn’t going to do it either. Go for a complete change of pace. For example, if you’re the Barracudas, why not create a marine environment for your school cafeteria? It sets a great mood that could help students relax.

Think About Flooring: You could go with that standard school tile, but why not go with a black and white alternating pattern that makes it look like a fifties malt shop? Why not add wood laminate floors to create a distinct coffee shop feel? Your flooring can enhance the overall look of your cafeteria, and with today’s choices, you can find something that is just as easy to care for and still looks great.

Other Great Options: Have you considered adding a mobile ice cream cart? What about a hands free coffee station for students or staff members? There are all kinds of different ways to inject that café feel to your dining room, and adding some of these unique options can do that for you.

Ask your Carroll Seating Company project manager what school cafeteria seating choices may be available.

Published: 4 June 2013

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Categories: Seating Solutions

In many situations, a solid lecture hall is a must. From educational institutions like schools and universities to large company campuses across the nation, lecture halls are critical. The best lecture halls, though, have unique seating choices that meet both the needs of those listening as well as the speakers themselves. Before you simply go with the first lecture hall seating provider listed in a directory, it’s best to carefully consider every aspect of your seating needs.

Tiers – Within most lecture halls, tiers are quite common to allow everyone in the room to have a good view of the instructor as well as the front of the room. One key aspect of choosing the best lecture hall seating style to meet your needs is the number of rows per tier you wish to include. Talk to your designer to see what might fit best within your space.

Seating Styles – There are actually a variety of different seating styles available in the world of lecture hall seating, no matter how many rows per tier you want. Perhaps most traditional is fixed style seating. There are many options here, though. If space is tight, you may want to go with something that allows for maximum comfort while playing to your space needs. You could also go with swivel style seating to allow listeners to interact with those behind them. Portable seating is another option. Folding chairs, stacking chairs, stools and more are all options in a lecture hall. Each, however, tends to work best in conjunction with fixed tables.

Other Options to Consider – Lecture halls are changing these days, and there are so many different options to consider when you think about seating. Don’t forget to factor in ideas like whether you need modesty panels, space for instructors to move about the room, and even space for laptops, coats, bags, and the like.

As you design the ideal seating to meet your needs in a lecture hall, don’t forget to include concerns like handicapped seating options to help you remain ADA compliant. Talk with your project manager about your space, your goals, and your needs to come up with the best possible solution.

Published: 28 May 2013

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Seating Solutions

These days, no two locker rooms are alike. Whether you’re in a high-end club setting or middle school, athletic locker rooms are changing fast, and with them, the types of lockers available to those who need them. Wondering which lockers might best meet your needs? Take these factors into account first.

Space Concerns: One of the first things you want to consider is how much space you have. In some cases, your space for the locker room will be quite limited, and that can not only affect where you put the lockers, but also the size and type of lockers you choose to use. Keep in mind that you’ll want to create a solid traffic flow around the lockers as well as a sense of privacy for those using the lockers to change, so be careful as you begin to think about where you may want to place your lockers.

Locker Size: There are three basic locker sizes: mini, half, and standard. Mini lockers are perfect for keys, a folded set of clothes, and maybe a set of court shoes, but not much else. Half lockers give you slightly better sizing, but they’re still small enough to wrinkle the bottom of a man’s shirt. Standard sized lockers are perfect for that suit, but they also typically mean a lot of wasted space. Carefully consider the facility and the needs of its patrons. High school kids may only need half lockers, but those in a commercial gym facility may need mixed sizes.

Locker Materials: Athletic lockers hardly have to be the standard metal ventilated type these days. You can go with stadium style lockers, open front lockers for gear, or even lockers with a wood laminate paneling look to enhance your dressing rooms. Depending on exactly who your facility serves, you may want to go with something that reflects your wants and needs.

There are a number of factors to consider as you plan the ideal athletic locker room. Your best bet is to chat with a project manager before you make any final decisions.

Published: 24 May 2013

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Wondering how to keep students coming through those library doors? In a world that’s more connected than ever, it seems libraries are finding themselves outdated. Fortunately, you can still grab their attention, but it’s going to take some serious design planning.

Start with Beauty – Who says those perfect design magazine settings have to stay inside the world of residential settings? Create a cool environment, and students will want to be there day after day. The key, though, is to balance the educational needs of students with the awesome factor in design. You want to have an amazing design that attracts students, but you need it to be functional as well.

Sprinkle in Flexibility – You may have students who want to lounge before school, but during second period, you may have the entire biology one section waiting to hear from a special presenter. Traditional library furniture can’t possibly serve both needs, so get creative with your designs. Go with innovative seating and presentation areas to make the most of both spaces.

Don’t Forget The Electronics – Tablets aren’t going anywhere soon. Neither are smartboards, desktops, laptops, and ebooks. Don’t sell your library short by not including both a power supply and the right hookups for devices. Similarly, think about your lighting arrangement, too. It can be tough to see a smartboard presentation with sunlight streaming through those gorgeous windows, so manage things carefully from the outset.

Libraries can be cool, functional spaces, but it takes quite a bit of planning to get them there. Fortunately, Carroll Seating can help. With turnkey solutions available for school, public, and private libraries alike, here you’ll always find the planning and follow-through necessary to create that perfect space.

Published: 21 May 2013

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Good casework is an essential part of any lab. Before you make choices on how to outfit your new lab, though, it’s essential that you carefully consider your options. After all, the last thing you want is to end up unhappy with your new fixtures.

Your Layout
The first set of choices you’ll need to make deal with layout. This will depend extensively not only on your layout, but also on your budget as well. While much of the laboratory casework world relies on made to order furniture, you can also choose modular pieces from various companies that can be rearranged to meet the changing needs of your lab. These modular pieces are sometimes cheaper than the made to order option. You may want to talk with your casework company’s project manager to make the decision that best fits your needs.

Many Materials
The other key decision you have to make as you select the right casework to meet your needs lies in materials. Wood casework is one of the most popular choices. It can be made from a number of different types of wood, and the doors are usually custom-designed. Plastic laminate is getting more popular thanks to its inexpensive nature. You often find this in school settings.

Metal casework is also an option, and it can even be painted to suit your needs. Steel is another solid choice, and it’s easy to clean. It can also deal with the chemicals you may be using the lab. Looking for another choice that will handle frequently cleaning? Stainless steel is a reliable choice. Phenolic resin is too, as it is corrosion and fire resistant.

You’ve already come up with an innovative design to enhance your lab. Choose the ideal casework to meet your ongoing needs.

Published: 14 May 2013

Written by Carroll Seating

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Categories: Seating Solutions

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are expanding on almost a daily basis, and with good reason. While people certainly aren’t any sicker than they were decades ago, they’re far more likely to seek medical care today. From great prevention to better treatment all the way around, people visit doctor’s offices and hospitals in record numbers these days.

The University of Missouri health system is no exception to that rule. Just like many other care facilities, the number of patients they see on a daily basis is ever expanding, and so too is their need for state of the art facilities. We were excited to help when they called us about their new patient care tower.

The Project
The new care tower itself is seven full stories. Inside are additional operating rooms as well as procedure rooms. There are also private patient rooms and lots of new space for the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. The goal throughout the building was to offer a level of comfort that helped visitors feel at ease and patients begin to heal. The space even includes an outdoor garden and a boutique in the Cancer Center with items like wigs for chemotherapy patients.

We were asked to provide custom millwork solutions on all seven floors. We also provided the casework throughout as well as solutions for solid surfaces, wall paneling, and countertops throughout the building. Throughout this project, we wanted to infuse the same healing theme that was already working throughout the building. That said, though, we knew that our work had to be as practical as it did beautiful.

The results were nothing short of phenomenal. We managed to strike that perfect balance with this project, and the initial feedback on this has been wonderful.