Campus Materials Analysis

When choosing a material or fabric for a particular finish it is very important to consider the setting in which this material will be placed. Is this fabric going to be used in a home or in a public area, will it be subjected to minimal abrasions or a lot; these are just a few of the questions that need to be asked when a designer is considering the options for material selection.

On the Texas Tech University campus there are many different materials used for seating. Many chairs where made out of hard plastic, which is obviously extremely durable however it is not the most comfortable option. It would be wise to select a material for seating that could be both durable and comfortable, considering the long amount of time a person would have to be seated in them. When observing and analyzing the materials used at the Texas Tech University for seating one might find the small stools in the human science building; they are designed out of a solid metal however they are topped with a cushion finished in red foe-leather. The foe-leather is a really great choice for this type of seating, the stool is placed in an open area of a largely trafficked area, and this stool will see a lot of wear and tear. The durability of the foe-leather is able to stand up to the great amount of use that a chair in a public area is going to experience throughout its lifetime.

For as well chosen as the foe-leather is for a public seating area equally as poorly chosen is the, what I can only assume, cotton and vinyl blend applied over a black plastic. However durable this plastic may be, the cotton and vinyl blend covering it gives of the appearance of a very old very worn piece of furniture. These chairs, like the stools in the human science building, experience a great amount of use throughout the day and however comfortable they are they clearly do not measure up to the durability requirement. Bits and pieces of the fabric have been worn off leaving black splotches showing through, this is obviously not the best choice for a heavily used piece of furniture. This material would work great for something in a residential setting or a private office, where it will not be sat on and rubbed over and over and over again in a day.

As seen by both the successful and unsuccessful choices made by designers for different items of furniture it is wildly apparent how great the importance is that a designer know the specific uses that materials will be good for and also even more importantly the uses that a fabric will not be good for.