Furniture / Furnishings
Return to LaboratoryDesign Guidance
Overall Strategies
Seating
Task Seating
Desk
Casework / Millwork
Fabrics / Upholstery
Systems Furniture
Best Practices
- Use moveable, re-configurable furniture to maximizes functionality of space such as rolling/locking casters and moveable white boards.
- Select ergonomically-designed furniture to provide maximum comfort and convenience for the occupants.
- Use low-emitting furniture to protect indoor air quality.
- Select third-party certified wood to ensure extraction is from a sustainably managed forest.
- Evaluate sustainable attributes such as high recycled content and rapidly renewable materials when selecting furniture for the space.
- Select furniture constructed with metal fastenings rather than high VOC adhesives to protect indoor air quality.
- Use ENERGY STAR rated copiers, fax machines and other office equipment, they use less electricity.
- Use double sided copy setting as default on all printing equipment.
- Support recycling of toner cartridges and purchase of recycled content paper products.
- Specify composite wood products that do not contain urea-formaldehyde as a binder or adhesive.
- Use modular furniture systems that allow for reconfiguration and reuse.
- Specify composite wood products that do not contain urea-formaldehyde as a binder or adhesive.
- If reception seating is upholstered it should have highly durable commercial fabrics with 100,000 double-rubs and contain either recycled or bio-based fibers.
- Furniture and wall panels with fabrics should be durable 100,000 or more double rubs.
- Modular planning principles provide flexibility for future spaces that may be required due to changes in laboratory designation, equipment or departmental organization. Ensure laboratory piped services, HVAC, power and communication cables are delivered to each module in a consistent manner, and do not fix casework unless necessary (e.g., with sinks or fume hoods).
- Before purchasing, check to see if existing furniture, perhaps in a surplus department, can serve the lab’s needs. Send unused furniture back for reuse.
- Install metal wall bumpers help to minimize damage as equipment is wheeled down the hall.
- Design spaces to include natural features to improve physiological, cognitive, social, and psychological health.
- Provide active workstation options, such as sit/stand desks, treadmill desks, or cycle desks, to decrease sedentary behavior and improve health and weight control.
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Federal Requirements
Guiding Principles
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Materials - Recycled Content ( Guiding Principles criteria 5.1)
“Use products that meet or exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) recycled content recommendations for building construction, modifications, operations, and maintenance, where applicable and as required by statute.”
See the Green Procurement Compilation (GPC) for recycled content recommendations by product type.
US EPA | Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines -
Low-Emitting Materials and Products ( <span>Guiding Principles criteria 4.3</span>)
“Purchase, acquire, and ensure the use or application of low-emitting materials and products during the planning, construction, modification, maintenance, and operations of the facility.”
Whole Building Design Guide | Evaluating and Selecting Green Products
2018 IgCC Section 801 -
Materials - Biobased Content ( Guiding Principles crtieria 5.2)
“Use products with the highest content level per the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) bio-based content recommendations, where applicable and as required by statute.”
USDA BioPreferred.gov | About BioPreferred
USDA BioPreferred.gov | Policies and Laws
Whole Building Design Guide | Sustainable -
Products ( <span>Guiding Principles criteria 5.3</span>)
“Procure and utilize construction materials and building supplies that have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment over their life cycle when compared with competing products that serve the same purpose.”
See the Green Procurement Compilation (GPC) for federal requirements by product type.
Whole Building Design Guide | Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers
EPA Greener Products and Services
2018 IgCC Section 901 -
Indoor Air Quality during Construction and Operations ( <span id="docs-internal-guid-f1e45d2e-bf74-2656-0c1b-777092dd54a0"><span><span>Guiding Principles criteria 4.6</span></span></span>)
“Implement necessary policies and protocols to prevent moisture damage to building materials and protect indoor air quality during renovations, repairs, and construction. Ensure indoor air quality procedures are in place that protect the air quality for occupants of the building during operations”
2018 IgCC Sections 1001