Anthropemetric Considerations

The average human height is 168cm.

 

Anthropometric estimates for British adults aged 19-65 years (in mm, from Pheasant)
Dimension	5th %ile	50th %ile	95th %ile
A Sitting height	850	910	965
	795	850	910
B Sitting shoulder height	540	595	645
	505	555	610
C Shoulder breadth	420	465	510
	355	385	435
D Hip breadth	310	360	405
	310	370	435
E Buttock-popliteal length	440	495	550
	435	480	530
F Popliteal height	395	440	490
	355	400	445

 

MALE

FEMALE

GUIDELINES FOR DESIGN

MULTI-PURPOSE SEATS

Multi-purpose seats are intended for a variety of uses: in dining rooms, bedrooms, work areas, and as spare chairs. They are also used in public spaces such as waiting rooms, conference centres and libraries, where they often have to be stacked for storage. General requirements for seats can be applied to multipurpose chairs. However, such chairs will not usually be maximally comfortable in all situations and compromises will often have to be made. It is difficult to design a seat that is comfortable both for a forward-inclined posture (a dining table) and a backward leaning posture (listening to a talk). Taller and shorter users may be particularly uncomfortable with certain chairs.

Recommendations:

• The seat and backrest should be upholstered with a gently-rounded lumbar support.
• The seat surface should be gently moulded with slight concavity under the buttocks.
• The depth of the seat should not exceed 430mm in order that the backrest is effective for smaller users.
• The height of a flat seat surface should be 400–460mm.
• The material for the seat cover should allow for air circulation and not be slippery.