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133 people turned out at the Ritchie Center last Tuesday and Wednesday to assess 67 sample pieces of furniture, including chairs, computer tables, sofas and more for the Academic Commons Furniture Fair.

Students, faculty and staff were invited to assess 67 sample pieces of furniture to help determine final choices that will be housed in the new Academic Commons Center.

The Academic Commons Center is scheduled to open winter quarter 2013. The attendees were handed feedback forms when they arrived.

“We wanted to ask students what their ideal furniture looked like,” said student outreach librarian Erin Meyer. “Different people are going to like different furniture. It was important to get a lot of different people of different heights, work styles, etc. What I observed is that people [who attended] are really taking it seriously.”

Individuals spent up to an hour assessing the different pieces of furniture.

“We liked the idea of a furniture fair since it allows us to gather feedback from a variety of stakeholders,” said library dean Nancy Allen. “We have been using student feedback for many years to shape our thinking about the Academic Commons project.”

Additionally, external relations coordinator Andrea Howland said  she wants to keep the DU community informed and engaged in the interim period while the library’s restoration is underway.

“Right now, you walk by Penrose and it’s pretty ugly,” Howland said. “So we’ve got to be interactive and enthusiastic.”

According to Allen, the university architect’s office and furniture consultant, Gallun Snow Associates Inc., a local independent interior design firm hired by DU nearly a year ago, must consider style, durability, comfort, previous experience and cost when reviewing options.

“The job of the consultant is to make everything go together,” said Meyer.

Margie Snow, a principle at the firm, said she helps the project team narrow down the wide range of available options.

“The difficulty of the process is seeing individual pieces of furniture without context,” said Snow. “The main public part of the library we will keep with the modern style from 40 years ago, but bring it up to today’s aesthetic. We want to make sure we still get a variety, but that things look like they go together.”

After tallying the results, participants’ opinions will be considered alongside expert recommendations and cost analysis.Allen said results from the forms will take a few weeks.

“When I was asked to help with publicity, I jokingly asked dean Allen, ‘Have you already picked out the furniture and you’re just doing this to make people feel included?'” said Howland. “She said she is going to defer to what the results show.”

The project team will use the collective information to create a furniture package, which will go to a bid.

Presently, a furniture package has not been settled on; however,”this will be bid on to get the best possible pricing,” said Allen.

She also said an overall budget plan for furniture is still being negotiated.

“I don’t know how soon the various expense categories for furniture will be known,” said Allen. “We still have quite a while before the furniture bidding process starts. I think this is usually nailed down later on in the project schedule.”

According to assistant director of Penrose Library Theresa Hernandez, over 3,000 pieces will be reused, some up to 40 years old.

“By the time we decide on a furniture package, we will know approximately how many chairs, tables, staff furniture and other items we want to purchase,” said Allen.

Allen said outside consultants and subcontractors will determine other required library materials, such as lighting fixtures or carpeting.