Housing hosts dorm furniture fair in Frist

Beginning Monday, April 1, through Friday, April 12, University Housing and Real Estate Services (HRES) is hosting a dormitory bedroom furniture fair in Frist Campus Center, opposite the West TV lounge, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

Students, faculty, and staff have the opportunity to view four different collections on display and give their feedback by ranking each set-up based on aesthetics, durability, finish, and storage. Set-ups are assessed on a 5-point system. The comment cards also include space for additional feedback from students.

According to Dave Young, area coordinator for the University Housing Facilities team, housing services is looking for all forms of feedback, including “views on color, the ability to stack pieces, and combining the best features from each collection into an ideal configuration.”

Each collection contains a bed, shelf, lamp, closet, desk, and chair. Students may walk through the collections and are encouraged to open closet doors and interact with the displays in order to test their durability.

According to associate director for housing facilities and planning Michael Stillwagon, “an overarching theme for the future case-good furniture was that the furniture should make the dorms feel like home.”

“Additionally, flexibility and increased storage capacity were identified as important,” Stillwagon wrote in an email to The Daily Princetonian. “The pieces that will be provided were designed to meet these goals.”

In an effort to encourage students to take part in the voting process, Stillwagon wrote, “we also paid a great deal of attention to the process used in selecting this final list of vendors … [and] sought out opportunities to include minority, women, and veteran-owned businesses.”

In addition, Stillwagon noted in the email that “the sustainable practices of each vendor were considered,” including choice in source materials, sustainable and environmentally friendly production lines, and efforts to recycle and minimize waste.

Students have already started providing feedback on the displayed collections and how they would impact student life in the future.

“I definitely think my concern is the lack of drawers on the desks,” Jose Garcia ’22 said. “But I really like the idea [of getting new furniture], and I really think we need it.”

Kavya Chaturvedi ’21 echoed Garcia’s sentiments, further emphasizing the importance of student feedback.

“I think a lot of our furniture might be outdated, and this is a nice way for us to give our input on new changes,” Chaturvedi said.

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Stillwagon noted that students should review the accomodations, because “students will be the primary users of this furniture.”

“We want to garner as much student input as we can to ensure that the selected furniture meets the continually evolving needs of the Princeton student body,” Stillwagon wrote.

Vendor selection is set for May. Housing Services hopes to conduct a “field test” of the furniture during the summer of 2019. The ten-year installation period is set to begin in the summer of 2020, according to the current schedule.