Overview DCI partnered with Atkin Olshin Schade Architects and Advanced Office Environments to furnish Stouffer Hall at the University of Pennsylvania. Features The furniture was composed of solid oak construction. The custom and ADA compliant wardrobes featured plywood sides. We assembled the wardrobes in the bedrooms bolting together two cabinets. The beds have a high-low configuration allowing students to hang their legs off the end of the bed. The University …
Case Study – Dartmouth and DCI’s Model of Circular Design
Over the last quarter century, a fascinating model of cradle to cradle product design has been unfolding in the New Hampshire North Country. In partnership with DCI—one of New England’s largest and oldest contract furniture manufacturers—Dartmouth College harvests trees from its own forest through its sustainable forestry program and DCI turns those logs into lumber and then long-lasting hardwood furniture. We then install this solid maple furniture, fashioned from Dartmouth’s …
DCI Awarded SCS Indoor Advantage Gold Certification
Indoor air quality directly impacts student cognition. The science on that is clear. For years, DCI has made this issue a priority, ensuring that our furniture does not contribute in any way to poor indoor air quality. Why is this important? Because furniture frequently contributes to poor indoor air quality by off-gassing harmful chemicals called VOCs (volatile organic compounds). This is why DCI recently sought and was awarded the SCS …
Case Study: Turning Empty Houses Into Homes With Chicago Furniture Bank
Where do people go when they can’t afford furniture? In Chicago, there’s a remarkable organization called the Chicago Furniture Bank (CFB). And it helps individuals and families who are transitioning out of homeless. In their own words, “CFB breaks the cycle of furniture poverty by transforming an empty house into a home” through providing folks with high quality used furniture. In the Fall of 2022, DCI was lucky enough to …
Case Study: Building Durable Steel & Wood Beds for Fort Sam Houston
Over the years, DCI has worked on numerous projects with Fort Sam Houston—a joint Army and Air Force Base based in San Antonio. Recently, the Base approached us with a new request. They were looking for a solution to replace their antiquated Captain’s Beds. Design Update: Captains Beds They were interested in a fresh contemporary design that both centered the strength of steel while softening the cold institutional feel of …
How DCI Is Responding To Plywood Supply Chain Disruption
Like many contract furniture manufacturers, DCI is feeling the impact of lumber shortages because of global supply chain disruption. For contract furniture manufacturers like us, plywood is a key issue. Baltic birch plywood from Russia, a mainstay for case goods, is no longer available because of the war in Ukraine. But even before the war, tariffs on Chinese imports put huge demand on local plywood supplies. When that demand intersected …
Case Study: University of Tampa
Summary: In 2010, DCI started working with the University of Tampa. Over the last 11 years, we’ve upgraded the design standard across the UT campus upgrading 10 residence halls and 4,430 beds, including Vaughn Hall next year. Furniture: Bunkable Bed, Adjustable Height Bed, Tall Bed End, Mattress, Wardrobe, Pedestal Desk, Three Drawer Chest. Wood: Solid Maple, Natural Finish University of Tampa The University of Tampa is a medium-sized private university …
How Finger Joint Boards Make Campus Furniture More Sustainable
When you think about sustainability and dorm furniture, you probably don’t visualize the wood joint that holds it all together. But that would be a mistake. Joints matter. A lot. And not just for durability and strength. In particular, I want to highlight the positive impact that finger joint boards can have on the overall resource footprint of your campus furniture. In fact, finger joints conserve more wood than any …
How to Manage Furniture Supply Chain Disruption
Updated 3/2022 If you’re like a lot of purchasing officers or housing professionals in higher ed, you might be scrambling to ensure that you can fulfill your purchasing requirements for 2022. And that makes sense. Furniture supply chains have experienced a perfect storm over the last two years. The global pandemic and its cascading variants. The blockage at the Suez Canal. The US-China trade wars. Even climate change. For example, …
UCSB Case Study – New Soft Seating & Repurposed Sofas
Summary This summer at UC Santa Barbara, we installed 70 premium sofas from our mid century-inspired Boulevard Collection. There were two highlights to this project. First, the timeline was extremely compressed. Second, because we have a local assembly plant in San Diego, we were positioned to reclaim a large volume of furniture from UCSB that was otherwise destined for the landfill. DCI’s Journey Into Soft Seating Before we jump into …