Is cutting down trees bad for the environment? And can the silvicultural selective cutting method help? As a manufacturer of solid hardwood furniture for residence halls, we get this question a lot. And it’s an important one because there’s some legitimate confusion around it. First, whenever we think about cutting trees for any sort of manufacturing process, we immediately think of the worst case scenarios. We imagine the slash and burn …
Case Study: Plymouth State University
Langdon Woods Residence Hall – The First LEED Gold Dorm in NH Summary: To compliment PSU’s state of the art sustainable Langdon Woods residence hall, DCI developed a locally-manufactured green residence hall furniture solution which featured FSC-certified solid hardwood and became the design standard across campus. Name: Plymouth State University’s Langdon Woods Residence Hall Location: Plymouth, NH Size: Approximately 500 sets of furniture Building Type: Multi-use Residence Hall Project Team: Plymouth State & DCI Product List: Beds, Chests, Desks, Wardrobes, Dining tables, & Chairs. Backstory …
4 Criteria For Selecting Your Residence Hall Furniture Supplier
What are the main things you need to think about when you’re buying sustainable residence hall furniture and choosing your supplier? It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the options. We’ve supplied solid hardwood furniture to college residence halls for over 40 years. And we’ve also observed that some things stand out when you’re choosing your residence hall furniture supplier. Based on our experience, in addition to cost and service, here are …
How To Source Sustainable Furniture Materials For Residence Hall Furniture
At DCI, we strive to use sustainable furniture materials. We believe that making world-class furniture that lasts for decades doesn’t give us the right to pollute the planet. On the contrary, like humans have done since the dawn of civilization, we make furniture from solid hardwood. And we leave as light a footprint as possible. Through our sustainable vertical integration process, we ensure that our wood is sustainably harvested and nothing …
Zero Waste Furniture Company: Crafting Climate Friendly Furniture
Is it possible to build climate friendly furniture without creating any waste? It sounds like an environmentalist’s pipe dream, right? Nope. We are a zero waste furniture company. Really, it’s no fantasy. It’s possible to make furniture that’s completely sustainable and waste-free. In fact, it also makes profound economic sense from a business perspective. But first, why should you care? As you may know, the furniture industry has never been on great terms with the environment. It’s …
Case Study: University of Pennsylvania
A Climate Sensitive Residence Hall Summary: New College House UPenn is a climate sensitive residence hall project and DCI’s singular commitment to creating the highest quality green furniture yielded an innovative design partnership. Project Name: New College House Upenn Location: Philadelphia, PA Size: 354 sets Building Type: Multi-use Residence Hall Project Team: Penn, BCJ, DCI Product List: Adjustable height bed, Stackable 2-drawer under-bed storage, Two-door wardrobe, Desk with data port, Built-in horizontal and vertical shelving, and Dining …
How To Earn LEED Credits With DCI Furniture
Do you want to ensure that your residence hall meets the highest environmental and human health standards?Perhaps you are working to earn LEED credits for your green building? Students spend a majority of their college years in their dorms studying, learning, and investing in their future. So it’s important that we invest in building and furnishing residence halls that support student health and well being. One of the best ways …
7 Sustainability Questions You Need To Ask Before You Buy Your Residence Hall Furniture
Do you buy ethical furniture for your residence hall? It’s an important question, because building residence hall furniture consumes a lot of resources and it leaves a big footprint. What kind of footprint? Creating Ethical Furniture Your furniture is built from lots of different materials. Those materials need to be sourced and then shipped to a manufacturing plant. Then the furniture is constructed and eventually shipped to you. At every …
How To Build Sustainable Residence Hall Furniture
Why is DCI one of the few residence-hall furniture manufacturers whose solid hardwood products are FSC C-o-C Certified? It’s the same reason why we consistently win contracts with the most ecologically-minded universities like UC Berkeley, UCLA, Dartmouth, and UPenn. We have the greenest manufacturing process in the residence hall furniture industry. And there’s more to that assertion than a mere boast. Environmental sustainability is the vital blood that runs through the heart of our …
How To Repurpose Furniture From Your Residence Hall
What should you do with your old furniture? That’s a question you can’t avoid when you’re planning for a new furniture installation in your residence hall. But, for a lot of reasons, it’s hard to find an answer. First, you’ve just gone through an entire process to select a furniture manufacturer. Then you have to make countless decisions to arrive at the best design, establish your budget, get buy-in, and evaluate …