Classroom Design | News

Bretford Aims For Agile Space Design with New Line

• By Kanoe Namahoe
• 11/07/12

A new green-friendly classroom furniture line, including desks, tables, and presenter stations, designed to support agile space design is set to ship late 2012.

Bretford, a furniture manufacturer based in Franklin, IL, will unveil the most recent additions to its EDU 2.0 line of furniture at this week's Educause 2012 conference in Denver. The line has received CarbonNeutral product certification, according to a statement release Tuesday by the company.

Additions to the EDU 2.0 line include:

• Motiv four-leg stool, with glides or casters,
• Explore classroom tables with polyurethane seal comes in four colors and two styles,
• Tablet mechanism for Motiv armed and armless models offers 360-degree rotation.

The company is also introducing Learning Commons, a new resource section of its Web site, as well as its upcoming webinar series and Discovery Guide focused on what the company calls "agile learning spaces."

Bretford's Learning Commons section is divided into five areas: Resources, Community, Professional Development, Referrals, and Experts. The Resource section includes research data, white papers, book references, and videos. In Community, users can access blogs written by Bretford and Hillbrook School, located in the Silicon Valley. The Professional Development section houses live and on-demand webinars from BretfordU, as well as continuing education courses for architects and designers. The Referrals area includes case studies and testimonials while Experts contains bios and contact information for the "experts contributing to the BretfordU webinars, blog topics, research and other sections," according to the prepared statement.

Bretford's webinar series, which launched in September, features panelists discussing space design in the classroom. This month's webinars include:

• November 8: "Low Carbon Strategies, Fundamentals of Greenhouse Gas Reduction in the Built Environment,"
• November 14: "Teaching with Agility: Pedagogical Zen Masters."

All webinars begin at 2 PM Eastern. Registration is required to attend these events.

The company's Discovery Guide shows educators how to arrange the EDU 2.0 furniture in their classrooms to create agile learning spaces. To get a Discovery Guide, contact a Bretford sales representative.

Additional information about Bretford and its new offerings is available at its Web site.