Senior Kam Reo studying in one of the new chairs on the second floor of the DUC. (Scott Zarider | Student Life)

Frequent visitors to the DUC’s second floor may know the orange, oldened-with-use armchairs that have been a staple of the second floor for many years. As of Oct. 8 this year, they have been replaced with 16 new gray chairs. 

Manager of Furniture & Design at WashU, Audrey Metz, oversaw this change amongst other recent furniture projects, which include a number of places on the Danforth and Medical campuses.

Metz said in a statement to Student Life that the DUC chairs needed to be replaced.

“They were showing a lot of wear and tear and were due to be replaced,” Metz said. “They were 16-years-old and had already been re-upholstered once.” 

The process of replacing furniture starts with individual campus departments. When these departments find furniture that needs replacing, they send a facilities request to Metz’s department for evaluation. 

After the furniture has been replaced, the Furniture & Design department attempts to repurpose replaced furniture or dispose of the furniture sustainably.

“We are very sustainable with our choices — if we can reuse or repurpose, we do. We also look to donate to local nonprofits and work with the Office of Sustainability to find further opportunities on campus or through the SOS (Share Our Stuff) program,” Metz said.

For the chairs on the second floor of the DUC, Metz said that they could not be salvaged.

“In this particular case, the vendor that delivered the new seating took the old away. We always look for any opportunity to reuse on campus before getting rid of something, but in [this] case, they were beyond their usable life here on campus,” Metz said.

Junior Mason Mezel said he did not initially notice the difference in the chairs.

“I’m pretty neutral,” Mezel said. “I’m not a frequent sitter up there.”

Now aware of the change, Mezel said he is more likely to go to the second floor of the DUC to “check them out.”

However, sophomore Kayla Saldana said she misses the old orange chairs from last year.

“Since [my first] year, I’ve come up here [to chill] between classes, and one day I just noticed that [the chairs] were different. I was a little sad,” Saldana said.

Saldana noted that the well-worn quality of the chairs was part of the reason she initially liked the chairs on the second floor of the DUC. 

Other students, like first-year Yena Ahn, said that she finds the new chairs to be far more comfortable than she initially perceived. While the chairs are nice, according to Ahn, she wishes there was more furniture in the space to accommodate studying.

“I think it would be nice if there was some desk so my [laptop] is not just on top of my lap,” Ahn said.

Saldana also stated that she misses the ottomans that used to accompany the orange chairs.

Metz said that Furniture & Design has ordered ottomans and laptop desks, which were delayed and should arrive on the second floor of the DUC by November.

Metz, in her efforts to replace furniture around campus, said that there is a balance between how the new chairs will look aesthetically and how useful they will be to the students.

“The look is obviously important, but often takes a back seat to how the product will function and perform over its lifetime,” Metz said.

In terms of future projects, Metz said that the Furniture & Design department has started conversations about furnishing the new Arts & Sciences building, along with finishing up some other projects, such as installing furniture for the Siteman Cancer Center and the BJC Institute of Health Vertical Expansion construction project.

Saldana said that despite the change, she still enjoys the chairs on the second floor of the DUC.

“[The new chairs] are chairs,” Saldana said. “They’re comfortable, and I’m happy sitting [in them].”