Figueras recently published their conversation with MKThink’s Mark Miller diving deep into the collaboration on Stanford Law School’s Room 290. Read the full Figueras article here.
MKThink recently revamped Stanford Law School’s Room 290, the campus’s largest lecture hall, thanks in no small part to legacy Spanish seating manufacturer Figueras. Adaptively reusing the original 1974 brutalist concrete space, the room is now a technologically advanced center, welcoming both students and the community. Outfitted with the progressive Figueras seating solution, the reimagined lecture hall and adjacent meeting rooms are designed for flexibility, ensuring the highest quality educational experience for various group sizes and activities.
The Figueras seating transforms individual chairs into a single bench when chair-backs are folded. This bench mode creates space for more people to sit comfortably and has increased capacity from the original structure’s 180 people to 300 people. Additionally, the bench mode focuses sightlines when viewing the space from the front. With exterior rows of chairs folded down, the lecture hall transforms from a large space to an intimate, smaller group setting. Room 290's function now extends beyond traditional student lectures, comfortably providing opportunities for community meetings and activities with small groups.
MKThink's ‘build less solve more’ approach eliminated the need to build new, saving Stanford an estimated $4 million in capital costs while aligning with their ethos of ethical architecture and community connection. Visit our project page to learn more about MKThink's work with Stanford Law School's Room 290.