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DESIGN 57
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in terms of the structure, ruggedness, and stability.
The firm fasteners are completed with plastic, 3D-printed
edge joints to provide a load capacity of between 150 and
200 kg; thus, the capacity limits for the targeted age group

do not need to be estimated.
Regarding the physical and safety attributes, the product
is well-conceived, combining a glued structure with reinforcing
plastic corner elements; in many cases, these edge parts
exhibit superior strength values, as also emphasised by
Svoboda et al., who examined the parameters that exert an
impact on furniture safety.
By a more detailed definition, the researchers focused on
the impact toughness testing of samples integrating 3D-printed

plastics (PC-ABS; PC) with alder tree wood; the printed
elements included structural joints in particular.
From the utility perspective, the cube was assessed
in terms of whether its use by pre-school children can be
regarded as safe. The set of monitored sectors involved, among
others, the openings milled in the panels to accommodate both schemes share a portion of the basic material (birch
the PUR-based letters; in this context, we reviewed the size plywood), with the comprehensive test performance outcomes

of the gaps to avoid children’s fingers getting wedged and, being very close.
subsequently, hurt or broken. The visions and purposes formulated within the previous
Furniture safety is generally provided for in the Czech research and requirements on children’s furniture design
Republic’s Act no. 102/2001 Coll., on General Product Safety, reflect in the project discussed herein, even though our team
and standard ČSN 91 0100 Furniture—Safety requirements. worked, in fact, independently from these: the ideas centred
A product designated as safe must comply with specific on supporting the play factor to facilitate effective learning and
national and international legal regulations; where no such development in children are broadly (and indirectly) shared by
regulations are in force, the attribute of safe shall denote any diverse designers, manufacturers, and retailers who employ
product that satisfies the Czech technical standards and/or or sell, for instance, the Montessori method.

expresses the state of the art at the time of being introduced Further, depending on the interpretation, the colour scheme
to the market. in our cube might suitably complement Montessori’s patterns,
Overall, regarding the concept, functional capabilities, and which may seem rather dry in some of the series.
safety, the furniture set designed within our project may be Arguably, the perspectives outlined within this article lie in
compared to items such as the multi-purpose Montessori a relatively warm and friendly rendering of the product, whose
cUbe series and the Whitney Brothers Play House Cube. marketing potential is thus markedly enhanced.
The Montessori cUbe, however, appears to best resemble In this manner, the cube might then be perceived by other

the solutions adopted by us: the traditional Montessori’s designers in the field as inspiring. By contrast, we assume that
versatility is similar to ours, albeit more sophisticated, and some of the mechanical properties of our cube, such as the