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A DESK+DRESSING TABLE

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Name: S Srividhya
School: Sri Kumarans Children's Home, CBSE
Solution for problem statement 3
Chosen
household
item
The item I have chosen is a standard desk, which
is very commonplace in every household. It is
used to work from home, study, etc.
Overview of problems
Takes up considerable amount of space in
small rooms

Does not have a lot of storage space

Has only one primary function.

Problems with the product
• Desk space has to be compromised in small apartments/dorms, as bigger desks take
up a lot of space. According to report statistics, average apartment sizes in major
Indian cities have declined by 17% in the last five years. For example, Mumbai shows
a 27% average decrease in apartment sizes to 700 sq ft in 2018 from 960 sq ft in 2014.

• A standard bedroom size in India is 12x12ft= 144sq.ft, out of which a king size bed
would take up 40 sq feet, leaving 100 sq feet in the room. A reach in closet would
take up 48 square feet, leaving 56 square feet in the room.

• A desk of dimensions 130*60 cm would take up 7800 cm2 or around 8.5 sq feet, a
dresser of dimension 40*52cm would take up 2.3 sq feet. A desk and a dresser would
take up approximately 20% of the non bed non closet area in the room, leaving just
leaving around 40 square feet empty space
 Problems with the product
A standard desk does not have a lot of storage space.
It has a potential of around 65000 cm³ of under-desk storage which is usually
unutilized and has little to no potential for storage on top of the desk since most of
the desk space is utilised by laptops/books.

A regular desk only has one primary function.

The most popular desks on websites like Ikea only
have one function and cannot be utilized for a lot
of purposes.
Sources:
https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/residential/averag
e-apartment-sizes-in-top-seven-indian-cities-decline-17-in-five-years-
report/68374229
https://procivilengineer.com/standard-room-sizes/
Amazon.in
Ikea.com
Reconstruction
• For the reconstruction, I added the additional
function of a dressing table to the desk.

• The desk has an attached bulletin board which has

shelves and a mirror inside. The telescopic legs of
the table contract in size and fold inside the table.

• The sides of the table also fold and become the legs
of the dressing table.

• The bulletin board can be opened up and the

mirror opened up such that it becomes a full length
mirror
Reconstruction
Reconstruction
Advantages of the product
The area taken up by the desk is 10500cm^2 whereas the area taken up
by the dressing table is 4200 cm^2, hence saves up a lot of space.

A separate desk and dressing table of the same size would take up 14700
cm^2, hence the amount of space saved using the product is 39% when
used as a desk and 72% when used as a dressing table.

Storage
The drawer provides 10000 cm3 storage and the shelves provide 90000
cm3 storage totalling to 1,00,000 cm^3 of storage
Advantages of the product
White space
By taking up lesser space, the potential for white space in a bedroom
increases, and hence small hostel rooms/bedrooms can become less
congested. Using the example stated earlier, the product saves up
around 60% of the space taken up by a dressing table and desk
separately. The white space available in the room increases from 40sq
feet to roughly 47 sq.ft

Multiple uses
The desk is given more utility, as it can morph into another product, and
hence has more uses.
Materials
1. wood, for the table, drawer and shelves
2. telescoping legs
3. 6 hinges (for the table and mirror to fold)
4. full-length mirror
5. a bulletin board/ a whiteboard (either works)
6. 3 knobs for the drawer and shelves

Measurements
Desk: 130x70x65 cm
Dresser: 60x70x45 cm
Bulletin board: 100x60 cm
Mirror: 130x60 cm
Costing
Wood - 10 pieces 1x1x12inch - ₹1000 approx
Hinges - 2 pairs - 2x100 approx. - ₹200 approx
Full length mirror - 1 piece - ₹1500 approx
White board - 1 piece - ₹250 approx
Knobs (wooden) - 2 pairs - 2x110= ₹220 approx
Foldable legs(steel) - 4 pieces - 4x550= ₹2250 approx

costing without labour - 5920

bulk purchases (with discounts) costing - 5200-5700
assembly costs - 750-1000 (varies from carpenter to carpenter)

final costing - (bulk discount pricing - 5000 approx)

Thank you!