I want to disagree, I yearn for the comfort of japanese style low tables, I’m having difficulty figuring out what this yearning rests on, but I’m making progress.
Surface level discussions of japanese interior decorating principles present implausible theories like “it’s easier for servers to take plates when the table is lower” (it doesn’t seem like it would be?), and “samurais liked it because a person’s harder to attack when they’re lower to the ground” (No they aren’t??), though I like the theory “it allows adults and children to be at the same level”.
It could be about kotatsu. It makes them a lot more convenient; a smaller blanket can be used, less air underneath the table needs to be heated, and sitters can reach the heater without having to bend down and get under the table. However, in contemporary air conditioned buildings, kotatsu may not seem so important, though I might argue that there’s an important human experience being lost there and maybe we shouldn’t accept it. But also: Do you know why universities, offices and restaurants are often kept at a somewhat uncomfortably low temperature? If there’s a good reason for that, and there probably is, then having pockets of increased warmth, like kotatsu, maybe still makes sense?
I also notice that I’ll always try to sit in a way that brings my legs up to the same level as my pelvis no matter what I’m sitting on, no matter how inconvenient it is, so being on the floor is often preferable to chairs. I’m not sure what that’s about, the body knows more about its needs than I do, but there’s probably data about this that we could consult.
I think offices are kept at a “low” temperature because there is actually wide variation in temperature preferences and tolerances among normal humans, and maybe also because it is considered easier for women and skinny people to add a sweater than for others to change gender, lose weight, or wear ice packs.
I think I approve of this for spaces that aren’t going to have kids, but I think that for kid-centric spaces a higher temperature than is maximally comfy for large men is still correct? Maybe?
(Or you could try to maintain gradients and zones? I’ve found heated seats in cars to be really nice for accommodating groups with diverse temperature preferences, and maybe the heater under the table is enabling something similar?)
I yearn for the comfort of japanese style low tables… I like the theory “it allows adults and children to be at the same level”.
Or a pre-school or kindergym or (if a building design is opulent enough to offer room-specific temperature control) a two-year-old’s bedroom?
Small bodies have much higher surface area to volume ratios, and a 10 month old can barely even explain the problem they face!
In grocery stores when I was really little, I’d stay “just outside” the cold aisle, and then run to the other end to try to avoid the chill, when along with parents on a shopping trip who wanted to loiter in the middle of it. It was only much later that I understood the physics of why they weren’t bothered, and the psycho-politics of why no one optimized that stuff “for me”.
I just don’t remember ever minding cold as a child. Yes, I would run through the freezer isle, or jump around to keep my feet off the ground and to stay warm, but I would enjoy the running, it would fully address the problem for me. With pre-school kids, I feel like they’re always moving around a lot in this way, but I’m not sure.
I want to disagree, I yearn for the comfort of japanese style low tables, I’m having difficulty figuring out what this yearning rests on, but I’m making progress.
Surface level discussions of japanese interior decorating principles present implausible theories like “it’s easier for servers to take plates when the table is lower” (it doesn’t seem like it would be?), and “samurais liked it because a person’s harder to attack when they’re lower to the ground” (No they aren’t??), though I like the theory “it allows adults and children to be at the same level”.
It could be about kotatsu. It makes them a lot more convenient; a smaller blanket can be used, less air underneath the table needs to be heated, and sitters can reach the heater without having to bend down and get under the table. However, in contemporary air conditioned buildings, kotatsu may not seem so important, though I might argue that there’s an important human experience being lost there and maybe we shouldn’t accept it. But also: Do you know why universities, offices and restaurants are often kept at a somewhat uncomfortably low temperature? If there’s a good reason for that, and there probably is, then having pockets of increased warmth, like kotatsu, maybe still makes sense?
I also notice that I’ll always try to sit in a way that brings my legs up to the same level as my pelvis no matter what I’m sitting on, no matter how inconvenient it is, so being on the floor is often preferable to chairs. I’m not sure what that’s about, the body knows more about its needs than I do, but there’s probably data about this that we could consult.
I think offices are kept at a “low” temperature because there is actually wide variation in temperature preferences and tolerances among normal humans, and maybe also because it is considered easier for women and skinny people to add a sweater than for others to change gender, lose weight, or wear ice packs.
I think I approve of this for spaces that aren’t going to have kids, but I think that for kid-centric spaces a higher temperature than is maximally comfy for large men is still correct? Maybe?
(Or you could try to maintain gradients and zones? I’ve found heated seats in cars to be really nice for accommodating groups with diverse temperature preferences, and maybe the heater under the table is enabling something similar?)
+1 <3
Oh you mean like, 6-13 year old kids? Yeah maybe.
Or a pre-school or kindergym or (if a building design is opulent enough to offer room-specific temperature control) a two-year-old’s bedroom?
Small bodies have much higher surface area to volume ratios, and a 10 month old can barely even explain the problem they face!
In grocery stores when I was really little, I’d stay “just outside” the cold aisle, and then run to the other end to try to avoid the chill, when along with parents on a shopping trip who wanted to loiter in the middle of it. It was only much later that I understood the physics of why they weren’t bothered, and the psycho-politics of why no one optimized that stuff “for me”.
I just don’t remember ever minding cold as a child. Yes, I would run through the freezer isle, or jump around to keep my feet off the ground and to stay warm, but I would enjoy the running, it would fully address the problem for me. With pre-school kids, I feel like they’re always moving around a lot in this way, but I’m not sure.