Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

New Table Design Serves as Multi-Student Workstation with Storage

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 11/15/21

A Michigan furniture company has introduced a new kind of table for classrooms. The MiEN Company's KIO Tinker table is a 360-degree mobile bookcase that serves as a workstation for up to four students. The table provides storage and workspace and is intended for use in classrooms, media centers, makerspaces and STEM/STEAM spaces.

The middle of the tabletop opens to an inner compartment where objects can be stored. But the lid, when put in place, is also flush with the rest of the table's surface, to offer a smooth 48-square-inch work surface. Teachers can also remove the top lid and use the open top space as a holder for plastic storage bins (up to nine inches deep), placing work materials within easy reach of students.

MiEN Company's KIO Tinker Table

The table includes three tiers of adjustable shelves on its four sides along with three-tier fixed shelving on all its corners. The compartment lids and removable shelving can be stored inside an inner compartment.

Students sit at the table on stools or café-height chairs.

"KIO Tinker's large surface area and various storage possibilities make it the ideal table for exploring, creating and investigating," said Dr. Christina Counts, the company's vice president of education, in a press release. "The built-in flexibility of its patent-pending design takes it from a bookcase to a four-person workstation to a storage unit in seconds. Students can use it whether they're standing or seated. Casters can be added for easy mobility. In short, this durable, future-ready unit adapts to your needs in any learning environment."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Doerr School of Sustainability Accelerator

    From Concrete Warehouse to Innovation Hub: Accelerating Sustainability at Stanford

    The transformation of a once windowless, concrete publishing warehouse into a sun-drenched center for global innovation began with a single, fundamental challenge: how to turn an industrial storage shell into a space built for human connection.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.

  • Tennessee Middle School Completes Health, Life Safety Renovations

    The Giles County Board of Education in Pulaski, Tenn., recently announced that a series of renovation projects has been completed at Bridgeforth Middle School, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers and Brindley Construction to modernize building systems at one of the district’s oldest schools.

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.