Design Cues And Considerations For Popular Styles Of Changing Room Lockers

By Author: Albert Jakeman
Total Articles: 9
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There are a clear number of design considerations in place for the creation of changing room lockers. Material; size; shape; and security are all elements that must be looked into before the final design of the item can be arrived at.
As with all designs, the first port of call for the locker designer is to look at the perceived needs of the user. Where a locker is concerned these needs may encompass several cues or considerations.
First and foremost, a locker is designed to be locked – that is, it’s intended to keep a quantity of equipment or possessions safely locked away while their owner uses the facility in which the changing room locker has been installed. So the first design consideration of all relates to the mechanics of the lock.
In general terms, there are two different types of changing room lockers’ locks – the coin operated and the token operated. While both take a coin-shaped object into the dropping bay, one is designed to recognise a specifically designed token and the other to accept a certain shape and weight of coin.
The token operated locker allows the establishment in ...
... question to avoid the use of fake coins and to keep the profit it makes from its lockers separate from the lockers themselves. In security terms, a token operated locker is pointless to break into – its coin box holds nothing of actual monetary value.
The second design consideration for changing room lockers is the purpose of the establishment in which they exist. The majority of changing room lockers used in public places, for instance, are installed in locations where people go to exercise. As a result, they may require some form of ventilation to prevent their interior smelling of the athletics kit used by people prior to the current locker user. Ventilation also prevents sweat, or swimming pool water, from causing internal condensation.
Changing room lockers installed in employee changing rooms obviously have a different purpose. Here, the locking mechanism is normally with a simple key, which is kept by the employee. The locker may still require ventilation – because the employees’ clothes and potentially non work shoes will stay in there all day. In fact, the length of time clothes are kept in employee lockers may require a greater amount of ventilation than that installed in a sports changing room locker – hence the “shark gills” used in some work lockers.
The size of a locker may be determined by its location. In general terms, there are two locker sizes – full length, which is around six feet in height; and a half size locker. You will see both sizes in gym and swimming pool changing rooms. Employee lockers, on the other hand, are often of uniform size – either all full size or all half sized.
The full sized locker allows (for example) a business person to hang his or her work clothes while her or she performs his or her sport – so he or she can go to work smart after a workout.