In Robert Sommer's Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design, Sommer talks about the theory that "certain arrangements of people are more suited to certain activities than others" (Sommer 61). He decided to investigate the problem from the standpoint of certain attitudes (cooperation, competition, or separate action) and see how people arranged themselves. The most common arrangement was corner to corner or face to face arrangement for casual conversation.
This is important to keep in mind when designing a dining table because, well, that's the point of a dinner. If there aren't opportunities for people to have conversation the dinner isn't going to be very successful. For the table I designed in my space I wanted it to be one where many conversations could be held. Therefore, I made it a large square table. Each person needs, basically, 2 feet of space at a dining table. By making my table 5x5 I allowed for more than one person to sit on every end of the table, leaving no one person at the end. I made my table so that an identical 5x5 table could be attached via metal hook underneath so that it would accommodate more guests for the event as well. When not in use the table can go outside on the screened-in patio.
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