The Impromtu Measurement

A nearby building department had removed the reception desk for improvements. It started a lighthearted conversation on such desks and service counters. The wide area, for instance , not so much for ADA reasons but for full opened plan discussion, it wisely serves both. Has to be a certain proscribed width across, to seat two wheelchairs , which accommodates a 3 foot wide plan as well!

??A Cubit , in the bible, was the length of the elbow to the tip of the fingers.

Later, the “yard” was the distance from the king’s nose to his outstretched arm and upward pointing thumb.

“Feet” speaks for itself, but modern humans are usually bit short on the estimate.I know which of my ribs is at 44” for egress window estimation work, knowledge I carry if I don’t have my usual tape measure on me.

Seven feet is just a visible inch above my unstretched self’s’ arm and hand straight up. Good for quick basement ceiling estimations.That certain grommet on the side of my jeans at 3 feet, for railings and protruding hallway items.

Hallway Vitruvian Man pose ?(with feet together instead) is helpful in estimating hall width for proposed occupancies.

I recall visiting Fallingwater in college, and walking through the inner hallways had my average shoulders width rubbing the walls as I went through. FLW was a somewhat diminutive fellow BTW.Was that the reason?

So many of us grow up on High School field teams, and can very well estimate outdoor distances.

?When locating dive locations for instance, returning to a special spot could cause the watery location below to be called “four fingers” as it was four finger held up and away from a known fixed point. Just a bit further was called “Fat Hands”

Drawing humans, as in a life drawing class, had humans at seven of their own heads heads high for reference on the product.?

Sometimes the trusty Stanley 35 footer isn’t with us, and certainly a return trip for accuracy will be coming. But we use “us” everyday, don’t we?