Towards a holistic framework for academic library furniture design: integrating aesthetic experience, functionality, and pedagogy for 21st-century learning

Academic libraries are evolving from quiet repositories of books into hybrid learning commons that foster collaboration, creativity, and digital fluency. Within this transformation, furniture is no longer passive equipment but a key mediator between body, technology, and space that shapes cognitive, emotional and social engagement that underpins 21st-century learning. Yet scholarship on libraries remains fragmented. Most studies examine either functionality (ergonomics, proxemics, spatial efficiency) or aesthetic experience (comfort, ambience, emotional appeal) and rarely integrate these perspectives with contemporary pedagogy. This paper proposes a holistic conceptual framework for academic library furniture design grounded in a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of research across environmental psychology, higher-education studies, ergonomics, and design. Guided by PRISMA screening, the review identified recurring concepts such as sensory-motor engagement, neuroaesthetic valuation, universal design and digitally enhanced learning. The findings were synthesised into three interwoven theoretical domains. 1) Aesthetic Experience, which encompasses sensory-motor stimulation, emotional resonance, and cultural meaning-making; 2) Ergonomic and Environmental Design, by integrating proxemics, anthropometrics, universal accessibility, and technology infrastructure; 3) Learning Environment and Pedagogy, which aligns physical settings with constructivist, collaborative, and blended learning strategies. By bridging design, psychology, and education, the framework positions furniture as an aesthetic pedagogical interface and provides a robust platform for empirical testing through wellbeing metrics, collaborative behaviour analysis and digital engagement studies. It offers designers, educators and institutions a future ready for creating library environments that sustain and transform 21st-century learning.