Cristina Garza Lasierra
PARSONS SUMMER SCHOOL
PRODUCT DESIGN BOOK J/2014
Möfle
Modifiable and flexible furniture Möfle means modifiable and flexible design, and it is specially developed for tiny and small apartments, to reduce the occupancy of space in these places. It is a furniture that covers all those necessities of the living room life. Since it is a single object, a lot of space is left free, allowing a more flexible use of space. If you only have one bedroom and you don’t want to put a bed, a sofa, and other confortable furniture, you can use this one. It is going to be easy to use and transform in the different forms. Just with four movements you will be able to sleep or to eat on it.
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Table
Bed
3 IN 1
Different possibilities in one You can find as many combinations as your imagination lets you.
Sofa
Just try !
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WHAT IS IT? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHY THIS DESIGN? WHICH FORM? FOR WHAT IS IT USED? HOW DOES IT WORK? HOW CAN BE USED?
IT WAS DESIGNED TO GIVE A SOLUTION TO A LIFE STYLE The development of this project starts from the necessity of solving a human need, which I have observed in society. The lack of space and the need of furniture, which occupy less space, has been the problem that I have wanted to solve. Young people can afford to pay a big apartment so this is one of the problems i want to solve. To start developing this project I started to know if this product would have a real need in society.
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Small places, not enough space.
The rapid growth of the cities and their population has generated that these cities start to expand in the territory. In this way the distances between the different points and the residential areas are bigger each time. The enormous increase of population in the cities, have caused that the need of livings grow year after year. This generates a lack of apartments and a bigger need for them, making their market price to grow. This is the reason why it is more common to live in these tiny apartments nowadays. They just have one bedroom where all the activities are developing.
MY APARTMENT IN NY
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Tiny apartments People who have to live in small spaces. Lots of cities like Tokyo or New York have looked at micro apartments as a solution to high urban density. People are joining this movement for many reasons, but the most popular reasons are because of environmental concerns, financial concerns, and seeking more time and freedom. Young people are whom most problems have to find a place to move in these kind of cities, because it is really complicated to find a good apartment not really far from the city and the prices of these ones move around the thousand dollar for a month. SO IF THEY CAN’T AFFORD THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY, WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
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My proposal
Real example There is a society in New York City called “The citizen Housing and Planning Council”. They have been studying new concepts of housing. The number of people living by themselves in the United States has increased dramatically — Today, that population is closer to 30%. They are developing a building with tiny apartments in New York. New York’s micro-unit building will require that 40% of the units be rented at an “affordable” rate.
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MOCK-UPS: First design. The
main
piece
creates
all
the
possible
furniture
combinations.
It measures 40in so I decided to divide it into two pieces that can be combined to create this long object, which will be the support of the structure.
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M U LT I F U N C T I O N A L F U R N I T U R E
Designers have to start thinking how to live in these small apartments. It’s not easy and you have to reduce the number of furniture because you don’t have enough space for all them.
You have to be conscious of the limitations of space and think that you don’t need so much to live in these places.
How? Recycle them. This means to give them different uses, so you can have three furnitures in one, and give more freedom to your apartment.
This means furniture that makes it easy for you to create a multifunctional room in your house. Whether you want your living room or office to turn into a bedroom, or you just want to make your 200 square foot studio work for you.
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What already exists
My proposal
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It is not only a sofa; it is a furniture that covers all those necessities of the living room life. Since it is a single object, a lot of space is free, allowing a more flexible use of space. It is a modular, flexible and transformable sofa that allows to be combined to make different possibilities just adding or subtracting some pieces. It is confortable and adapts to the need of everyone. Moreover these can be used like a space for storage in the interior space. It is a simple, easy to transport object. You just buy the pieces and build it by yourself. This means that they are prefabricated pieces, which are already built on fabric. It is as easy as putting the different elements in the way you prefer.
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1/ THE STRUCTURE: plastic
2/ COACH / SOFT PART: poliurethane foam.
3/ GENERAL PIECE “C”: plastic
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The structure, which is the support of our sofa, is formed by
a plastic stretcher with a flexible strips which give it stiffness.
The strips, which give to this the
enough firmly, it will be formed by different plastics strips join with fabric. So in this way it is as easy to build than extending this kind of roller on
the base structure. This would make it malleable, firm and make it conserve its form when it is not being modified.
The mat consists in a foam panel of 2.00 x 1.00m. This should be confortable, modifiable and flexible to adapt to the elements, which give it the shape. This would be cover by a synthetic fiber case. This is a fabric material, which is really cheap and can be fabricated in different colors.
The final element would be the one, which configures the different uses and combinations. Itisasemicircularandsquarevolumeof65cmofheight, which act as general piece to create different volumes. It can be the support of the structure as well as serve like a table to place food of a book. This is the element, which create the sofa with its armrest or allow keeping stuffs under the sofa. The material I though for this element was plastic. It is a cheap and easy to manufacture. It is a bit flexible so it will support the entire heavy on it. I will make different combinations of colors to satisfied to different kind of costumers.
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DIFFERENT
POSSIBILITIES
This special sofa can be combined to create different combinations:
1. Double sofa: Just joining two of the structures with 8 general pieces.
2. Bed: Leaving the structure with no general pieces, it will be the perfect sustitute to your own bed.
3. Sofa + table : You turn the C and it will became a perfect table to support any food or drink.
4. Armchair: Adding arms to your sofa is as simple as colocating the C in a flat position and laying the coach over the curve of it. 5. Sit: This time you only need two general pieces to create as many sits as you want. If you have a party, you just need to change your table-sofa in a double sit. 6. Shelves: Each modul is an individual shelf wich you can configure one on top of the other to form a complete shelf.
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Sit and relax
3 different positions
PARTYING! 19/25
Magnetic joints I have been thinking in using the magnetic force to join the different pieces of the structure. No screws, no fasteners, no adhesives of any kind will be used to produce this furniture. Each segment of each piece will be crafted from a solid piece of plastic, and will be held together using a magnetic joining system. Shipping furniture unassembled is more economical and more environmentally friendly. But flat-packed furniture is often made from low-grade material and its assembly is far from straightforward. Assembling ‘MAG’ (Magnetic Assisted Geometry) furniture is easy, takes minutes, and requires no tools.
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INSPIR ATION
F inal magnet p o s i t i o n
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WHO EVER WANTS TO BUY A MÖFLE? This design is going to be accessible to everyone. With the use of only three small pieces you will be able to build your furniture. It will be enough to put each of the pieces one on top of the other. So easy and simple that it would be suitable for all ages. In first place, it is aimed to young people who don’t have the enough economy to buy a big sofa and a bed. So with this simple design they will be able to have both of them in one. In addition its easy assemble will allow to do and undo the sofa or the bed in one second. You won’t believe how simple is going to be. In this way I want the price to be around 300$ or less. IKEA sofa designs use to be like 300$ to 500$. So I want my design to be like them. However this design has re and having three. You will More over the unique pieces rately if you want, so you
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the advantage of paying one furnituhave more possibilities for the same price. will make it possible to buy them sepacan do more combinations and designs.
JU
ST
Y TR
!
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Brand and Logo. A new vision of the future This furniture wants to take an advantage to the future designs. It has been thought to adapt to new neccesities of humanity so its image should represent this too.
I have wanted to give a simple and stylish look, as the product shows in its design. The letter is light and clear to read, so in this way it is easier to understand to everyone. The logo is a simplify form of the most important pieces of this furniture. It is a double C with the initials letters of its name. It wants to emphatize the word modifiable, because it is what best represent this design and the company. A furniture which change to adapt living people needs and a company which want to develop product which solve new human needs. A company which try
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WHAT ABOUT THE DESIGNER? My name is Cristina Garza I’m from Spain and I am 20 years old. I study architecture in Navarra University in Pamplona. I’m going to start my 5th year. I’m a creative and imaginative girl, open to learn new things, because I firmly believe that projecting appropriately lies in the basis of your memory. I believe that this is the reason why it is crucial to learn and show interest about everything, in order to find inspiration in those things you least expect from. One of my hobbies is doing furnitures from recicling old objects, so i wanted to learn more about the prototype and development of products. I have always been really interested in design and fashion, and although i chose alrchitecture, these areas have lot in common with it. They are all artistic forms to express your thoughts and give a solution for real problems.
B i b l i o g r a p h y : http://thetinylife.com/what-is-the-tiny-house-movement/ http://tinyhousetalk.com/multifunctional-furniture-for-tiny-spaces/ http://tinyhousetalk.com/furniture-for-small-spaces-12-high-tech-convertible-furniture/ http://tinyhousetalk.com/futuristic-tiny-apartment-tour-in-hong-kong/ http://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/transforming-furniture http://www.sunset.com/home/decorating/creative-small-home-design-ideas/small-living-room-design
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