Component one By Michael Hurley
Design brief •
T h e cl i e nt h as ta sk ed me wi t h d e si g n i n g a r a n g e o f mu l t i - p u r p o s e c h a i r t h a t f i t s t h e si ze a n d sh a p e o f t h e cl i e n t / u se r . I t wi l l b e u s e d as an i ndoor pi ece of f u r n i t u r e a n d i t wi l l b e ma d e o u t o f mo s t l y wo o d a n d o t h e r r e c ycl a b l e ma t e r i a l s a n d f a b r i cs . I t mu s t b e e a sy to c o n st r u ct and e a si l y a f f o r d a b l e . I t wi l l b e ma d e f o r o l d e r p e o p l e b e t we e n t h e a g e s o f 3 0 - 4 0 . A n d wi l l f i t a i n d u s t r i a l a t h e i st i c .
Specification M y d e s i g n wi l l b e s u i t a b l e f o r living room areas. M y d e s i g n wi l l f i t t h e a r t h r o me t r i e s o f t h e c l i e n t / u se r . M y d e s i g n wi l l b e e a s y t o ma k e a n d ma s s - p r o d u ce . M y d e s i g n wi l l b e M a d e f r o m r e c y c l a b l e ma t e r i a l s . M y d e s i g n wi l l b e mu l t i p u r p os e. M y d e s i g n wi l l e a s y t o c o n s t r u ct . M y d e s i g n wi l l b e a t a reasonable pri ce.
User research My design is tailored for people between the ages of 30-40 and will be designed to help them relax and also have a double as a convenient place to store certain items. Studies show that people between the ages of 30 and 40 are prone to back pain and discomfort when sitting down and my design will not only help but solve this common problem.
Problems with luxury chairs - To bulky - Waste of materials - To complex - Not atheistically pleasing - Break over time - Hard to build - Cost to much to build - Cause back problems
How can these issues be solved? Designers could use older methods of design to reduce waste Simplify the designs whilst also having them look aesthetically pleasing Use with stronger materials or look into better methods of structure Cutting down on material usage will decrease price and weight.
Demographic
Older generation between the ages of 50-70
Firstly I started off by looking at some common chairs that you may find in restaurants airports and other areas that commonly have a lot of seating. Then I started to look at the inclines of the angles to get a mode (most common number or in this case angle). After a few sketches I started to draw exploded variants to get a sence of all the parts requeird and found that in public seating takes up much less space than luxury seating
I also started looking at different types and styles of chairs to get an idea on what works and what id want to replicate in my design. Then I took elements from the designed I liked and started thinking about how I can implement them in my own design.
Then I looked at seating on public transport to see what makes it comfortable to sit on and also the materials involved that makes them so cheap and easy to produce. From my research I found that I
Primary research into made furniture
When walking through London one day I came across a luxury furniture shop called made. When I entered I decided to take pictures and document what they thought made furniture luxury. Like many furniture stores each piece had many different options in size and colour and made was no different. When looking around I noticed that the furniture was all very high quality as the materials were expensive and were designed to last.
Designer research the Rolling Bridge was conceived by Thomas Heatherwick It consists of eight triangular sections hinged at the walkway level and connected above by two-part links that can be collapsed towards the deck by hydraulic cylinders mounted vertically between the sections. When extended, it resembles a conventional steel and timb -er footbridge, and is 12 metres long. To allow the passage of boats, the hydraulic pistons are activated and the bridge curls up until its two ends join, to form an octagonal shape measuring one half of the waterway's width at that point.
Thomas Heatherwick
Thomas Alexander CBE The spun chair designed by Thomas Heatherwick Heatherwick, is designed to spin and rotate when a user sits on RA RDI is an English it to create a fun experience for the user. The designer and the shape of the chair itself similarly resembles a founder of Londondesign button. With this in mind it might be a good idea to based practice Heatherwick look at items around the house to gain inspiration. Studio. He works with a team of around 200 architects, designers and makers from a As I was doing research I decided to take note of what colours looked studio and workshop relaxing and can be used in any environment without clashing with the in King's Cross, surrounding colours London.
Victor Papanek
When looking into designers I came across victor Papanek a Austrian designer who made a range of chairs out of just cardboard. The chairs where effective because it depended on tensile strength to hold the user up. The designs also use very little material making them very sustainable and cost effective. The designs are made with a exoskeleton with bars connecting all the rows together and a carboard sheet that perfectly wraps around.
Initial ideas
After talks with the client they have suggested that the chair looks more organic and for it to have more complex curves
For my first set of ideas I've gone with quite simple layout with the arm of the chair acting as the main source of function as in some cases it acts as the place for the cupholder, shelf or storage space. To gather ideas I also found pictures of off Pinterest to get a better understanding of organic shapes in furniture
The degree of the slope is set at 100 degrees to try and help with back pain.
For my first design went with a industrial look as its very geometric and it takes the shape of any common household chair. This was just a starting off point as its not organic enough to fir to the clients needs. I added a 90 degree bend to make it into a L shaped chair but after showing a preview to the client he wasn’t too sure on the length and wanted to stick to a smaller 1 person chair instead of a family couch
On my second model I went with a more organic look as per the clients demands with the right hand arm rest resembling a leaf in the wind. Its an improvement on the first design as the curvature will help with back pain. And its uses less material making it cost effective and easier to produce
For my third design I combined the industrial look of the first and the organic curves of the second. My inspiration for this design came from beach chairs as can be seen from the curved seat.
Deconstruct-reconstruct
When trying to come up with new ideas I started to take parts from my models and connect them together to get new ideas the design on the left is a combination of design 2 with the foot rest of design 3. the model on the right used the foot rest on design 3 as ahead rest and used the same foot rest from design 2
For my research I looked at natural and organic like structures to try and see how my idea can blend in with it . I looked at deformed trees and mangroves along with pavilions that take a natural shape in order to gain a better perspective on naturally formed seating
First design For my first design I started off by making some profiles to see what shapes I liked and if they matched my research.
After making a few profiles I choose one that matched my research and what I was happy with. Then I stretched it out on SketchUp to get a sense of what It would be like when built.
Then I started to do the same process for the arm rest by creating a series of profiles to now see if it matched my main base.
When creating the arm rest for my first design I started the same way as I did with the main seat
After selecting my preferred choice for the armrest I stretched it out to gain an idea on the final look and after a few different ideas on how to maximise space within the armrest I decided to add a little cubby hole to store such things as books or valuables.
For my first design I wanted to make a organic seat that would make the user feel comfortable whilst also being beneficial to their posture.
I started with a cad model and then transformed it into a foam model using different materials to showcase different part of the models. I also decided to add a small armrest/ desk area so the user has something to lean on or even work on for instance with a note book or computer
Then I made a final design by laser cutting out the correct pieces to create a more refined version displaying all the individual parts creating a pleasant contrast in the materials.
For my second design I kept with the natural look but made it less complicated by making it longer and making the arm rest longer as well. I also added compartments for the user to store certain items like a tv remote or maybe even a few books. I started off by making changes to my first model. The changes I made were extending the front of both the seat and arm rest and swapping the armrest side to make it some what unique
After making my cad model I went straight to making a small refined model by using a 3D printer to make the arm rest and laser cutting the chair pieces and holding them together with dowels
How my model in a luxury home
I noticed that when my design was next to a human being it was too low to the ground so for my final design I raised it up so it was at the right level for standard human anthropomorphic
After finding out that my design would be too low to the ground I started to look into anthropomorphic data to see how I could improve my work and how I could make it as accurate as possible. After looking through a few books a I found that all the requirements that I needed.
Making final model
For my final design I'm only going to make my second design because I feel like it sticks the brief more than the second and will be easier to produce.
I started off by scaling up my model from earlier and adding slots to connect all the points together. I did this because when looking at victor Papenek I noticed that he did the same technique to use less materials and save waste so I adapted his technique to my design to do the same I first assembled the main base of the chair by slotting the pegs into each hole to make it stable and give it structure. Then I assembled the arm rest of the chair but doing the same technique.
Final model
After both parts were assembled I used balsa wood to surround the armrest and then sanded it down to give it a nice smooth finish. on the main base of the chair I wrapped a piece of vinyl flooring around it to make it look like its full scale.
Balsa wood
Vinyl flooring
Evaluation
Overall I'm happy with my final design I feel like I stuck to the brief as its made from recyclable materials its easy to produce and is multi purpose. I'm also happy than my design looks visually pleasing in a modern home and fits the anthropomorphics of the client cand customer. I'm glad that I used a range of different woods like balsa and MDF
I wish I could’ve made a seat to fit outdoors because I feel like I could have looked deeper into smaller features like lighting and overall making it bigger to accommodate more people. I also wish that I had taken more photographs of my development process because that would’ve increased the amount of slides in my PowerPoint making it longer and would’ve added more depth.