2011年9月4日星期日

Furniture Design -- Project 2 (Stage1, Research Part B )

PHOTO ESSAY









CAD DRAWING






STATEMENT

I spent 20 dollars bought this unique chair in a second hand shop. It is a functional chair which has a curve steel coat hanger, and the 362mm seat height is lower than a normal chair. But from the ergonomics perspectivethis height is perfect for a people who use this chair as a wear shoes chair. So I defined this chair as a dressing chair.

The manufacturing of this dressing chair is cheap and simple. The four chair legs and the back of a chair are made from the stainless steel which can extends the life of the chair and making it more resistant to rust, chips and fading. The upholstery is made from the cheap leather cover which is filled with low density foam. So it sits not that comfortable. Moreover, the cross design chair legs are fixed with a screw enhanced the stability of the chair structure. The most unique part of this chair is a curve steel coat hanger which welding on the top of the chair back. It gives another function to this chair --- to hang the clothes. To compare with a normal chair it still has use value even when people don’t sit on it. Besides, this funny chair is easy to dismantle. And it is not perfect, from the ergonomics, functional, style and manufacture perspectives, it still has large space to improve and redesign. So I think it is good choice for this project.

2011年8月15日星期一

Furniture Design - Project 1

PHOTO ESSAY












SKETCHES





EXPLODED PERSPECTIVE DRAWING




CONTEXTUAL ESSAY

Barcelona Chair
( Ludwing Mies van der Rohe designer, 1929 )


Mies van der Rohe was a German-born American architect, who is widely regarded as one of the most influential architects in the modern movement. He also was the modern architecture precedent who had a lifelong desire and purpose to create a new architectural language that could be used to represent the new era of technology and production. Moreover his design principle “Less is more,” became the foundation for German Modernism and later the Minimalist movement.

Mies’ designs were lack of framework. However, he was really good to use modern materials. Besides, his style is simple, planar and geometric. He also good at to use the glass curtain wall to create the open space of a building, and concerned more about the incorporation of nature. Furthermore his custom designed furniture also very famous all over the world.

The Barcelona chair is one of the most famous furniture in his design, which reflects the same philosophical underpinnings that drove his architecture. The chair was Mies customized for the Barcelona House in 1929. In the 1930s, Mies worked briefly as the last director of the Bauhaus, adopting and developing their functionalist application of simple geometric forms in the design of useful objects. Therefore when he designed the Barcelona chair he also concerned with the use of space, and the chair forms being defined as much by the space around it as by the structure of the chair itself, and it employ a striking combination of sleek modernist steel frame and luxurious leather. The original frame had bolts but in 1950 it got its current look with the seamless metal frame. Furthermore, the original ivory pigskin was also replaced by black leather.


REFERENCE
Styleture, Mies van der Rohe – Pioneer of Modern Architecture, viewed 12 August 2011, http://www.styleture.com/2009/08/13/mies-van-der-rohe-pioneer-of-modern-architecture/.

Building Connections, Mies van der Rohe, viewed 12 August 2011, http://www.buildingconnections.co.uk/resources/4thdimension/mmasters_van_der_rohe.html.

Designboom 2000, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, viewed 14 August 2011, http://www.designboom.com/portrait/mies/bg.html.