Recreation, portability and elegance are the driving forces behind architecture senior Justin Chen's folding chair. He added features such as a built-in handle for portability and different angled settings for reclining. I wanted to show the fragility of the cloth next to a sturdy structure and have the chair interact with the setting. The bed-like structure, complete with pillows and a footrest for supporting a weary head and calves, invites relaxation. In the initial design phases, stability and scale are often the two greatest pitfalls, she added.
Stability is always a risk.
Some of them also have never worked with the materials for which they are designing. Full-scale mockups created midway through the semester provided the first opportunity for the students to work with those materials and appropriate techniques. The mockups also offered invaluable insights, allowing the designers to evaluate their chair concepts in three-dimensional form as well as to have the chairs' comfort and stability tested. This year, the class had the added benefit of a newly designed and expanded workshop. After contractors reworked the space, Stouffer and a small group of students this summer undertook the challenge of transforming the area into a viable workshop.