Saturday, March 01, 2008

Quartered Chair





These are pictures of a scale model of the "Quartered Chair". It is a 'low back' kid's chair for Benny and Topher. The chair itself is constructed in a game like fashion with the following rules:
1. Must be able to be cut out of a flat sheet on the CNC machine
2. Must minimize waste on that flat sheet
3. Must minimize bolts used (no glue allowed)
4. Must be able to assemble in 15-20 minutes
The bottom picture shows how the design was dependent upon fitting all of the pieces into a flat sheet of baltic birch plywood. The cost per chair when it's all said and done is relatively low ($25 or so per chair). I am thinking of giving the 'chair game' mentioned above to my furniture students next fall for their first assignment.

Today I am developing an exam for my 'Architectural Programming' class - fun stuff. Maybe a movie tonight - I saw "There Will be Blood" a couple of weeks ago and loved it. Emilie and I are going through a Daniel Day Lewis NetFlix phase; we do that sort of thing.

5 comments:

Jenny said...

Have you thought of pattening it? I think it is really great and can see it at Home Depot. Neat Saturday project for father and son!

Farce Withers said...

Good idea! I had not thought of that - been so consumed with how the heck to make it work; it is a real puzzle to design. I was going to send one to my brother so he and Zack could put one together.

Francie said...

That is a great idea!

Bella said...

Cool chair, however, I see it more in the market for something like Ikea.

Then again, being a child's chair, I am concerned about the safety of the large bolts in the back. How about some sort of covering for them?

=) Bella

Farce Withers said...

Good advice! The bolts on the full size chair are actually a lot smaller (the picture shown is of a small model, 9"X9"). The back has given me some trouble - still working to figure those out.

...and I like the idea of IKEA. Wait until you see the fire engine red version!!