A ROOM WITHIN A ROOM
In an increasingly connected world, it can be hard to find a moment for yourself. There are times when we want to be alone, even in a public place. Separate, but not removed. The apart chair provides a comfortable habitat that discourages intrusion. Communal environments like the office, or even your own home, suddenly become a private oasis. Apart creates an experience of public retreat.
YEAR: 2017 | DURATION: 4 months | ROLE: User Research, Design, and Fabrication | TEAM: Individual Project
The living room functions as both a public and a private space depending on the time and occupants. Its use fluctuates many times throughout the week, and even many times during a single day. The dual nature of the living room became apparent through a series of user interviews with both renters and homeowners from a variety of living situations. Users expressed a desire for furniture that reflected their intent for privacy at any given time. The need for a furniture equivalent of wearing headphones in a coffee shop guided the design process towards a solution.
Early material exploration expressed an inherent tension between the texture of soft knit materials and the rigidity of structural elements. This fit perfectly with the dual nature of a chair that insulates the user from the surrounding environment. Ideation around form imagined how to embody this material relationship in the chair’s design.
Through several prototype iterations, the form and materiality of the chair solidified. The apart chair contrasts a soft woven seat with a welded chain structure. The welded chain contradicts the flexibility of its typical state while speaking to the typology and texture of the knit seat . On a manufacturing scale, this chair would require a frame to hang from while the links are welded, similar to the one used while building the prototypes. Continued sketching and modeling explored more ergonomic frame geometries and played with the scale of knit relative to the chain.
The solution is a chair that balances the need to be social with the desire to be alone. The woven seat invites and envelopes the user, while the welded frame guards them and creates a physical barrier to interruption. The two materials contrast visually and texturally while physically supporting each other to create a uniquely personal environment. The apart chair creates an experience of public retreat in any location.