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Project

Archata

Designed a purposeful seating solution for students to help improve their posture and provide storage for their backpacks. 

This seating solution should be structurally sound, constructed with base materials of wood or metal, and weigh below 20 lbs. Additionally, this chair is designed for a specific environment~ seating with a purpose.

Info

Case Study

Multifunctional Seating Solution

Role

Solo Student Project 

Timeline

January 2023 - January 2023

Tools

Fusion 360, Woodworking, Wood joinery

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Design 

Archata is the result of a visual interplay between opposing design elements.

 

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The fluid belt design weaves through the rigid silhouette & swoops through the chair's soft arches. 

Study Chair

  • Back rest is slightly angled to encourage  good posture

 

  • Large seat for comfortable seating.

 

  • Designed to work with standard desks  for maximum productivity

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Book Bag Storage

  • Basket-like design to store bags and belongings

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  • Prevents backpacks from getting dirty

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  • Easy accessibility to your items

Ideation

305 sketches later...

After exploring various types of existing chair designs, I narrowed down my preferences to design a chair for an educational environment. With this decision, I continued research into various building techniques and chairs in this space. 

Upon testing I learned that certain angles

5-degree angle for the seat 

7.5-degree angle for the backrest ​

..support the natural curves of the spine properly without allowing users to slouch back into a passive seating position

I tested an active seating posture on different heights to reach final ergonomic decisions. Based off of some initial ergobox testing I landed on a 5-degree angle for the seat and a 7.5-degree angle for the backrest. 

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Building Process

Archata relies solely on dowel joinery and is held together without a single screw, creating a seamless design.

One of my key goals for my chair was for it to be lightweight and sturdy. To meet my structural integrity requirement, I chose to double the thickness of each part from 3/4 in thickness to 1.5 in thickness. To maintain truth to materials I used dowel joints to put the plywood parts together.

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Finishing

I designed for the moments and emphasized them.

 

After the surface was dried I painted multiple coats of polyurethane. All I had left were the finishing touches. So I added brass nails to secure the leather straps and finished my chair!

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