Final Project Specifications and Constraints, Simplistic Plywood Chair Design

For my imperfectly minimal chair design, the specifications and constraints are as follows.

Specifications:

Comfort: An average-sized human can sit in the chair for a prolonged amount of time without feeling uncomfortable and like they have to stand up.

Aesthetic: The chair has a cohesive imperfect minimalism aesthetic and is comprised of at most three materials such as plywood, metal hardware, and wood glue.

Balance: The chair has a strong visual and physical balance so that when the users interact with the piece of furniture there is no question of wobble or lopsidedness.

Adequate storage: The chair cubby has enough space to house a few books and the angle of the floor of the interior allows for cohesive stacking.

Quality: The chair has an innate quality to it in that it feels handmade and you can tell there was hard work put into the build. The wood panels are clean cut and imperfect aspects are sometimes visible but the solidity and build of the chair make up for it.

Constraints:

Materials: Sourcing the wood for this project is going to be difficult as I will need to find panels that are of high quality and of the correct thickness and proportions. The amount of plywood required for this project may be more than I am expecting as things could fail and require second or third cuts. Additionally, securing the panels together with metal hardware or with wood glue will be a process I will have to experiment with.

Lack of Skills/Experience: I have not worked with wood in such an intimate format as is required by this project. I have cut wood, drilled wood, screwed in wood, and varnished wood, but past that I haven’t had much true experience with the material in a serious project setting. I hope to maintain the quality of my build regardless of my lack of skills and experience.

Cost: Apparently plywood these days is fairly expensive so I will have to do my best to optimize costs and material use. Additionally, operating a CNC sometimes has associated costs and metal hardware can add up as well.

Machine Access: I’m not exactly sure how I am going to execute this project yet. I think the most logical way is to use the wood CNC at the CLC. This would allow me to cut the pieces extremely precisely and guarantee the quality of the final output. I need to go to the CLC to check it out and ask some of the staff of how to access the CNC and if I can schedule a time to cut my pieces. I’m thinking there will be some difficulty with this process, but I’m hoping for the best.

Time: My schedule for the remainder of the semester is full of demanding projects that are going to require an immense amount of time and effort. Lucky for me they are all self-driven projects that I am interested in and because of this I have the desire to complete them all in time.

 

Previous Post
Specifications and Constraints
Next Post
Specifications and Constraints: Organic shaped manual press

2 Comments. Leave new

  • Hi Rishi,
    I like the aforementioned design sketch of the chair given it compliment the aesthetic of the space which this will be put into. And, I hope you’ll be able to overcome the constraints and build it satisfactorily.
    Looking forward to seeing the final build.

    All the best!

    Reply
  • Connor Jameson
    April 2, 2023 6:47 pm

    I like the functionality of this project and it’s cool that you are going to be able to use it after this class is finished. The design is interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing how you make the wood into these shapes.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.