The form was inspired by the work of Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik, who is very rich in spatial ideas, meanings and visual expressions. It helped me give the shape to my idea.
The intention was not to make a simple cardboard piece, but also a small social space. So I made a chair that can be sat only in pairs, in balance between the two, to provoke play and social interactions - things so neglected these days.
Local
Slovenia
{Empty}
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
“A chair for two” was my student work at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana (Slovenia), at the course Detail in Architectural Composition, in 2022.
The form was inspired by the roof-supporting structure in Church of St. Anton (Slovenia), made by Slovenian most important architect Jože Plečnik, in 1939.
An element of column levitating on a cantilever brings an innovation to the 3-nave church concept, showing the possibilities that new, modern times were bringing. In the way Plečnik was drawing from the past, and then advancing and retelling its concepts in the new time context and with new means, I saw a path to follow. So the element of column on a cantilever became an archetype that helped me give the shape to my design.
I reiterated the alternating rhythm of volume and void, of light and shadow. But the most fascinating thing about the element is that you don’t really understand how it stands. It seems be beating gravity. And that uncertainty is reinterpreted with rocking of the chair.
The intention was not to make a simple cardboard piece, but also a small social space. When considering the characteristics of a chair – an object for one person to sit, usually in contrast with another individual sitting on the “opposite” side, I got the feeling that this type of sitting can sometimes provoke the distance, the feeling of the empty space in between and the fixed position of the persons sitting which can entail a fixed mental attitude. So, I tried to make a reverse concept of a chair – an object for two, who are using the same back support and who cannot use the object without the other person.
So I made a chair that can be sat only in pairs, in balance between the two, to provoke play, social interactions, trust and doing things together- things we seem to have forgotten.
social interactions
play
balance
drawing from the past
eco design
With an exclusion of its reinforcement details, the piece is made of cardboard- a material of our sustainable future.
• Cardboard is 100% recyclable and biodegradable.
• It is one of the materials with the least environmental impact. Its manufacture means a reduction of up to 60% in CO2 emissions and oil consumption compared to other materials.
• It eliminates production waste, since the leftovers can be recycled and used for further production, establishing circularity.
• After recycling, cardboard keeps the same quality as a new cardboard – it does not lose durability or resistance.
At the same time, it has a huge design potential, waiting to be unleashed.
The scheme for cutting the pieces (attached in photos) uses the maximum out of a rectangular cardboard piece, minimising the waste.
The chair is very efficient in terms of manufacturing as well, since it is completely made of simple and standardised elements and is very easy to assemble.
In that way, it can be produced on (any) site, reducing transportation emissions.
As mentioned above, the form of the piece was inspired by work of a master, architect Jože Plečnik, who is very rich in spatial ideas, meanings and visual expressions.
At the same time, I had an idea of a chair for two. A piece that would offer people something fun and enjoyable, and that would make them be and do together.
And these two concepts combined into one single form. Its aesthetics aroused spontaneously from the two ideas.
United, they provide experience for two and if we wish – for many, who instead of sitting firm, fixed and on their own – now sit together, in balance, still or rocking and playing with each other. In such a way this chair brings a change and a new quality for people, positive emotions and a feeling of community that we all draw from our common grounds and that we often seem to be neglecting. At the same time, the design was not “a victim” of the concept but has managed to maintain the essential quality of every good chair – to be comfortable.
The chair is proposing “together” as a new / old social model.
It can-not be stable if a single person tries to use it. Stability can only be achieved by using it together.
Since the two sides contribute equally and are equally important to make it work, no matter who are the participants, the concept overcomes the categories of gender, age and race. The chair makes a balance between them, literally and figuratively, and by that celebrates diversity. It is suitable for everyone equally.
The chair is made of cardboard and a minor part of metal joining elements, which makes it highly affordable, and could make it highly accessible in the future. The expenses could also be even more reduced, and affordability increased, for example by using exclusively cardboard and choosing a simpler joining system , such as gluing. This makes the chair affordable in the sense of price to all the economic groups.
By introducing the chair to public spaces, which is one of the possible further steps, the community could meet and get closer together, strengthening the sense of belonging on a local scale.
My first proposals would be to assemble “A chair for two” in:
• Public spaces and parks, as some kind of hybrid between a bench and a seesaw, that encourages intergenerational exchange and community building
• Institutions, such as schools and universities, to encourage socializing
• Different kinds of social-oriented workshops or social centers that could benefit from it
And if we ask people how and where to put the chairs, we would easily come to solutions that respond to essential needs of the community. If we go further, and engage people in the realization and assembling itself, they would be happy for contributing to their community, and even more happy to use it later. We could go further by inquiring with the users about alternations of the piece, to improve chair’s durability, quality of experience it offers...
For the concept development phase, different stakeholders were included on the local level, i.e. professors and students at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana.
At the beginning of the design process, I had a consultation with professor Jurij Sadar who suggested me to take one element of Plečnik as an archetype. He also gave me advice about some issues I might encounter in making the physical model, which saved a lot of my time and energy.
The final model was preceded by a test model, used to check if the concept works. There, I had help from other students, in both making and testing it. I caught them and myself laughing and having fun while exploring different ways of rocking on the chair. It was a confirmation of object’s structural resistance, as well as of the social effect it produces.
During the making phase, I adopted my design to fit precisely the cardboard size available at the Institute for Cellulose and Paper (Ljubljana), where the pieces were cut, in order to reduce the waste surface. In such a way “the manufacturer” was involved in the process as well.
Further development of the project and expanding the idea would include a wider range of stakeholders where I would focus on schools, faculties and youth social centres. There I would physically present the model and run a focus group in order to come up with the best solutions about the place where to position the chairs within these spaces, the number of chairs, the manufacturing process and eventual joint assembling of the chairs.
Architecture should be a field that unites everything.
It is engineering, art and craft. It has to deal with sociology, psychology, technology and ecology at the same time, and treat them equally. It is both creation and calculation, both physics and metaphysics, both history and future, both space and time...
Directly or indirectly, it should deal with all the spheres of human existence. As such, it must never be specialised and non-synthesizing. It has a value only if it unites all these spheres, and makes them interact to produce the wholeness.
In a small scale, without prioritising, “a chair for two” tried to unite all these fields. In the process of conception, which included historical perspective and inspiration from “the giants”, to the consultations with professors, producers, students who tested it, I was experimenting with finding the final solution which would be the meeting point of them all.
“A chair for two”, as the name suggests, questions the concept of a chair. Does it have to be so singular, lazy, boring, fixed and deaf, quite often only a temporarily used item, or “an icon” of exhibit?
Instead of that, this is an engaging piece that provokes interactions, play and trust among the two.
In that way, “a chair for two” could contribute to fight the alienation, one of the biggest issues of our time. Who knows how many friendships, first loves, bondings and conciliations could “a chair for two” cause, how many hearts could it heal, how much loneliness could it reduce.
The chair can be replicated in any context, both as a social proposal and in terms of production.
In our times,it would make sense to have “a chair for two” anywhere (or everywhere) on our planet. Social crisis is a global problem, that has already spread deep into each of our societies and cultures, and each could benefit from “a chair for two”.
The chair could be easily manufactured anywhere, on the site. It is made of standardised elements: two types of cardboard pieces, and standard steel nuts and bars. By simply lining up these elements, the chair can be very easily and quickly assembled and disassembled.
Number of these elements is arbitrary. Its design allows the chair to be flexible. Depending on the needs of a certain context, it can be a chair for two, or a bench for four, or for six... Once assembled, each piece can also be adopted later-extended or reduced in case of changed circumstances or needs. It could also be adopted for outdoor use, by, for example, making it out of wood.
Even though it originally builds up on Slovenian culture, and is made of standardised elements, the design is flexible and leaves enough space for adaptation to different climate and cultural contexts.
We live in times of social crisis and alienation, on local and global level, even more deepened and accelerated by the pandemic.
Architecture, which has always been, and still is, a tool for shaping our mental health, our societies, and our future, plays a key role in fighting this issue.
By operating on local level, “a chair for two” suggests an approach that architecture should have on global scale, in order to heal our society. It proposes a model of using design as a tool for bringing people to each other, by shifting from “me” to “us”.
