#HTE

Conor Coghlan’s Bow Spring Chair

Conor Coghlan might be an architect, but as part of his studies at Harvards’ Graduate School of Design he participated in a furniture making workshop. Tasked with producing an original design, Coghlan writes that he became “interested in how the arms and legs of the chair could work in unison as a type of double bow spring structure—becoming extremely strong under direct loading, yet flexible and responsive to the shifting load of the user.”

Here’s how he executed his plan, and it’s fun to watch because we see every step from the sketching to the modeling (both physical and computer) and then the fabrication:

“The legs/arms of the chair are made from steam bent, glue laminated strips of ash,” Coghlan writes, “and the seat is made from glue laminated birch plywood. Throughout the semester I employed many different techniques of fabrication from hand files to CNC lathes.”

Looks pretty darn good!

http://www.core77.com/posts/56444/Conor-Coghlans-Bow-Spring-Chair