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4th-year student Anthony Garcia won the Aesthetics Merit Award in the 2007 AIAS Chair Affair competition. His chair, entitled, "POS," or, "Pile of Seat," was made of multiple layers of randomly selected cardboard that would have otherwise been waste.

What can a Saturday of destruction and another Saturday of creation produce, given a stack of boxes (packaging for computer, pizza, paper, and vending machine refills) and roughly 125 hot glue sticks and about 12 man hours? Usually it’s a big pile of sticky mess, but if one were inclined, the creation of a reasonably permanent and comfortable seating arrangement can occur. Complete obliteration of the boxes into small manageable shards of glorious mess on the floor is key to this simple construction. By designing only the process of creation, the concept is as simple as you can imagine. One fragment of cardboard slapped onto another accompanied by a generous amount of hot stuff in between.

(Tip: If considering taking on this project at home, be sure you have a reliable glue gun. Continuous flow of creation should not be hindered due to faulty equipment.)

Two main approaches to structure are observed. The first and least effective would be the layering technique. In the seat area and in some levels of the base, this method is seen to have a giving nature when sat upon, and also when turned vertical for the back and arm rest. Second is the buckling or creasing method in which one or several pieces are pulled away from the layered plane to create a stronger more rigid support system. These two systems come together to allow the cardboard to flex to certain limits while allowing a sturdy seating condition. Shape and function are meant to be ambiguous and seemingly thoughtless. Because the process of not thinking about a finished thing was present from the moment the first piece of trash was removed from its box origins, the only thought concerning this finished thing became the necessary evil while the thing was being created. This process had to end in some form in which a human could elevate in a comfortable manner, as prescribed by the guidelines of this competition. By letting the pieces produce dialogue about its own intentions by which it was to be created, a curious form was created. By including the outside voice of a person wanting to rest, the pieces had to accommodate this new voice, and change how they spoke to one another: seat, back rest, arm rest, height, and stable, balanced base. Though the language was modified, the underlying system of origin can still be seen. If you sit in it you will not fall. If it breaks, and the nature of its construction might say that that needs to happen, then a new language will be created for a patch or fix, in order to allow for its continual function.

http://www.aias.org/chairaffair/


Related Files

• » 2007ChairAffair_1.pdf
• » POSboard1_1.pdf
• » POSboard2_1.pdf