The ulo chair is an adaptable piece of furniture designed for compact living spaces. It is my final Degree Project and was completed on the 29th May 2007.
The ulo chair will be on exhibition in the Industrial Design room of the NCAD Graduate Show, Thomas Street, Dublin, Ireland from the 9th to the 17th of June 2007. For more details click here.
Overview
The chair has two configurations; an "Upright" configuration for more demanding applications such as working, studying or eating, and a "Lounge" configuration for leisure based activities and general relaxed postures.
Context
The ulo chair was designed in response to the growing movement towards compact living spaces for sustainability. Prefabricated compact homes such as Alchemy Architects "WeeHouse", Andy Thompsons "MiniHome" and Michelle Kaufmanns "Glidehouse" are all inherently sustainable due to both their size and the methods used in their construction.
Extremely thoughtful architecture and space design is being applied to such homes in order to make them feel less diminutive and consequently more sustainable. However I felt that this thoughtful approach was not reflected by the products within.
Functionality
The process explained below can be seen in the video to the right. You can watch this video on YouTube here.
The changeover between each configuration involves one swift movement in which the rear legs "bend" and the seat shell pivots about its front connection point. This simplistic movement was designed in response to the plethora of poor multifunctional products which currently exist. These products are always difficult to reconfigure, and often perform poorly in one/more position.
The rear legs are locked straight internally via 8mm PTFE coated, hardened steel shafts. In order to unlock the flexible sections in these legs the user presses down on the horizontal bar at the rear of the chair with their foot.
The ulo chair will be on exhibition in the Industrial Design room of the NCAD Graduate Show, Thomas Street, Dublin, Ireland from the 9th to the 17th of June 2007. For more details click here.
Overview
The chair has two configurations; an "Upright" configuration for more demanding applications such as working, studying or eating, and a "Lounge" configuration for leisure based activities and general relaxed postures.
Context
The ulo chair was designed in response to the growing movement towards compact living spaces for sustainability. Prefabricated compact homes such as Alchemy Architects "WeeHouse", Andy Thompsons "MiniHome" and Michelle Kaufmanns "Glidehouse" are all inherently sustainable due to both their size and the methods used in their construction.
Extremely thoughtful architecture and space design is being applied to such homes in order to make them feel less diminutive and consequently more sustainable. However I felt that this thoughtful approach was not reflected by the products within.
Functionality
The process explained below can be seen in the video to the right. You can watch this video on YouTube here.
The changeover between each configuration involves one swift movement in which the rear legs "bend" and the seat shell pivots about its front connection point. This simplistic movement was designed in response to the plethora of poor multifunctional products which currently exist. These products are always difficult to reconfigure, and often perform poorly in one/more position.
The rear legs are locked straight internally via 8mm PTFE coated, hardened steel shafts. In order to unlock the flexible sections in these legs the user presses down on the horizontal bar at the rear of the chair with their foot.
