Socket & Notch

 

I designed and prototyped a cafe chair using digital and and hand fabrication processes for an elective at Yale School of Architecture.  The chair is an essay in joining wood (ash) and metal (steel), dissimilar materials that are notoriously difficult to connect.  I developed two joints.  At the seat, the frame posts sleeve into a socket and tighten together with a threaded insert to create a sturdy fixed joint that resists bending moment.  At the back, the frame posts are notched to recived steel tabs and pinned in place with sex-bolts.

 

The chair is designed to be easily assembled and disassembled.  Because of the reversible fasteners at the joints, it can be demounted and flat-packed for economical packaging and shipping.

 

The seat and back are laser cut from 16 guage steel sheet and deflection-rollered to their final shape. They are treated with a blackening gunmetal finish. The frame posts are turned on a lathe from kiln-dried ash and finished with polyacrylic whitewash.

​

​