Built for cooperation.

Project
Seat of Cooperation

Type
Industrial Design / Conceptual Design

Context
MFA Products of Design, School of Visual Arts
Fall 2016

Models: Ailun Sai, Dayoung Hong & Gahee Kang

Details

The Seat of Cooperation is a physical exploration of the way in which our environment might be able to induce cooperation. Could furniture give us cues about how to relate to each other? How might an object embody my belief that we can only truly be functional if we all work together? 

After a series of sketches and sketch models, I came up with a modular, slotted bench design made of plywood. The seats of the bench are made of one continuous piece of canvas that slides freely between the three seats.

In order for three people to make the bench work, therefore, they must coordinate as they sit down in order to achieve an equal tension and balance. If they don’t, they will end up at different heights—and one of them may even drop unexpectedly...