Cardboard Chair
Cardboard chair design that could hold 250 pounds made from a single 4x8' sheet of cardboard using no glue
Most of the research I did for this project led me to focus on function and structure. I studied the construction of cardboard, its grain, its flexibility, and its resistance to being folded and bent. Since the chair needed to support 250 pounds, structure was a crucial consideration. I found that many basic shapes, such as squares, triangles, and circles, were able to support weight on their own. However, many of these shapes were not able to resist torque when constructed out of cardboard due to the direction of the corrugation.
Pictured above are the results of weight-testing various small scale simple structures. After analyzing the different shapes I decided the "X" would be my best option. I then took that structure and made my first model.
My first full scale attempt held all the weight, but had an uninspiring form and some other issues. The tall back made the chair uncomfortable to sit in, and the raw cardboard edge hurt the backs of the user's legs.
For the next iteration of the chair I essentially peeled the tall back and sides down to create the armrests and the shape of the back rest. By creating the back and arm rests, I opened up the chair, made it more visually appealing and a better fit for the human body. The altered front made it much more supportive as well as not as abrasive on the user’s inner knee. These changes allowed me to keep the same basic pattern and to not use any more material than my previous design.
The final model of the chair has a slimmer seat, but the rest of the chair remains the same.
As part of this project, I was required to create assembly instructions from which one of my classmates would create my chair.
