The design follows methods used by Gaudi for his church projects. This specific approach involved hanging the chains upside-down, showing the most opportune rib disposition and letting the gravity determine the strongest shape for the future building. Used in the chair design, the chain-models are combined with a software script to generate the structure of the ribs, informing of the complexity of the forces in a chair’s backrest. The chair is created by Studio Bram Geenen,  for their online Open Design Platform. The project was developed as part of the Furnistructures initiative, which involves extensive researches into structural systems, as found in nature and architecture, and the possibilities of designing lightweight furniture using such systems.

The script used to determine the structure of the ribs is based on three steps: the distribution of forces across the surface of the chair, the direction of the forces defines the direction of the ribs, and finally, the amount of force specifies the height of the rib. A thin shell made of carbon fiber deals with compression forces. The white beam-grid substructure resists bending of the shell. The substructure was made using rapid-prototyping techniques to achieve the required complexity. Carbon fiber was chosen for its lightness and strength.

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