Pyramids: A Modular Seating Unit for Lawrence Hall

Trafton B.

March 13, 2011 - 6:25 PM

I've been writing a lot about my own work lately, and I figure that you're all probably sort of tired of that...I know I am. So, with that said, it's time to showcase some of my friends' latest accomplishments. Now, I'm planning on boasting about the seemingly thousands of pages worth of reports, essays, reading responses, and blog posts this term. But one thing I won't be able to say after finals week is over (or ever for that matter) is that I built furniture. Furniture!! Did you hear me? My friends built furniture for their architecture course.

Emily, Emma, Melissa, and the rest of the interior architecture girls, plus the solo IARCH male, Nathan, built an entire seven-unit set of furniture for their Architecture studio this quarter (ARCH 486: Furniture Studio).

Pyramids is the name of their furniture module and it was initially inspired by a lighting arrangement on the second floor of the architecture building, Lawrence Hall. The ladies were also given a design object of creating a playful, modular seating arrangement for architecture students, which came from a variety of student and faculty suggestions, such as:

With that, the group got to work to develop the furniture pieces in the photo above. All I can really say is that I'm amazed and thoroughly impressed by the craftsmanship and creativity that went into each individual piece as well as the module as a whole. It's a perfect blend of comfortable, flexible seating that can be used as a relaxing private work space or a more open group meeting place. Before I knew anything about the ideas they'd been working on in the studio, I guess I just figured that each student would be working on his or her own pieces, so I was blown away when I discovered that they were creating this elaborate collection of pieces. I'd prepared myself to be impressed by the craftsmanship and creativity of several individual furniture pieces, which mind you I still was, but the mere fact that each of them is so well done and blends in so seamlessly with the rest of the module adds a whole separate level of grandeur. Better yet, however, is that it blends in with the rest of Lawrence Hall so well, which I think my favorite part about the whole project. The girls only moved it there last Wednesday for their final review, but it feels as if it's been there or it should have been there all along. 

Apparently the group had a design few faux pas while they were putting the pieces together, but I wouldn't have known if I hadn't shown up to the review session. Supposedly there were some measurement issues that caused the joints at the tops of the pyramids to be slightly less flush than originally planned, but it's practically unnoticeable to the untrained eye. As their professor said during the review, "That ended up being one of those happy mistakes in the design process." Considering that this was a first-run prototype put together in five weeks by a group of undergrads, I think they did a more-than-exceptional job.

Okay, it's time to get back to work for me, but if anyone is in Eugene and wants to check out these awesome pieces for themselves, they will be on showcase Lawrence Hall for another few weeks. Actually, I don't know when they will be removed, hopefully not for a while, but nonetheless you have to see them in person; they are marvelous pieces of art and, once again, congratulations on a job well done to everyone involved.