BellowBench
A Composite Woven Furniture that Enables Multi-stiffness within One-piece
By Rosalie Lin
Advisor: Jaffe Tseng (Advanced International Multitech)
Martin Bechthold, Saurabh Mhatre (Harvard GSD)
BellowBench is a carbon fiber composite woven furniture that enables multi-stiffness within one-piece. A material library specified for furniture application was built based on industrial material characterization. Weaving can easily integrate multi-stiffness fiber units such as rigid frame and soft cushion within 'single piece'. Inspired by compliant mechanisms, the furniture is designed to be foldable, compressible, which allows storage in spaces of different sizes. Customizable design and modular fabrication are emphasized in the iteration process from concept to manufacturing.
Foldable, compact storage, modular fabrication
Inspired by compliant mechanisms, BellowBench is designed to be foldable, compressible, which allows storage in spaces of different sizes. Customizable design and modular fabrication are also considered in the iteration process. The parametric design algorithm allows end-users to manipulate their unique furniture through several parameters: how many units, the length of each unit, the height of the arc, or the dimension of the bench..., etc.
.jpg)
Simulation the Deflection Bevaious
Besides the physical material test, the fine-element analysis (FEA) can predict the deflection tendency and facilitate a more accurate material choice before the real fabrication. In our case, we mainly laminate our composite (fiber in x-direction with matrix in y and z-direction) to the defined thicknesses or volume. Then the boundary condition and forces are then applied for the deflection simulation.
Simulate the Physical Fabrication
The process includes the steps and jigs, which are important to simulate and clarify before the fabrication. As we were in the prototype stage, we just considered using off-the-shelf materials, such as styrofoam or paper sheets to make the jigs. The main idea is still to make the jig modular fabricable, reduce different types of parts.