Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FORMFUL WOOD
EXPLORATIVE FURNITURE
JOSEPH SCHWARTZ
PREFACE
4
CHRISTOPH SCHINDLER
REFERENCING AS AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS
15
FLORIAN HAUSWIRTH
DESIGNING IN THE WORKSHOP —THINK WITH YOUR HANDS
35
OBJECTS IN PROGRESS
RAOUL DUBOIS, SVEN HÖGGER, SAMIRA MUSTER, FABIAN REINER,
VALENTIN RIBI, MANON ZIMMERLI, MAXENCE RYAN, ALEXANDRA GRIEDER,
NICOLAS HARTER, ZIU BRUCKMANN, DEIARA KOUTO, ILGHAR DADGOSTARI,
JOSHUA RITTER, LEA BISSIG, LEONIE HOCHSTRASSER, LORENA ADLER,
LUKAS TOPPLER, MELINA MICHAELIDES
43
GALLERY
RAOUL DUBOIS, SVEN HÖGGER, SAMIRA MUSTER, FABIAN REINER,
VALENTIN RIBI, MANON ZIMMERLI, MAXENCE RYAN, ALEXANDRA GRIEDER,
SIMON WÜST, NICOLAS HARTER, ZIU BRUCKMANN, DEIARA KOUTO,
ILGHAR DADGOSTARI, LEA BISSIG, LEONIE HOCHSTRASSER,
LORENA ADLER, LUKAS TOPPLER, MELINA MICHAELIDES, MERET TRÖSCH,
NADIA HUBER MEICHTRY, NATALIE AGREDA, NILS WIDMER,
OLEKSANDRA MEDVEDEVA, SELINA CADRUVI, URSINA HASLEBACHER,
VIVIANE STÜSSI, AYNUR TURUNC
81
OBJECTS IN PROGRESS
MERET TRÖSCH, NADIA HUBER MEICHTRY, NATALIE AGREDA, NILS WIDMER,
OLEKSANDRA MEDVEDEVA, SELINA CADRUVI, URSINA HASLEBACHER,
VIVIANE STÜSSI, AYNUR TURUNC
146
SEBASTIAN KRAFT
GRAIN ORIENTATION, GROWN AND SHAPED
165
MARIO RINKE
THE FORM AS AN IMPRINT OF AN IDEA
175
NICOLAI DE GIER
TECTONICS
187
4
Can there be a more enticing and challenging task for students, even if ultimately
not particularly complex, than to design, create—and yes—make with their own
hands “formful wood”—also known as stools, chairs and benches, even small
pieces of furniture—within an interdisciplinary study setting? Contemplations of
this nature have taken on current prominence, especially since the label “form-
ful wood” is a nod to the distinguished peculiarity of the designs of Alvar Aalto.
Courtesy of Artek, the furniture company that accompanied the course, Alvar Aal-
to’s designs have been incorporated into our design semester. This is therefore an
experiment which was nurtured into reality at the Lucerne University of Art and
Design where it became embedded in the object design philosophy, as well as at
the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich where it was incorporated into struc-
tural design courses. Both institutions were very energized due to the successful
debut of the courses in 2015.
While the main aim of the object design course is to promote research-
based design that appeals to the senses and provides responsible and compel-
ling solutions to challenges of today’s cultural and social environment, the pro-
fessorship of Structural Design at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich
places the focus on the recognition of interaction between internal forces and
forms of load-bearing elements and purposefully applies it to the architectural
design process. The insight that the concept of construction controls the dis-
tribution of internal forces within broad boundaries is key to creative structural
design and makes possible in the first place the playful articulation of the tec-
tonics of bearing and joining.
With a focus on bending wood as a starting point, surprising design ideas
were uncovered, accompanied by corresponding prototypes built by the students.
Everything centered around construction, transformation and manipulation at the
intersection of design and art. The participants soon became aware that at the
beginning of the process there is a need to discover and acquire knowledge not only
of the method of construction itself, but also of many other aspects such as mate-
riality, flexibility, stability, functionality, identity and interaction with the user. Very
helpful in this regard was the ongoing examination of Artek’s philosophy, which,
modern manufacturing techniques notwithstanding, does not consider furniture
as an industrial artifact, but rather an expression of socio-philosophical concepts
and therefore an echo of its time.
The students’ exposure to artisan skills at the RAPLAB workshop at ETH
Zurich served as a vivid tool that greatly aided the introduction to and understand-
ing of principles of construction. What are the ways in which wood can be bent?
What are the options created by the layering of veneer? How can individual parts
be joined; how do they respond to gentle or vigorous touch? What is the effect of
space between parts? What, ultimately, is the relationship between force, mate-
rial and form? How can a concept be taken to its ultimate conclusion, developed
5
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT A PLYWOOD SEAT!
10
A TEACHING PROJECT TRANSCENDS DISCIPLINES
This complex of topics forms the basis of our design workshop. In spring 2018, the
Object Design department at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
and the Chair of Structural Design at ETH Zurich’s Department of Architecture
launched a joint course that was taught to 28 students from both universities with
the goal of designing and building seating objects made of plywood, as a collabo-
rative effort. We received support from Artek, our industry partner, whose name
combines the words art und technology, and who still employs the same, delicate
handcrafted manufacturing processes that became the hallmark of their furniture.
Artek’s so-called L-leg, a narrow curved chair leg, also dubbed the “little sister of
the architectural column” by co-founder Alvar Aalto, is a typical example of these
processes and became a launching pad for the design project. It is made using a
combination of steam bending and molded plywood, whereby irregular cuts are
sawn into the end of a piece of wood which was then bent and glued together
with another piece using veneer strips. Three legs of this nature are subsequently
mounted to the seat by the user himself. The uniqueness of this type of furniture
turned it into a cult object. The intricate process could only be assembled through
extensive testing in the workshop. Artek thus combines the curiosity and experi-
mentation of design with craftsmanship and industrial practices. This philosophy
makes Artek an ideal partner for our design workshop. Object design and architec-
ture, craftsmanship and industry—crossing the boundaries of individual disciplines
and schools of thought was a central goal pursued by the workshop and gave rise
to a interdisciplinary research and work process among students and supervisors.
The workshop started off with participants getting to know each other, as
well as the industrial and craft work processes and materials. The head of Artek’s
manufacturing operations in Turku, Finland, explained typical manufacturing meth-
ods via video conference. It was impressive how much these processes resem-
bled time-honored manufacturing methods—a continuity that was also reflected
in remarkably consistent products. This marked an important starting point for the
students: processes were experimented with and used as springboards for new
functions and forms. A visit to a veneer factory also made a significant impression
on the students. There, they were able to observe how thin veneers were cut from
a tree trunk and underwent further processing. Those two encounters, Artek’s
L-leg and the flat veneers in the factory, opened wide the range of experimental
approaches presented by the designs. Once the students had received a detailed
introduction to manufacturing techniques and tools in the workshop, they settled
down and began to work on their projects.
11
REFERENCING AS AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS
CONSTRUCTION
18
CHRISTOPH SCHINDLER
HISTORY
Historical embedding and formal recourse help us not to lose touch while some-
thing new develops. There are different strategies for dealing with design his-
tory. If we think of design history, we usually think of a design history “canon” and
emphasized “key objects,” embedded in an art–historical model that moves from
10
one “great movement” to the next. If a designer imitates a style or age, we call
this attitude “retro.” A redesign of such a key object is labelled “approbiation,” like
Stefan Zwicky’s redesign of Le Corbusier’s LC2 in concrete and reinforcement.
Together with a team of design historians and in the context of a vintage
design salon, we carried out the module “Memories of Objects and Their Stories”:
the participants chose a historical reference from the living area and placed it in
a contemporary context. The references were not specific designs from known
designers, instead they belonged to a certain type of vernacular, indigenous and
anonymous family of objects, a kind of Bernard Rudofsky approach transferred
11
to design. [→ FIGURE 7 and 8]
CONTEXT
A reference to a related or entirely different discipline gives the customer the impres-
sion of moving in a field that he or she can hardly enter otherwise. Such a reference
is the fuel filler cap of all generations of the Audi TT since 1998, which is formally
reminiscent of automobile racing and thus emphasizes the sportiness of the car.
Under the title “Inspired by Textile Objects,” we offered a module that
drew its inspiration from the digital archive of the Zurich silk industry, which was
12
designed by a research group at our school. We were interested in how peculi-
arities of textile patterns—rapport, weaving techniques, patterns, colors—could
be transferred from one design discipline to the other and, practically speaking,
from flat textiles to the third dimension of product design. The openness of the
question allowed a broad solution space. It was hard to tell whether the result-
ing objects can still be categorized as product designs, became art, are between
the disciplines, introduce a new field or whether the disciplines have dissolved.
CONCLUSIONS
For our School of Art and Design, design modules based on referencing are among
the most appreciated courses, both internal among students and teachers as well
as external colleagues from our discipline. For most students, this is the moment
in their curriculum when they start to relate themselves to the world. They inter-
act with practice, disciplines, history and cultures and are introduced to the com-
plexities of design.
In contrast to specialized courses in any of the chosen fields, a design
module does not set out to give a complete overview of a field. Correspondingly,
students do not learn in depth about the field of their reference, instead they
reflect on its relation to product design. Moreover, they gain an awareness that
instead of just one perspective on the world there are many, depending on place,
culture, profession, as well as ethnicity, age, religion, gender and so on. Referenc-
ing is more of a method than a content.
19
DESIGNING IN THE WORKSHOP—THINK WITH YOUR HANDS
36
FLORIAN HAUSWIRTH
ing or CNC milling. Conversely, it is not so easy to translate real handmade objects
into 3D data. However, that data is needed for precise assembly or later production.
And yet, industry and developers of CAD systems have not shown much interest
in this transfer. Nonetheless, for designers of real products, this interplay is crucial.
Apple Chief Designer Jonathan Ive is also among those who have observed
a growing division between digital design and practical manufacturing in educa-
tion: “So many of the designers that we interview don’t know how to make stuff,
because workshops in design schools are expensive and computers are cheaper.
(…) That’s just tragic, that you can spend four years of your life studying the design
3
of three dimensional objects and not make one.“
37
PULPO L: 520 mm × W: 480 mm × H: 790 mm
45
JOLICOEUR L: 300 mm × W: 600 mm × H: 410 mm
What does a seating object look like which not only has to be elegant and sen-
suous, but also has to be robust because of frequent use? The objective of the
project was to develop a seat for public transportation facilities. A number of
free sketches led to important steps in the direction of a target form, where com-
fort and simplicity are combined in curves. Extensive production tests led to a
seat that is constructed in one piece. A fixed inner and flexible outer formwork
was created for this purpose. In this first step, a lot of effort was spent on pro-
ducing a strong curvature, after which the seat had to be stabilized in a second
step, through a combination of these surfaces. The formwork, which had been
rebuilt with a lot of effort, made a still tighter curvature possible at this point.
The radical concept of a closed, simple and comfortable form led to a result
that expands the formal language of plywood and indicates additional potential.
54
MANON ZIMMERLI [GALLERY] → 96
55
BOBI-STOOL 155 L: 520 mm × W: 374 mm × H: 300 mm
66
ILGHAR DADGOSTARI [GALLERY] → 112
In the design, the name Artek stands for the connection between identity,
function and art. Despite modern production techniques, products are not
always considered as purely industrial artifacts. Instead, they are frequently
an expression of socio-philosophical concepts and, with that, representatives
of their time. In this sense, the project searches for forms that go beyond the
pure material and production technology.
Following this guiding principle, especially the use and the meaning of
symbolism have been made the focus of the creative process. The interaction
between form and material develops via numerous attempts that are made on
different scales. Due to the material properties of cardboard, the initial tests
and first development of forms were carried out in this material. The designs
developed this way are then worked out more precisely in their form by using
a milling machine. A model is created using a scale of 1:3 or 1:5 and then made
of aircraft plywood, after which it is examined for strengths and weaknesses.
On the basis of the achieved results, weak points were strengthened in the final
design and fixed with screws. Unlike other projects, the form of the object is
not created by using a press mold. Instead, it is the result of an active defor-
mation process of the wet wood.
This has led to the creation of an abstract object that can be used as
seating furniture, both in the home area and in public institutions, such as gal-
leries or museums. The basic concept of the form is designed to promote a dia-
log between various cultural, social and historical contexts. 67
HENK L: 520 mm × W: 260 mm × H: 500 mm
Very early on in the project, the potential of a folding chair was recognized and
investigated with a first model. This consisted of four bent U-parts, which could
be folded in two directions and which generated unusual shadows in light. This
trial model was the starting point for the project. While the folding function was
integrated, the radii of the U-shaped of the chair legs were changed. In this way,
different functional models were created with strongly reduced shapes, so that
the intersections of the U-legs could come into their own.
For the production of the chair legs, flexible and airplane plywood were
used, which was cut into strips and coated with polyurethane wood adhesive,
after which it was wrapped around the prepared form made of MDF. A shaping
machine was then used to remove the unnecessary material. The two forms of
the seating surface meet when the chair is folded open. The two selected shapes
form a rounded end to the chair legs, together with the cushion and the leather.
Henk stands for lightness and mobility. If required, the volume of the
chair can be reduced through the folding function, so that it is easier to store
it. The user has the choice of using this in the living room, on the veranda or
while camping.
78
MELINA MICHAELIDES [GALLERY] → 124
79
PULPO
82
RAOUL DUBOIS [PROGRESS] ← 44
83
JOLICOEUR
96
MANON ZIMMERLI [PROGRESS] ← 54
97
SPLIT STOOL
106
NICOLAS HARTER [PROGRESS] ← 60
107
MYCRET SOLID STOOL
114
LEA BISSIG [PROGRESS] ← 70
115
L //KE
126
MERET TRÖSCH [PROGRESS] → 146
127
STOOL 62
134
OLEKSANDRA MEDVEDEVA [PROGRESS] → 154
135
BIRK BANK L: 1350 mm × W: 450 mm × H: 800 mm
Based on Alvar Aalto’s “Stool 60” and its L-legs, as well as the concept of self-as-
sembly, a modular system for a seating bench was developed, which can be used
in many different ways. Variations in the legs of the bench play an important role
in this regard. These are bent with the help of cuts and steam, and then glued
together with inserted veneers. The legs are made of maple wood, and the parts
for the arms and back are manufactured from spruce tree wood. Due to the way
in which they are joined, the legs appear to wind themselves around the seating
surface, the back and the armrests, as if they were plants. This organic motif
helps to form the bench into an entity that offers great comfort, despite the seri-
ality of the elements: since the backrest and the armrests are bent, the body can
comfortably snuggle up to the bench.
BIRK BANK is delivered with exchangeable legs, which can be combined
with various armrests, backrest and seating surfaces. This means that this bench
can be adapted individually to each place where it is used.
150
NATALIE AGREDA [GALLERY] ← 130
151
PENKKI L: 1100 mm × W: 600 mm × H: 900 mm
The design of the “Penkki” has two roots. Firstly, the construction and the
esthetics of the L-legs that were used for the “Stool 60” of Artek, which serve
as a technical foundation for its production, and secondly the highly symbolic
Swiss “Landibank” of Burri, which serves as an esthetic reference. The radical
simplicity of these motifs was recorded in a comic-like pencil sketch, which in
turn became the basis for its further development. The objective was to come
as close as possible to the esthetics of the two-dimensional sketch in a three-di-
mensional space, without appearing to be grotesque. This is why rather rough
forms were used and why the edges were given an imperfect finish. The object
was manufactured according to the Artek example, whereby the cantilevered
legs were produced with the help of a counter-form. Simple spruce wood planks
were used for the seating surfaces and the backrest. Through the esthetics
of repetition, the bench wins dynamism, and the straight hardwood is given a
snappy touch. Through its direct connection with the original sketch, the cre-
ative process is conveyed by the object itself. Here seating furniture has been
created in wood, which gives both a playful and a minimalist impression, while,
due to its lightness, giving a new interpretation to cozy sitting in the living room.
This has led to the creation of a niche product in the crossover between a stool
and a bench, indoor and the outdoor space and between two cultures, namely
Finland and Switzerland, as a cantilevered bench for the living room.
158
URSINA HASLEBACHER [GALLERY] ← 138
159
GRAIN ORIENTATION, GROWN AND SHAPED
FIGURE 1 Oak outer string timbers required for shipbuilding FIGURE 2 Structure of a wood cell
the material does not have to stretch or compact. By placing a metal bending rail
on the outer (pull) side, the tensile component can be completely removed from
the wood. Metal has a considerably higher tensile modulus (and a higher ten-
sile strength) than wood and takes over the tensile stress. As a result, the wood
“only” has to compress—on the inside now several times over. According to a rule
of thumb, hardwoods such as beech, oak, ash and elm can be bent by a minimum
radius of three to four times the thickness of the piece in question. Conifers, on
1
the other hand, only allow 18 times the radius. [→ FIGURE 3]
DAMPNESS
In preparation, the air-dry wood is moistened with water. When moisture is sup-
plied, the cells swell and the properties of the cell building blocks change. E-mod-
ulus and strength decrease. Moistening beyond the fibre saturation point does not
further soften the wood, contents are washed out if necessary and cell cavities
filled with water can lead to breaking outwards on the pressure side during bending.
TEMPERATURE
GROWTH RINGS
METHODS
The wood is steamed or boiled in a closed container, then bent and fixed as quickly
as possible over a press mold or several points. After cooling it is loosened and
can be further processed. Since the wood springs back a little after forming, the
bending form must be 10–20 % beyond the target geometry. Additional fixation
over several days or weeks—e. g. with a clamping set or nailed strips—prevents
slow resetting further. Each wooden part takes on an individual shape after bend-
ing, therefore it is important for parts that are in a series production that they are
fastened at several points (at least three) when installed.
167
THE FORM AS AN IMPRINT OF AN IDEA
itself in England as a metaphor for the cheap and deceptive. The French furnier
of the 16th century still stood for adornment and meant covering a piece of wood
with a nobler one.
The development of plywood as we know it today is mainly the work of
two people whose patents dominated the discourse in the USA in the 1850s and
1860s: Belter and Mayo. The cabinetmaker John Henry Belter (Johann Heinrich
Belter), who immigrated from Germany, owned a furniture factory in New York
and received numerous patents for machines and plywood techniques. Interest-
ingly, in the documents of his ‘pressed-work’ there are even depictions of press
molds and arrangements of the lamellas [→ FIGURE 1] . Belter only briefly names the
essence of the well-known plywood, the gluing of thin layers of wood in layers, in
order to then focus on the actual application: “giving increased beauty, strength,
4
and other valuable qualities to what is termed ‘pressed-work’ furniture (…)”. Belter
used his technique to make the back of a chair. Until then, an object produced
in this way had been produced flat or curved in only one direction because of its
material characteristics. Belter produced a closed tubular shape from which he
cut out the individual back segments. By means of the tubular shape, he shaped
his curved chair backs: In the direction of the tubular shape, he bent the individ-
ual staves, in the tangential direction he pushed them together at slanted edges,
similar to the wall of a barrel. This allowed him to easily achieve a double curva-
ture, which provided greater stability and made the element lighter. For esthetic
and technical reasons, the outermost layer was to be vertical and—to give the cus-
tomer a good impression—made of rosewood. Similar to his patent for the rose-
5
wood bed in 1856—for its frame he developed a circular, curved plywood sur-
face—the specially shaped wooden component is a replica of an established shape
yet using a new process. Plywood is therefore a practical, lighter and more com-
pact substitute for a multi-part and multi-stage construction method. It is only
applied to the part of the furniture whose geometric complexity normally meant
a greater construction effort.
In 1865 John K. Mayo’s patent, on the other hand, aimed at a general pro-
6
duction of materials. He first described the process of artificially joining the lay-
ers: “The invention consists in cementing or otherwise fastening together a num-
ber of these scales of sheets, with the grain of the successive pieces, or some
of them, running crosswise or in diversely from that of the others (…).” The spe-
cific direction of the timber grains takes on a specific arrangement and the lay-
ers neutralize each other to a certain extent. For this new wood building mate-
rial, the scale boards, he had specific forms and technical applications in mind, as
7
he explains in a patent in 1868. There, elements in the form of tubes or hollow
boxes are depicted and described in order to be used as lightweight and particu-
larly load-bearing bridge beams. Constructively, they refer to the contemporary
wrought-iron components whose typical forms they adopt. But also the con-
nection details, e. g. sleeve joints and, if necessary, rivets, are taken over. Scaled
boards are produced as “improved material,” which produce different technical
forms. Mayo’s collage-like drawing [→ FIGURE 2] thus stands for the principle of con-
struction: The individual, the thin, narrow layers of wood, are transformed into a
new, continuous mass whose plate-like form is determined by the industrially exe-
cuted layering only. This continuous mass already has a new artificial shape, i.e.
the straight plate, which is combined to form boxes or is constantly curved to the
shape of a tube. The new nature of the material, its layering with its specific direc-
tions and the overall curvature, is laid out in the reorganization and fixation of the
177
TECTONICS
FIGURE 5 Chieftain chair, Finn Juhl, 1949 FIGURE 6 Romans’ curule seat, Sella Curulis
FIGURE 7 PK22, Poul Kjærholm, 1955 FIGURE 8 PK 41, Poul Kjærholm, 1961
190
NICOLAI DE GIER
Technique prepares and works up the materials and gives form to them and to
the associated parts, partly through the techniques of adapting and finishing
them, but also through modes of joining the constituent elements that have been
adapted to the chosen material.
When new techniques are contrived, new possibilities of working with
existing materials arise. When the technique of steam bending was developed
by the Thonet brothers, new ways of designing furniture were rendered feasible.
Suddenly, it was possible to move, in a simple way, from the vertical to the hori-
zontal plane without having to do so via an assembly or via joining. Not only did
the new possibilities have an influence on the form, they also affected the whole
process of formation. Consequently, the world’s first industrial articles of furni-
ture could be mass-produced.
4
“Architecture begins when two bricks are put carefully together.”
Mies van der Rohe
191
CONTRIBUTORS
NICOLAI DE GIER is Associate Professor, architect CHRISTOPH SCHINDLER studied architecture at the
MAA, graduated from The Royal Danish Academy University of Kaiserslautern and received his doctor-
of Fine Arts, School of Architecture and trained as ate from ETH Zurich. Since 2005 he has been a part-
a cabinetmaker. He is head of the Furniture mas- ner at schindlersalmerón in Zurich, responsible for
ter’s program. Nicolai de Gier has published a num- product development with a focus on contract fur-
ber of articles, papers and books on furniture and niture. Since 2014 he has been Head of the Object
design, participated in design talks, exhibitions, work- Design Program at the Lucerne School of Art and
shops and documentaries about furniture design. He Design.
co-founded and runs the design brand TAKT.
JOSEPH SCHWARTZ has been full professor at the
FLORIAN HAUSWIRTH is an industrial designer and Chair of Structural Design at the Department of Archi-
“industrial craftsman” thanks to his training as a tecture at ETH Zurich since 2008. He obtained his
technical model maker. During his work as a pro- Diploma in civil engineering from ETH Zurich in 1981
totype builder and materials researcher at Vitra, he and his doctoral degree in 1989. Between 1989 and
learned various design approaches and also expe- 1999 he lectured at several universities in Switzerland.
rienced the transition from analog to digital design From 2001 to 2008 he was professor at the Lucerne
in the product development of the furniture com- University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Joseph
pany. Today he runs a design studio and label “Indus- Schwartz was associate partner of a consulting office
trial Craft” where he places machine processing and in Zug, Switzerland, from 1991 to 2001. Since 2002 he
handmade products in an equal relationship to each has been the owner of a civil engineering office in Zug
other. Florian teaches on the Object Design Program involved in the design of building structures, in close
at the Lucerne School of Art and Design. cooperation with several leading Swiss architects.
SEBASTIAN KRAFT is a carpenter and timber engineer. ALESSANDRO TELLINI studied industrial and product
From 2007–2011 he worked in the materials depart- design at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts
ment of the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Biel. Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) and has a formal
He has been self-employed since 2011 and develops education as a graphic designer from the Basel School
professional solutions for the application of wood and of Design Switzerland. He joined the Rapid Architec-
derived timber products. Since 2014 he has been a tural Prototyping Laboratory (Raplab) at the Depart-
lecturer for wood theory at the Lucerne University of ment of Architecture at ETH Zurich as Research Assis-
Applied Sciences and Arts. tant in 2009 and became director of the Raplab in 2011.
Alessandro is a lecturer at ETH and involved in different
MARIO RINKE is a structural engineer and construc- teaching and research projects in the department, rang-
tion historian, specialized in early reinforced concrete ing from design studios to elective classes and from
and timber construction. He is a senior researcher at model building to large-scale prototypes. In 2017 he
the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich where co-founded Faber Atelier, his own small-scale design,
he has lectured since 2011, having been at the Lucerne and furniture company.
University of Applied Sciences and Arts since 2009.
He obtained his Diploma in civil engineering from the STUDENTS OF ETH ZURICH Ziu Bruckmann, Raoul
Bauhaus University in Weimar in 2006 and his PhD Dubois, Alexandra Grieder, Nicolas Harter, Sven Hög-
at ETH Zurich in 2013. After working as a structural ger, Samira Muster, Fabian Reiner, Valentin Ribi, Max-
design engineer in London and Zurich, he runs his ence Ryan, Simon Wüst, Manon Zimmerli
own office in Zurich. Mario is a founding member of
the International Association of Structures and Archi- STUDENTS OF LUCERNE UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED
tecture (IASA) and regularly publishes in the fields of SCIENCES AND ARTS Deiara Kouto, Ilghar Dadgos-
architecture and construction. tari, Lea Bissig, Leonie Hochstrasser, Lorena Adler,
Lukas Toppler, Melina Michaelides, Meret Trösch,
Nadia Huber, Natalie Agreda, Nils Widmer, Oleksan-
dra Medvedeva, Selina Cadruvi, Ursina Haslebacher,
Viviane Stüssi, Aynur Turunc, Joshua Ritter
199
TABLE OF FIGURES
INTRODUCTION
pp. 10/12 bottom: Lucerne School of Art and Design / ETH Zurich
p. 12 top: artek
OBJECTS IN PROCESS
All images: Lucerne School of Art and Design/ETH Zurich
LAST PAGES
pp. 192–195: Lucerne School of Art and Design/ETH Zurich
pp. 196/197: Andri Stadler
DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCT
A PLYWOOD
SEAT!
Design and construct a plywood seat! Based on the famous L-leg, which was designed by the architect Alvar Aalto for
the Finnish furniture company Artek, an experimental study project investigated the potential and design possibilities
of glued and bent wood. In close cooperation with Artek, 28 students of architecture at the ETH Zurich, and students of
object design at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, not only turned the material on its head, but also
questioned the sensuous qualities of the objects, their construction as an architectural place and sitting as a social
event. This volume presents the surprising and unknown aspects of a well-known material, illuminates the respective
creation process and reflects on its context in a variety of essays.
Contributions to the volume were made by Nicolai de Gier, Florian Hauswirth, Sebastian Kraft, Mario Rinke, Christoph Schindler
and Alessandro Oreste Tellini