GROUNDED CHAIRS
Grounded Chairs is a 100% geo/bio degradable low-carbon seating system.
The Grounded Chairs series aims to use natural building materials such as clay, sand, fibers, and bamboo, to provide a new interpretation of seating sculptures. By using the thermal advantages of naturally driven mass materials and experimenting with electric heating wires, Grounded Chairs provide sculptural comfort seating that can store heat and absorb moisture to provide optimal thermal comfort, while having sustainability at its core.
As architects and artists declare a climate and biodiversity emergency, and commit to adopting new approaches and technologies, this project reshifts the architectural lens on raw earth as a potential for action. As such, this work aims to reintroduce earthen materials as a readily available and minimally processed source for everyday industrial design. Our first iteration of Grounded Chairs is ‘Jandug’; a structurally sound cob chaise with an internal bamboo skeleton and a radiant heating system to further enhance the user’s thermal experience. Throughout its construction process and phases, Jandug has posed intriguing challenges to the structural and durability limits of the materials used.
The Grounded Chairs series aims to use natural building materials such as clay, sand, fibers, and bamboo, to provide a new interpretation of seating sculptures. By using the thermal advantages of naturally driven mass materials and experimenting with electric heating wires, Grounded Chairs provide sculptural comfort seating that can store heat and absorb moisture to provide optimal thermal comfort, while having sustainability at its core.
As architects and artists declare a climate and biodiversity emergency, and commit to adopting new approaches and technologies, this project reshifts the architectural lens on raw earth as a potential for action. As such, this work aims to reintroduce earthen materials as a readily available and minimally processed source for everyday industrial design. Our first iteration of Grounded Chairs is ‘Jandug’; a structurally sound cob chaise with an internal bamboo skeleton and a radiant heating system to further enhance the user’s thermal experience. Throughout its construction process and phases, Jandug has posed intriguing challenges to the structural and durability limits of the materials used.
date:
2022
research assistants:
Bisher Tabbaa, Sarah Hejazin
photography:
Bisher Tabbaa, Eileen M. Barroso
special thanks:
Mika Tal, HIstoric Preservation Lab, Columbia GSAPP (thermal camera)