Retreat

Into the Corners

October 2019 - December 2019

Retreat is a corner furniture that aims to create a cozy getaway space for the user to relax in the corners and enjoy their “afternoon essentials”.

Take out your favorite book or drink, keep the afternoon all for yourself.

Take out your favorite book or drink,

keep the afternoon all for yourself.

Background: Why Corners?

The Inspiration for designing a furniture for bedrooms came from my interview with multiple college grad students that lived in small bedrooms and struggled with space utilization. Most of the floor area would be occupied by a bed, and a desk, each serving the sleeping and working purpose that they are designed for. However, there has been a tension in the room between the relaxation purpose and the limited spaces available. As a result, the residents struggle with utilizing the fragmented space left for relaxation purposes.

The bedroom corners are what I call "the hidden gems" in our private space. Each corner has three jointed walls that create a semi enclosed, cozy space. However, the bedroom corners are often underutilized due to its unconventional shapes, and the lack of furniture that is specifically designed for it.

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Design Inspiration

I started by asking what people can do in a corner, and how my design should address these needs. After spending several hours in the corner of my studio, and interviewing multiple peers with their lifestyles and needs in the bedroom, I picked several thing that people do that I want to address: using phone and laptop for entertainment, reading books, and taking beverages. In terms of design, I focused on space saving, ergonomic and multi-functional structure.

Design Evolution:

Extract, Reconstruct, Repeat

I know that I want to have something that can integrate well with the corner, not just another piece of furniture that happens to be placed in there. The approach I took was very open ended and evolved tremendously.

After some initial exploration in the form factors such as cubic, circular, hammock, I have set the overall aesthetic as lightweight and flexible. It should have a sense of enclosure to surround the user sitting in it, while still opens up enough to make the corner walls parts of the furniture. I added and refined the side wings design to allow the user to use Retreat more freely, and the bottom shelf design to let user store their “afternoon essentials” such as books, magazines, and wine.

In order to evolve my design, I deconstructed each concept generated, extract the essential elements, and reconstruct them back together.

1. initial EXPLORATION

"What is in a corner? and what do we do with it?" I started with different designs with distinctive shapes and features in order to explore the potential opportunities for me to develop.

2. optimize space utilization

I extracted the circular shape of the initial design, and added two fan shaped hammock supports for foldability. I designed the chair to be easily folded to optimize the space utilization in small bedroom. Although later this design was changed, but many of its features provided inspiration for my later designs.

A change in direction

After some feedback from my peers and professor, I went back to the concept board. Do I want a folding chair that takes less space, or a furniture that has more functionality?

3. optimize Functionality

I extracted the shapes of the backrest and the wide seat, and reconstructed them into a chair with side wings and a bottom shelf that can both be used for storage and still create the semi-enclosed space that I originally proposed.

4. Explore form factors

I further simplified the side wing and bottom shelf and reconstructed them in to a lightweight wire frame structure. Utilizing leather materials, I was able to create a light and comfortable seating for the user.

Final design rendering

Software used: Rhino 6, Keyshot 7

Final design rendering

Material used: faux Leather, copper tubes

The evolution

The family