Unitx are a modular and adaptable home furniture system which allows users to customize their living space and optimize it for specific needs. Individual Unitx effectively acts as “Lego” blocks for furniture. It uses as few parts as possible to easily and intuitively allow users to customize their living space and optimize it for specific needs. Users can have the furniture they need when they need it, and transform it into different pieces as their needs change.
Collaborators
Jacobo Smith, Youlin Hong
Role
Industrial Design, Photography
Duration
13 weeks
Materials
5052 aluminum, corrugated roofing steel, TPU
Dimensions
Length: 60.96 cm
Width: 30.48 cm
Height: 35.56 cm
Units of possibility
The aim with Unitx is to create an adaptable and versatile furniture system for students and others in temporary living arrangements with limited space.
Unitx is designed to be easily assembled, disassembled, and stored.
Visual Inspiration
Brainstorming Solutions
We explored different ways to create adaptable furniture that can break down to a compact state for storage/travel.
Prototyping
After deciding on sheet metal construction, we began testing out methods of forming the units with our limited available resources. In our initial exploration, we slowly fed a sheet of scrap steel into a slip roller, measuring the resulting radius and change in overall length.
Concepts
We designed our concepts with the aim of creating a solution which would be stackable and elegant. Cost and manufacturability were major constraints that drove the evolution of the form.
Fabrication
Once we had figured out how we could form the metal in our shop, we went to a local industrial metal supplier and bought some of their scraps. 5052 aluminum sheets are lightweight and malleable and corrugated roofing steel adds strength and rigidity.