In the Fall semester of my junior year at MIT I took 4.120, a course also known as Furniture Making Workshop. The only requirement for the class was to design and build a piece of furniture that could withstand a load of 185 pounds (about 84 kg) by the semester's end.
I documented my design and fabrication process with pictures and mental notes, and have organized them here to serve as an exhibition for you, as well as an account for myself, of what I made by the term's end.
Ideation
The concept for this piece morphed throughout the semester and only until the end did it fully come together. However, my main goal was to bring together elements of wood and concrete to form a bench. After some initial designs, I decided on incorporating a concrete block on one end and having the other end supported by wooden legs that curved 90 degrees to form the seat.
Drawing board
Initial design in Rhino
The initial design featured a continuous piece of wood that spanned the width of the concrete block. This wasn't feasible due to limitations of the wood steamer I'd be using, so instead I decided on having two rails on either sides of the block. I was unsure how I wanted to create the seat in between the rails and ended up making a decision closer to the end of the project.
Secondary designs in Rhino
Wood Rails
4x8 CNC router used to cut the MDF mold for the wooden rails
Gluing the mold together
Waxed mold
In order to achieve the bend and thickness I was looking for, I cut the White Oak into eighth of an inch thick laminations. These laminations were then steamed, immediately curved around the mold and held using clamps, then glued together.
Laminations of White Oak cut using a table saw
Bending and clamping laminations onto mold after steaming (steaming process not pictured)
Below are the rails after gluing the laminations together, beveling the edges using a handheld router, and the addition of two support beams to the curved end. Additionally, holes were drilled to secure the rails to the concrete block.
Closeup of curved end of wooden rails, finished using Tung Oil
Finished rails
Concrete Block
I decided to make the concrete block hollow so that it would not be as heavy and could also be used for storage or as a pot for a plant. The mold was made out of blue Dow foam and held together with screws and pipe clamps while casting the concrete. The below image shows the mold which represents the negative space of the block.
Empty mold
Concrete is set and block is ready to be extracted from the mold
Block was cast upside down
Block flipped right side up with blue foam in the negative space
Blue foam removal method since it was completely adhered to the block
Finished block
In the end the block required two 80 pound bags of premade concrete mix and another 30 pounds of aggregate and homemade concrete mix to fill up the mold which formed the nearly 200 pound block. The block was designed with two bolts on either side that are used to secure the wooden rails in place.
Unfinished rails resting on the block
Finished rails attached to block
Canvas Seat
The seat is made out of double ply canvas which I designed but commissioned a local tailor to create. The bottom side has tails in the middle and on both ends to provide support. Each tail has grommets that are used to weave in a nylon rope and keep the canvas steady while seated.
Closeup of grommets and nylon rope
Completed Design
The rails are fully detachable from the block
Thank You
This project was an incredibly rewarding experience that I would never have been able to complete on my own.
I want to thank my professor, Chris Dewart, who was invaluable throughout this entire process; without his knowledge and guidance I would have been nowhere near completing this piece.
I also want to thank my parents, Paula and Gabriel, for all the phone calls and FaceTimes deliberating over design and materials; without their never-ending support I wouldn't be where I am today.
