Divan made with cardboard using laser-cut technology

A project for the laser-cut machine assignment for MAEB course 2018/2019 in the module of digital fabrication.

In this assignment cardboard has been proved to be a material strong enough to be used as furniture for Valldaura Labs, with this design it is possible to lay and relax using only a few cardboard planks.

We started with a basic shape, exploring natural curves to remind us the landscape of Valldaura. We were looking for comfortable shapes, keeping in mind the material and it possibilities and limitations.

We also wanted to explore the waffle technique with the properties of the material. The laser-cut machine allowed us to do it in a short amount of time in which the main time consuming was the assembling process.

Natural shapes in our design.

With the size limitation of the laser-cut machine, it was important to reduce and simplify our models but keeping the shape. In addition, the idea of this design is to use wisely the direction for cutting the cardboard to obtain the maximum resistance for the standard weight of a person.

In the end, we came up with this idea to divide the forces between two supports which reduces strategically the amount of cardboard used in this assignment.

Thinking Process of our design.

Nevertheless, we have also in mind future improvements and updates for this design, involving different materials and exploring new possibilities like increase the size, including the use of different pattern frequency for the waffle technique.

The design was tested by students of MAEB and now is located in Valldaura Labs.

Cardboard divan tested by Chian Yu-Ching

Cardboard Divan is a project of IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed at Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings, Digital Fabrication tools module in 2018 by:
Students: Chiang Yu-Ching and Jesús Bueno Anguita
Faculty: Valldaura Labs

Photographs: 1-2 Chiang Yu-Ching , 3 Jesús Bueno Anguita