The initial impetus for this project is an interest in designing furniture in an apartment unit in ‘The Pavilion’: one of the residential towers designed by Mies van der Rohe in Lafayette Park, Detroit. The designs of three pieces of furniture: desk, light fixture, and bookcase are developed through a drawing process starting with a study of details and materials of the existing building.

A set of hand drawing techniques: superimposition, orthographic projection, and collage, are primary methods for the drawing to document the relevant details and materials, then further to look for geometric relationships among them. This drawing expands relational thinking capacity that results in appropriate design decisions.

Furthermore, the drawing acts as a tool to achieve simplicity in construction details and material choices, which resonate through the aesthetics of furniture in accord with Mies’ minimal design of the space. And it evolves into an architectural composite drawing that serves as a guide for the fabrication process, negating the distinctions between different types of conventional architectural drawings.

 

Location: Detroit, Michigan

Year: 2016-2017

Type: Furniture

Materials: Aluminum Channel and Angle, Threaded Rod, Acrylic Panel, Glass, LED Tape Light