Tetra: Bridging the Gap

•

Design Challenge:

BoConcept, a Danish global/urban furniture franchise, has provided us with the opportunity to design a furniture item that bridges the gap between the horizontal and the vertical, the couch and the wall, soft and hard surfaces.

Important design considerations:
• Major component is wood
• Transition from wall to couch is simple and enjoyable
• Design is relevant and functional

• Meets the needs of urban dwellers in the year 2025
• Customization and diverse uses
• Shipping size and weight

Design Team: Co.Here Design

Team Members: Shannon Mortimer & Andrew Tavukciyan

As living spaces and technologies become smaller, there is no longer a need for large desks. Tetra is a sleek, space saving sit/stand work desk that is perfectly proportioned to accommodate the needs of urban dwellers.

Design Features:
• Two metal wings that function on the desk or the couch arm
• Wings can be positioned up or down on the desk (held in place by hidden inset magnets)
• Possible slit for lighting accessory
• Two asymmetrical pockets for storage and possibility for added cable management
• Simple, sturdy mounting system (bracket held in place by 6 screws positioned to hit wall studs)
• Complete customization of veneer type and colour accents

Using many divergent sketches and rough cardboard models as a springboard, we narrowed down our 15 best ideas and modified them. Creating a room and a couch for each, we presented these initial ideas to BoConcept for the first time. During the three month design process we met with BoConcept representatives 3 times before the final presentation.

Following the first critique we were strongly urged to move forward by combining the concepts from three of our scenarios:

• Storage that would remain on the wall

• Create both a public and private space

• A work desk that interacts with the couch in some way

Beginning early on in the design process, we were interested in multifunction, innovation, originality, shipping, sustainability, comfort, ergonomics, user experience and aesthetics.

The creation of tetra was a process that involved hardwood, birch plywood, veneer, steel, vacuum bag laminations, complex angles, inset magnets, milling, precise measurements, complicated table saw setups, metal processes, sandblasting, outsourced waterjet cutting, and various surface finishing.

We created 3 final prototypes - shown in the last image above - each with unique customization (walnut vs. white oak veneer, a variety of colour accents, and the option to add a slit to one "wing" for a light)