The DRIFT PUBLIC SEATING project contemplates the nature of public space in
education environments, the role of furniture within gathering spaces, and how
such space may be transformed to encourage new paradigms of collaboration and
learning. By expanding the role of surface, texture and embodied functionality,
the seating proposes a shift away from purely maintenance-driven agendas and
toward greater user-engaged criteria. Recognizing an array of natural body
positions and new relationships with technology, the project offers an informal
landscape of flexible seating, collaborative opportunities, and intensified
ergonomic potential. The project also serves as a lantern, integrating both
lighting and electrical power needs to provide an inviting and intimate scale;
this design strategy inherently critiques the typically vast and anonymous
nature of many public spaces today. The prototype is designed
as a repetitive “blade” and foam structure, utilizing straightforward CNC
technology to achieve shaping of infinite and supple variation.