Philip Parker Architect
Custom designed & fabricated table for West Street Apartment, New York NY
Spring 2008 ~ 2009
Design team: Philip Parker (principal), Minyoung Song
Fabrication: Caliper Studio, Brooklyn
Finite element analysis: Toru Hasegawa-Project Statement by Philip Parker
"The table often provides a second datum to the floor, it is obviously
supported by the ground and usually held as completely distinct from the
base material and messiness of even a domestic ground. Gravitational
forces pass through the folded table legs obliquely, torquing the
structure between the table top and the floor. This zone is activated,
not as a lift, stacking or complete separation but as more and less
horizontal; more and less vertical. The folded aluminum plates tie into
one another and distribute forces through interlocked pairs of legs.
The finite element analysis shows the logic of bracing and bending. When
the aluminum sections are stressed their major axis is rotated into the
next section in a circular way.
The pressure between the table and the floor is resolved in the
continuous rotation of the metal plates, somewhat like a screw."