Chair Architectonics
Architects in the Development of Three Typological and Morphological Chair Designs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31522/p.31.2(66).7Keywords:
cantilever chair, chair architectonics, office chair, reclining chairAbstract
Chair design is one of the most demanding and most challenging tasks for designers, to which creative efforts of numerous architects have been continuously linked. Since the beginning of the twentieth century the intensity of these efforts has not diminished. By creating an ideal microcosm around an essential everyday object, architects also express their understanding of space and time. A chair, like architecture, occupies a position in space that it also defines. The paper analyses three groups of chairs characteristic of the 20th century, different in terms of typology and morphology. Their architectonics are marked by a specific functional, formal and constructive idea, by concrete production possibilities and by technological procedures in the working of individual materials. Notably, reclining chairs, cantilever chairs with steel tube constructions and office chairs. The model of analysis put forward could also serve as a point of departure for future more extensive research into the same, or different, typological and morphological design. Three Croatian chair models are placed in the context of the pertaining design.
References
Ambasz, E. (ed.) (1972) Italy: The New Domestic Landscape. New York: The Museum of Modern Art.
Boekraad, C.; Bool, F. and Henkels, H. (eds.) (1983) Het Nieuwe Bouwen. De Stijl. De Nieuwe Beeldung in de architectuur. Neo Plasticism in Architecture. Haag and Delft: Haags Gemeentemuseum and Delft University Press.
Brdar Mustapić, V. (ed.) (2020) Između htijenja i realnosti - industrija i dizajn namještaja u Hrvatskoj 1945.-1990. Zagreb and Virovitica: MUO and Gradski muzej Virovitica.
Bruchhäuser, A. (ed.) (1986) Der Kragstuhl. The Cantilever Chair. Berlin and Beverungen: Alexander Verlag Berlin and Stuhlmuseum Burg Beverungen.
Buchanan, R. (1985) ‘Declaration by Design: Rhetoric, Argument, and Demonstration in Design Practice’, Design Issues, 2(1) [online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1511524 [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Bulegato, F. and Dellapiana, E. (2014) Il design degli architetti italiani 1920-2000, Milano: Mondadori Electa.
De Jong, C.W. (ed.) (2017) Dieter Rams: Ten Principles for Good Design, München / New York / London: Prestel.
Doesburg, T. van. (1924) ‘Towards a Plastic Architecture’, De Stijl, 6(6/7) [online]. Available at: https://www2.gwu.edu/~art/Temporary_SL/177/pdfs/Doesburg.pdf [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Edwards, C. (1999) ‘Reclining Chairs Surveyed: Health, Comfort, and Fashion in Evolving Markets’, Studies in the Decorative Arts, 6(1) [online]. https://doi.org/10.1086/studdecoarts.6.1.40662661. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40662661 [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Fredrickson, L. (1999) ‘Vision and Material Practice: Vladimir Tatlin and the Design of Everyday Objects’, Design Issues, 15(1) [online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1511788 [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Krstulović, B. (1984) Monografija radova 1954.-1984. Unpublished manuscript.
Küper, M. and van Zijl, I. (1992) Gerrit Th. Rietveld. The Complete Works 1888-1964. Utrecht: Centraal Museum Utrecht.
Loos, A. (2003) Ornament i zločin. Zagreb: Meandar
Máčel, O. (1990) ‘Avant-Garde Design and the Law: Litigation over the Cantilever Chair’, Journal of Design History, 3(2/3) [online]. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1315682 [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Máčel, O. (2020) Stam again or Hanomag, Mercedes and Tatra¸. In: van Faassen, S., Carola Hein, C. and Panigyrakis, P. (eds.) Dutch connections: Essays on international relationships in architectural history in honour of Herman van Bergeijk [online]. Available at: https://pure.tudelft.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/105057743 [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Máčel, O.; Küper, M. and Burge, J. (1993) ‘The Chairs of Heinz Rasch’, Journal of Design History, 6(1) [online]. https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/6.1.25. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1315934 [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Marcus, G.H. (2000) Le Corbusier. Im Inneren der Wohnmaschine. München: Schirmer / Mosel Verlag.
Muthesius, H. (1979) The English House. Frogmore: Granada Publishing Limited.
Overy, P. (1991) ‘Carpentering the Classic: A Very Peculiar Practice. The Furniture of Gerrit Rietveld’, Journal of Design History, 4(3) [online]. https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/4.3.135. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1315698 [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Olivares, J. (2011) A Taxonomy of Office Chairs. London / New York: Phaidon Press Limited.
Rüegg, A. (2012) Le Corbusier. Furniture and Interiors 1905-1965. Paris and Zürich: Fondation Le Corbusier and Scheidegger & Spiess.
Sarnitz, A. (2016) Adolf Loos. Köln: Taschen.
Sekulić-Gvozdanović, S. (1991) Prijedlog za monografiju Mladena Kauzlarića. Unpublished manuscript.
Torbert, M. (ed.) (1951) ‘Contemporary Chairs’, Everyday Art Quarterly, (20) [online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/4090728 [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
*** (1957) ‘Art: Architects’ furniture. What is a chair?’, Time, 18 February [online]. Available at: https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,809146,00.html [Accessed: 15 June 2023].
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Dina Vulin Ileković, Boris Ileković
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2021 authors and journal.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
In agreeing this form, you certify that:
- You read the ethical codex of the PROSTOR available at journal web.
- You submitted work is your original work, and has not previously been published and does not include any form of plagiarism.
- You own copyright in the submitted work, and are therefore permitted to assign the licence to publish to PROSTOR.
- Your submitted work contains no violation of any existing copyright or other third party right or any material of an obscene, libellous or otherwise unlawful nature.
- You have obtained permission for and acknowledged the source of any illustrations, diagrams or other material included in the work of which you are not the copyright owner.
- You have taken due care to ensure the accuracy of the work, and that, to the best of your knowledge, there are no false statements made within it.
- All co-authors of this submitted work are aware of, and in agreement with, the terms of this licence and that the submitted manuscript has been approved by these authors.
