Chair with Canopy

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Getting to crunch time

Working in conjunction with Chad Cross

Rolling on Carpet

When thinking of plasticity, we began thinking more about the possibility for multiple uses of an object without altering its state. This differs from elasticity, which we believe refers to an object/material’s ability to be molded into new forms and shapes, altering its initial structural state. We looked at one of the largest amounts of plastic waste, carpet, and started to think of news ways to use this everyday object. With 5 billion pounds of carpet thrown out per year, there is a lot of material that is available to be up-cycled. Carpet is walked on everyday, lining the floors of spaces with various uses; it is not common to see carpet being used as a structural material to sit on. Our goal is to use post-consumer carpet, rolled to various lengths, and interlocked to create functional plastic artifacts –
We created a system in which carpet samples of the same size were rolled to various lengths and tightness (3 lengths, 3 levels of tightness). By rolling the carpet in specific amounts, we allow ourselves the use of a stabilizing structural component as well as the original flat state of the carpet. The interwoven “tails” of the carpet rolls and the stacking of the rolls themselves (strategically placed in an ergonomic manner) allowed us to create a comfortable surface.

The only major case study in which some of our ideas are derived from is the Lucy House by Rural Studio.