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Virginia Tech

Material Exploration of a Chair

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

A chair was designed and built through exploration of material and form. Cardboard was chosen as the main material to create the chair. Initially it was paired with concrete and a first study was developed. Cardboard and concrete as materials were too different and did not support each other. Failures in the design and material were noted which informed the next steps of the thesis. Rather than stacking the cardboard, I implemented a quarter iso-grid that required less cardboard, could create more complex forms, and was also able to interface more effectively with other materials. A chair form was designed to be tested. Ultimately, two materials were chosen to compliment the cardboard quarter iso-grid. In the first chair a fiberglass skin was used to cover the cardboard, providing lightweight structural support. The second chair used steel in place of fiberglass. Sections of the cardboard were replaced with steel. The two versions of the chair each had their strengths and weaknesses. The fiberglass was lightweight, strong, and smooth, however it was difficult to work with and the cardboard became less apparent as a part of the chair. On the other hand the steel fit into the quarter iso-grid as a rib element similar to the cardboard making the quarter iso-grid and cardboard more apparent. The steel suffered in strength due to the notches necessary for the quarter iso-grid and had to be reinforced.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Architecture
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Architecture
Department dc:contributor.department
Architecture
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Blignaut, Stefan Louis
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Rott, Hans Christian
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Becker, Edward Gentry
  • Green, William R.

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:21535
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/90794

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Blignaut, Stefan Louis. Material Exploration of a Chair. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/90794