KGPdesign studio

The Green at Battery Park offers many experiences to people who visit it. Still, to all, it is a respite from the structured experiences of the city and a chance to recharge and immerse oneself in nature. To sit in the park is a variation of this interaction, a passive mediation between gravity and the natural world. Similarly, a visitor wants a break, if only momentary, from, for example, their office chair, liberating, non-constraining, but comforting. This chair should be uniquely responsive to the infinite range of shapes, sizes, ages, social circumstances, and life stories embodied in each person it encounters.

Dynamic: Given the opportunity, the body wants to continue moving, even when seated. Though sitting is passive, our body still craves a chair that responds to it and moves with it, if even slightly. You may have noticed that a rocking or desk chair seldom rests when occupied.

The optimum angle of repose is as infinite as the occupants and their mood when inhabiting the chair. The chip chair's radial base encourages them to seek a preferred angle to occupy the chair. By shifting position and center of gravity, the chair angle adapts to the need: upright to discuss office business with a coworker, slightly inclined to sit back and enjoy and read, and further inclined to rest after a long walk in the park.

Simplicity/Durability: The chip chair is a single contiguous form; no seat, back legs, miscellaneous parts, nuts, or bolts, just a warped planar ellipse. Simplicity, durability, economy, and safety are inherent in the chip's nature.