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Soap Bubble chair on Kickstarter

Cory Doctorow at 1:06 pm Fri, May 4, 2012

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Andrew writes, "A new designer chair from Andrew Miller at mSurfaces.com uses soap bubble physics to unlock their unique structural advantages. While architects have used the shape of a soap film to provide canopy, as in the 1972 Olympic Stadium by Frei Otto, the chair will be the first built object to support a human's weight with the form. It is the equal distribution of curvature throughout a soap film that makes it so aesthetically pleasing to the eye. However, this formal quality also redistributes the structural forces. If you could harness this property, you could use lightweight and inexpensive materials instead of steel. Imagine multi-story tents able to support the weight of electrical and plumbing lines, swiftly deployable in the aftermath of natural disaster. This chair will demonstrate the proof of concept towards such real-world load-bearing applications. 3-D printed models and renderings of the chair are now available on their Kickstarter page."

Soap Bubble Chair (Thanks, Andrew!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE:  3d printing • crowdfunding • furniture • happy mutants • housewares

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  • http://twitter.com/digitalArtform Joseph Francis

    I hereby dub this chair, ‘The Weasel.’

  • http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

    Is this like the Eden Project’s bubble segments?

  • http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

    “Imagine multi-story tents able to support the weight of electrical and plumbing lines, swiftly deployable in the aftermath of natural disaster. ”

    That’s a fantastic idea. Add flexible solar paneling to the outer layer.

  • Andrew Miller

    Get background images for your iPad here:
    http://www.msurfaces.com/backgrounds/SoapBubbleChair1.jpg
    http://www.msurfaces.com/backgrounds/SoapBubbleChair2.jpg
    http://www.msurfaces.com/backgrounds/SoapBubbleChair3.jpg

  • http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie

    Herman’s  Aeron chair is prettier, and it’s from 1994

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ec/Aeron_chair_JN.jpg

    Structure is just one part of the equation. What is this chair going to be made of, exactly?

  • http://shadowfirebird.tumblr.com shadowfirebird

    He missed a trick.  He shouldn’t be making a chair, but a soapha.