Biennale, a single-material chair designed for collective spaces

A year ago, the architect Josep Ferrando and Figueras International Seating began a project in partnership to create a chair for collective spaces and, specifically, for religious spaces. The project was presented in the context of the exhibition that the Catalan architect took to the 14th XIV Biennale Architettura di Venecia, called ''''In Progress Matter and Light''''.

The result is the unique Biennale chair, a modular and flexible chair made of a single material, which is warm and comfortable. Created in wood and manufactured industrially based on artisanal processes, the chair combines experience and energy efficiency to produce a flexible, personal system that meets the needs of not only religious settings, but also many other possible collective uses.

A single-material chair and fractal design

The creation of the chair represented a challenge both for the architect and for Figueras Design Center, since, at the design stage, it was proposed to use wood as the only material and to incorporate a pattern that was very different from classical geometry, without joints or connections in other materials. Specifically, two varieties of wood were used, originating from sustainable forests: Flanders and Melis. By combining their different colours, grains and textures, both of these woods give dynamism and body to the piece. The design is based on a fractal system, as its basic structure is replicated in smaller sizes.

To make each chair, 20 strips of wood measuring 8cm wide and 2.5cm thick were used. These were carved into different heights and joined at angles that were always multiples of 8°. The strips were joined using a zig-zag finger joint, which, according to Ferrando, “is the origin of the project, as this is what is replicated when the two varieties of wood used are joined”.

The seat (formed of 8 strips) is joined to the back (also 8 strips) using wooden joints, and this structure is then supported by 2 feet made of 2 strips each. According to the director of Figueras Design Center, Pau Borràs, “the chair, in the end, is supported by gravity itself”. When the Biennale chairs are arranged in a group, the feet create a framework that resembles that of the branches of trees.