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Software and credits
to designers and engineers
Chair design primarily by ITO Design ( www.ito-design.com )… see website for profiles/details. CAD data primarily in Pro/ENGINEER, led by Steve Simpson of Haworth with Comforto Engineering. Renderings done in Alias Studio 9.5 by Roque Corpuz Jr. of Haworth. Animation done in Cinema 4D and Premiere by Brian Alexander of Optika Studios.
What people do in a day is more important than job titles, and
what they sit in is an essential tool for getting the job done.
X99, a new family of chairs from Haworth being introduced at NeoCon,
frees people from the distraction of physical discomfort and lets
them stay focused on what is really important.
"X99 balances technology and the human form into ergonomically
expressive chairs with body and soul," says Ken Krayer, Haworth's
director of design. "People have an emotional connection to their
chair. It's the one piece of furniture they'll move to their next
office or job. It comforts them. Comfort isn't an ergonomic formula.
Comfort is undemanding and easy. And so is X99. That's why, from
even the earliest development stages, people connected to its
design."
Haworth's newest seating line was designed by Germany's ITO
Design, along with engineering and marketing teams from Haworth's
North American headquarters and Haworth's German-based Comforto
seating company. Collaboration among Haworth's global sectors
and ITO Design began in the preliminary stages to ensure the development
of a seating collection that would appeal to people in the Americas,
Europe and Asian markets.
X99 gives office workers a comfortable chair, and designers
a complete seating system for creating a cohesive look throughout
their client's corporate facilities worldwide. The line includes
a mid-back task chair, high-back executive chair, sled-based guest
chair and a uniquely versatile seminar chair.
Haworth engineered precise ergonomic features into the X99 task
and executive chairs. Designed upon a dynamic, three-point pivot
mechanism, X99 treats the back/hip/leg region as a single mobile
unit, providing optimum support, allowing an extended recline,
and enhancing blood flow and circulation of oxygen. The seat features
an automatic free-floating forward tilt, ensuring proper pelvis
rotation, and relieving potential strain on intervertebral discs
of the lower back. An optional three-position seat-pan depth adjustment,
located at the front edge of the seat, provides better individual
fit to help prevent pressure on the thigh area.
X99 task and executive chairs also feature three-dimensional
armrests, which adjust in height, pivot inward and outward, and
slide backward and forward to precisely support hands, arms, shoulders
and neck region. Arm caps are upholstered and are available with
a gel, or soft-foam interior to avoid pressure on the forearm.
A fixed loop arm is also available.
The height- and depth-adjustable lumbar support (up/down and
in/out) allows adaptation of the backrest to individual body contour.
A side-mounted tilt-tension crank tucks neatly away after use.
Pneumatic height adjustment facilitates individual fit. Single-position
back-stop secures recline. The curved headrest of the executive
chair provides extra height and shoulder support.
The X99 seminar chair can be effective in conference, training
and office environments. Its flexible back provides time-tested
comfort, and its optional folding seat allows horizontal nesting
when not in use. The seminar chair can be specified with glides
or casters, with mesh or upholstered back, with or without arms.
A sled-based guest chair completes the line and can be specified
in a mesh or upholstered back.
X99 gives designers a range of fabric combinations and finish
options. The chair's back may be specified in a chenille-blend
mesh, which is extremely soft-to-the-touch, and woven with poly-filament
to reinforce the translucency of the aesthetic. A full range of
leather and fabric upholstery is also available. All metal components,
including the five-star caster-mounted base, are aluminum. Finish
options include black, silver and chrome.
The task chair with mesh back and upholstered seat starts at
$990 list.
Test-sit X99 at Haworth's showroom, #312 in Chicago's Merchandise
Mart, and then stand for nothing less.
Trade Press Contact: Nicole Tallman, 616.393.3819 Business Press Contact: Kristine Vernier, 616.393.3936 www.haworth.com Haworth Inc. is the world's second largest designer, manufacturer
and marketer of office furniture and seating, with 2000 sales
of $2.06 billion. Based in Holland, Mich., Haworth operates in
more than 120 countries worldwide and employs nearly 15,000 members.
__________________________________________________________________ Matt Wilson Graduate of Ringling School of Art in design in 2001 with Ba in Computer animation. I really started out in just the aesthetic side of the design world but i love doing the accurate stuff allot more. It provides a much bigger challenge for me.All of the models that i make go through the usual design process. If i am working by myself, i go through a series of sketches usually starting with figure drawings to find a compatible organic base. I found that i need that, to figure out how i want the chair to support the "participant". If I am working with someone else, if it is with someone not too familiar with the 3d world, I take their sketches and go right to the computer. It really helped to sit down and work on a rough 3d model. That way we could talk about structure and plausibility and ergonomics and really make the decisions on the fly. All of the models were made with a number of tools. Usually I start out in either Maya, or alias studio. Then, I end up doing allot of surface evaluation (which is really just incase production is ever a possibility, which isn't in any of these) in Rhino and maybe alias, depending on the complexity. Finally I/we go through a series of test renders to fine tune the expected materials, and then i render it in Maya with the rayDiffuse plugin. Most of these are student projects from Portfolio center in Atlanta. I have been working with various students to sort of expand their options if they can't afford to have the chair prototyped. Since most of these would have been way to expensive to make i really was trying to push the realism of the renders. It really redefined my relationship with the software, especially with rayDiffuse which is a dream come true.
"In a way I think that the precision of the tools played a huge part in influencing the final design. They really pulled in down to a balanced state, at least numerically. The final render took about 1 hour in Maya. the Diffuse plugin is responsible for anything natural about these renderings! "
To solve the problem of the back
sliding I used AW studio to make a locking mechanism in the base
of the arc that would lock it into place when the back was down.
I rendered out an animation so we could see the dynamics of the
motion. See what the change did to the design and if it was acceptable.
I used Rhino to produce the construction plans of the model that she took to the metal worker to have it produced. All of the moving parts were made with the idea of using 'prefab' resources. She wanted to keep the cost low and that meant keeping the casted part to a minimum. Because of the accuracy of the software, I could produce plans that the metal workers could take and, A to B, translate them into the final working parts. Adrea , Portfolio center: Design/concepting Matt Wilson: Design/modeling/ Rendering
_________________________________________________________ Bart Brejcha Modeled using Pro/ENGINEER's
Pro/SHEETMETAL module. My goal was to use only one sheet of metal
for bending up this chair. I can submit a chair too right?
Bart is the Editor of Design-engine.com and has used Pro/ENGINEER and Alias for over 10 years __________________________________________________________________
Henning Speyer
Henning does not use computers for design therefore we asked him to dig into his archives of drawings. Design-engine.com modeled and created the renderings for him. Henning often teaches DESIGN-ENGINE|EDUCATION's marker rendering classes. __________________________________________________________________ |
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Please
send photoreal furniture or rough draft articles intended for DESIGN-ENGINE.COM
to Bart Brejcha |
