This process animation makes it look easy. There should be a zillion variations on the design of a chair like this. It looks like a good way to work with the concepts of compression, tension, torsion and shear, with students, as they design and build their own furniture. Have you used cardboard furniture design/build projects in a classroom setting? Let us know in the comments.











I just recently built a coffee table out of a box that held the parts for a desk that I’m using as a bar. Most of the work was cutting the cross beams and taping them into place. The shape was largely complete already, I just had to cut the “legs” out of the insides of the “lid” of the box.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/37YSzHFOmautqvufYSj0FQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCMv9-cGIpLOIlgE&feat=directlink
I covered the assembled work in strips of duct tape to give it a more water proof finish.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XvboSEpJBL48-RaFveGfsw?authkey=Gv1sRgCMv9-cGIpLOIlgE&feat=directlink
I had a similar project in high school. We were given a few sheets of cardboard and told to build the strongest chair we could manage using only tape. Our group’s chair fared the best, though it did give a little when the teacher tested it by repeatedly sitting down as hard as he could.
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