Serving as a precursor to our group thesis work in Winter 2021, this class provided students with the opportunity to begin initial research into timber construction and fabrication. Our thesis project will consist of an outdoor classroom, designed and fabricated by the students in the section, for Ray Elementary School in the south side of Chicago. The students in the section all had differing experiences working with timber so the primary exercise of the course focused on applying gained knowledge into the design and fabrication of a chair. The chair was to be constructed completely out of timber without the use of fasteners or glue.

Using the limitations as design advantages, our group aimed to design a chair the could be flat packed, assembled easily, and have the ability to be customized with its inherent assembly. Continuing from there, we wanted to work with a more common material. Plywood interested us because of its ability to help with our flat pack goals, its ease of access, structural qualities, as well as the ability for the material to change through subtractive processes such as CNC kerfing. Through extensive research and testing, we generated a system using 3D contours on a 3-axis CNC mill. These contours allowed us to kerf the plywood in a way that would allow it to bend, thus making the chair more dynamic and ergonomic. By replacing various cross members, as well as the kerfed chair back/seat, the user is able to change the configuration of the chair to make it more comfortable or desirable.