EXHIBITION
FURNITURE
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences needed to renew the furniture intended for the presentation of student works. The old furniture had seen its best days, and the college needed exhibition furniture that matched their spirit in the newly renovated milieu. I had opportunity to design new furniture for the college to support exhibition activities. The planned furniture included display shelves of varying sizes, showcases for fragile items, solutions for hanging posters and displaying various small works.
The project required a lot of experimentation in each area, and especially dimensioning, in order to use the materials reasonably. My job description included prototyping, 3D-modeling, rendering and working with subcontractors. With the exhibition furniture, the idea was to find a sophisticated form that would bring out the displayed objects as good as possible and fit the industrial look of the college. The requirement was also to have exhibition furniture that took up as little space as possible when stored, due to the limited use of space in the building.
Devising hanging solutions and showcases was relatively straightforward, but determining the optimal design for the display shelves involved multiple iterations of modeling and prototyping. The display shelves needed to be robust yet inconspicuous. One of the challenges was the assembly of the shelves—whether each shelf would be independent or if a certain number of shelf legs with interchangeable covers were needed. I ultimately opted for a modular system with replaceable covers, as it enables altering the appearance of the exhibits by changing the cover material.
I thoroughly enjoyed the work as it allowed me to leverage my own strengths during the design and prototyping phases, enabling me to create practical products. It was gratifying to accomplish the objectives assigned to me within the allocated time frame and to successfully leave my own mark on the ambiance of the Metropolia Arabia campus.