X-PODIUM

Digital Fabrication | Fall 2020
MAEBB | Christa Hörburger

IDEA
If you live in the same place as you study, you are tempted to use digital applications to improve your life in that place. The idea of a new podium was born based on the realisation that the existing one is too high for shorter people and the table top dimensions were marginally small. So I decided to design and produce a new one for the studio in Valldaura.
The primary requirement, besides the reduced height and the lager tabletop, was easy assembly and disassembly to allow for use in different rooms and conditions.

PROTOTYPE
The prototype was produced on a scale of 1:3 with the laser cutter. I used this prototype to test the performance of the 3D printed fasteners and the appearance of the engraving. The conclusion of the prototype was to give the furniture more strength and to relieve the structural stress on the fasteners by closing the circle of forces. To achieve maximum stability I decided to tie the two wooden wings together with a rope.

DIMENSIONS
The dimensions are the improved measurements of the existing podium. The height of the table is 1m instead of 1,15cm and the tabletop measures 60x60cm instead of 50×50.

FABRICATION
The process of fabrication started with a CNC router. A endmill of 10mm was used for the holes and pockets for the rope. To go as fast as possible I changed for the through cuts the endmill to 12mm. 230g of PLA fillament printed for around 25 hours all the connection pieces. For the engraving of the IAAC Logo and the phrase “DON’T FORGET TO SMILE” in the tabletop the lasercutter came into use.

DETAILS

Credits
x_podium is a project of IAAC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed at Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities in (2020/2021) by:
Student: Christa Hörburger
Faculty: Eduardo Chamorro