Haptic Lab

The Sea Chair: A project for Lower Manhattan

The Sea Chair: A project for Lower Manhattan

Traveled by the Lenape, rediscovered by Verrazano, the welcome for so many immigrants, and host to the Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor is one of America’s most storied collection of waterways. The Sea Chair celebrates NYC’s historic connection to the harbor while also inspiring dialogue in regards to the city’s evolving relationship with its natural surroundings. Theoretical project submitted to America's Design Competition and the Battery Park Conservancy, 2012. 

  

The Sea Chair is equally chair and boat, made from a lightweight semi-translucent eco-resin and designed in three different sizes. Each chair has recessed wheels that allow users to fluently move pieces throughout the landscape of the park, creating new territories defined by the high, sloping back of each seat.

  
  

These user-defined spaces can function at many scales: a picnic area, a meeting room, a concert hall, a discreet place to read, or in the case of severe weather, a functional watercraft. The Sea Chair’s larger purpose is to playfully promote contemplation concerning the environment and how design could mediate in the shifting relationship between New York City.

Haptic Lab - Sea Chair from Emily Fischer on Vimeo.

 

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