Don't tell anyone but I weigh 210 LBS. The panel on the front with the Cam locks on the outside is meant so that you can place all 12 possible panels into place. (The last panel would not have its cam locks exposed on the normal design, so one of these is needed.)
My classmate Tobi.
The shelves are based on a shape called the RHOMBIC DODECAHEDRON, which was first defined by Johannes Kepler in his cannonball packing problem. Notably, it is a common shape in nature because of how strong it is. If you look closely at the supposedly hexagonal honeycomb of bees, you will realize that you were looking at a Rhombic Dodecahedrons cut in half the whole time. According to Kepler's math, it is one of the most efficient, stable, and strong ways to pack materials into space because this shape is the one that Spheres and other round objects naturally assume. Despite all of this, there is no furniture shaped like these wonderful shapes, and it is high time that changed.
Each Hedron is an individual unit that can have up to 4 panels removed to make openings, while still holding up to 250 LBS of weight (Maximum tested capacity). The units can tesselate perfectly to make a wide variety of furniture items. Models were made to play with and demonstrate how add-on modules could further extend the furniture's abilities.
An Open-source design philosophy was used, allowing users to produce custom designs that would be compatible with the existing Ecosystem. Users could produce the wooden panels by hand with a table saw if needed. They could also be easily mass-produced via a CNC table, which is shown below. Because the design can be disassembled, it could be sold flat-packed or assembled.
Designed with holes to facilitate cable routing as well as future screw-in expansions
The final quad cam-lock connector. The center hole is large enough to pass an AC power cable through. In a production run, custom Cam locks without threads would be used. Cosmetic Covers for this were planned but not implemented. Both connectors are designed with drafts so that they could be injection molded en masse, or 3D printed by end users in PETG.
I tested the shape and style in cardboard at full size to see how they might look in reality. This also let me start playing with how the system could form anything from an end table to a coffee table.
An early prototype that wasn't stable
The first wood version to prove this was possible
This prototype demonstrated that I could flat pack the design, but it couldn't be taken apart easily because it used screws
Test of the final prototype. This was to prove that the CAM lock system worked.
Color Testing
Accepted into the Curated NYC Design week 2023 Student Furniture Showcase
