2021 | Professional

MUSE Design Awards Platinum Winner

AI Table

Entrant Company

AirLab SUTD

Category

Furniture Design - Tables & Desks Furniture

Client's Name

Singapore University of Technology and Design

Country / Region

Singapore

With the aim to reduce material usage and optimize performance, we used Artificial Intelligence algorithms and advanced 3D Printing techniques to conceive the AI Table.

Driven by computational algorithms, the resulting aesthetics take geometric complexity and ornament to a whole next level. The heavy surface is supported by a very thin bronze structure, intended to enhance a weightlessness effect. The load flows into the three slender legs, each touching the ground on a point the size of a five cents coin.

Using exact 3D Printed molds, the different bronze legs were cast and manually polished, creating sophisticated effects of nuanced reflections under changing light conditions. The underneath of the table is finished in the same material to multiply its effects.

This ambitious concept's execution required a meticulous structural design to achieve a simple and elegant appearance with high performance. Using structural analysis software, the table went through multiple iterations, converging in a design that achieves adequate strength with minimum material. AI Table showcases how such computational modeling can be used as a design tool to simultaneously foster creativity and pragmatism.



We always look at how forces flow through structural components to achieve slenderness and high performance. In the AI Table project, the challenge was to negotiate the functional requirements of a table with the fluidity of the optimized legs. The basic form of the tabletop is pentagonal with rounded corners, making it functional but less cartesian than regular tables. The decision on materiality was a crucial one: when we decided to work with bronze, it all made sense. The reflections of the polished metal enhance the fluidity of the form and was an opportunity to blend the legs to the tabletop, which we clad in bronze on the bottom side.

Credits

Singapore Director and Co-Founder / AirLab SUTD
Carlos Bañon
Chile Director and Co-Founder / AirLab SUTD
Felix Raspall
Lead Research Assistant / AirLab SUTD
Jonathan Ng Ming-En
Research Assistant / AirLab SUTD
Muhd Syahid
Research Assistant / AirLab SUTD
Natalie Chen
3D Printing
Voxeljet
AI Software
Autodesk
Table surface
LUXX Newhouse
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