SUSPENSE
UNI-VERSION
Client – marina bay sands, SINGAPORE
In a sleek building overlooking Haitang Bay, this high-end resort is 47 km from Sanya Phoenix International Airport. Bringing the ancient legend of Atlantis to life, Atlantis Sanya is located on picturesque Hainan Island, on the shores of the South China Sea.
Singapore is well known for a lot of reasons among them, Being super clean, Greenery amidst the city, That ban on chewing gum, The Marina Bay Skyline, Inventing the Singapore Sling, The land of shopping malls. Singapore has some of the most futuristic architecture around the world and plans underway to build futuristic cities and a general focus on the future. Looking at these images, other than having a futuristic vibe, the common trait is that each image has something suspended in the air from entire buildings to bridges. This futuristic – suspended vibe informed my creative design direction.
This design is defined by two lines from the side. This sketch is a cross sectional representation of the side view.
There is the main outline that is shaped like a person seated and leaning back comfortably which based on research is among the most comfortable sitting positions. The line that arches at the bottom represents the stand which on this case could be a recliner. Half of the seat is suspended in the air slanted and supports the upper half of the human body thus the name.
If you were a bee patrolling around the seat like a drone, this is the view you would get to see. The seat is wide enough to comfortably accommodate a fully grown adult, has enough built-in support for the entire body from the leg-rest to the head-rest as well as an arm rest, which can be padded for extra comfort.
The back profile gives a more detailed view of the seat from the ¾ back view. The simple lines brought out by the highlights, the metallic frame, woven underside support and clean top cushioning exterior are designed to be stealth yet give off a very strong and dominating presence any time you look at it.
The side profile gives brings out the simplicity in the designed. This can be well termed as hi-tech minimalism where simple lines, materials and shapes combined, bring out a sophisticated design without compromising on comfort, practicality, ergonomics and production cost.
If you were an insect, minding your business, going shopping or something, and you walk past this seat from this angle, you would very much want to climb the slopping surface shaped like a mountain and probably skate down from the very top. With the dark background, the seat looks suspended mid-air floating by magic.
The design is spread out like an outdoor beach bed but shaped like a stretched-out chair which gives you the experience of a bed on a seat. This design falls in between the two like a tablet does between a phone and a laptop.
The design constitutes of two main parts, the metallic frame, the woven section in between and the cushion top part. The corners are smooth but combined with the straight lines, one gets that striking resemblance to a high-performance supercar like a Lamborghini with all the aerodynamics and angled body. From the front, the bottom part looks like a futuristic car or spaceship bumper with the arm rests giving off the vibe you would get from wings. Having been designed mostly for outdoor use like a beach for example, the frame has been dialed down to a point where one gets the most breeze the possibly can or sunlight without anything blocking them or forming shadows.
The design itself is simple, the execution is futuristic in appearance but maintains the basic elements such as; unique style, ergonomics, minimalism, as well as simple lines, in this case curves, to bring out the final form..
The side profile gives a more detailed view of the seat from the ¾ view. The seat looks like a futuristic version of Alladin’s flying carpet, where you would sit on it and in no-time you’d be cutting through the air. Simple as it is, one can’t help but feel it’s dominating presence no matter what angle you look at it from.
Without the cushions on the inside, the seat looks this simple with just two materials, the woven part that you seat on and the frame that supports the structure. The seat could be used as it currently is but when combined with the cushion on the inside, the experience is quite on another level.