INTERLOCK

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Program - Product Design

Location - Gzira, Malta

Year completed - 2021

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Our studio was approached to design a set of outdoor furniture that would withstand strong winds when placed on a terrace of a high-rise building. The program was to design furniture that has an adequate weight whilst visually looking as light as possible. Concrete was used as a material since it provided the weight required whilst suitable to its exposure to wind & rain.

 

The next constraint was the handling of the furniture. Given these needed to be placed several floors above street level, and the use of a crane was not possible, the furniture had to be designed in such a way that it could be delivered flat packed and assembled in place.

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At this moment the idea of an interlocking system emerged.

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The collection is composed of slim interlocking cast concrete panels. The mixture with exposed glass reinforced fibers allowed for 20mm thick panels with sufficient strength. The concrete was left with open pores for aesthetical purposes.

 

The furniture was tightly assembled by placing the individual panels in their interlocking positions forming a ridged structure. Outdoor cushions were custom made and were tied to the concrete panels with a simple yet elegant system of pre-drilled holes & custom wooden buttons.