Architecture students Ethan Edds and Amanda Nordwall receive AIA Central VA Design Award
Image
The Central Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ bi-annual design awards include recognition of design excellence in the Student and Emerging Architects category. For this awards cycle, only one project was selected for a Design Award of Merit: "Folding" Chair, by the University of Virginia School of Architecture's undergraduate students Ethan Edds (BSArch and BA Physics '25) and Amanda Nordwall (BSArch '25, with minors in French and Data Science). Their collaborative project, completed in spring 2024 as part of a design thinking studio taught by Assistant Professor Kyle Schumann, was an exploration in crafting strategies across various wood species, resulting in a functional design that emphasized a 'learning through making' pedagogy.
"Folding" Chair
Ethan Edds (BS Arch, BA Physics)
Amanda Nordwall (BS Arch)
Image
At its core, Edds and Nordwall describe "Folding" Chair as an exploration of woodworking, material scribing, and social-space making. "Folding" Chair imitates the logic of a folded linear plane, which can be observed through strips of various species: Ginkgo, Catalpa, Elm, and Maple. For their design, the planes were cut to length and angled according to careful measurements of the human body and ergonomic seating positions, and simultaneously featured varying storage typologies.
By blending the laminated boards and the raw wood into a continuous construction, the beauty of the different species’ grains were revealed and emphasized, and the wood’s structural properties were used to create a space which brings users together and stores their belongings, serving both their material and experiential needs.
Image
The construct asks users to examine both ideas about furniture and shelving, as well as their relationship with wood.
Edds and Nordwall described the value of learning through the process of making and fabricating, sharing how "every week presented new challenges, such as how to most efficiently use the limited wood that was available," which led to modifications of the design in real time when certain materials were unavailable and resulted in adaptations that allowed both to learn how to operate new tools and machinery.
Reflecting on the project, Nordwall explained, "Before this studio I had never worked with wood before or really built anything — it was tough, but rewarding, to learn a new skill." She went on to share her excitement of physically realizing a design at full scale. Turning to the details of design, Edds recalled, "One of the most fulfilling parts of the fabrication process was mapping out where each one-inch by three-inch wood strip would be cut from the irregular and warped boards we were given in order to make the most efficient use of them." Learning about the nuances and variability of wood, taking into consideration material efficiencies, and exploring iterative fabrication techniques, allowed Edds and Nordwall to build on their growing research interests in design.
Image
Both of us have an interest in understanding how wood can embody qualities foreign to its nature, and how designers can re-define the world of architecture and furniture through the sustainable use of wood.
Through this award-winning project, "Folding" Chair, provided Edds and Nordwall the opportunity to explore how crafting strategies vary between different wood species, to improve their jointing and lamination techniques, and to start to imagine how these strategies could be recreated at a larger scale.
