CHINATOWN LIBRARY FURNITURE

Boston, USA

This project was to design and fabricate 30 pieces of furniture for the Chinatown Lantern Reading Room in Boston. This little library was a two-year pilot program designed to test the idea of building a permanent cultural and educational center that would house a public library in Boston’s Chinatown. To accommodate the changing needs of the library in the future, the furniture was designed to be movable, rearrangeable, reconfigurable and readily mass-producible. Depending on the arrangement, the furniture can be used as chairs, tables, desks and/or bookcases. One set of furniture comprises 15 pieces in five different shapes, all cut out of one standard-size 4’ x 8’ plywood sheet. Each shape comes in three sizes so that they can nest inside of each other. This single cut-pattern template allows for easy reproduction when the library expands in the future. One piece of furniture is made of 15 layers of plywood; therefore, 15 sheets of plywood will produce a total of 15 pieces of furniture. 

[ Behind the scene photos ]

Project Leader: Junko Yamamoto
Project Instigator: Marrikka Trotter
Client: Chinatown Lantern / BCNC

Design Develop. thru Fabrication: 
Nicholas Ambrogio
Molly Jane Derby
Megan Lorenz
Jena Meier
David Kurachi Ube (construction)
Shichong Xie
Matthew Williston (construction)

Conceptual Design:
Gabrielle Patawaran
Judy Sue

Support:
Boston Architectural College
Walter A. Furman Company
Rockler Woodworking
Imai Keller Moore Architects 

Photograph by: Project team, Kye Liang, Bonica Ayala