pW Panton Wireframe

PROJECT DATA

TYPE	FURNITURE, ROBOTIC FABRICATION
LOCATION	UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY [UTS] ADVANCED FABRICATION LABORATORY [AFL]
CLIENT	SELF-INITIATED
DATE	2019
TEAM	DAVE PIGRAM IAIN MAXWELL FRANZISKA BRANDENSTEIN
IMAGES	DAVE PIGRAM FRANZISKA BRANDENSTEIN

Panton Wireframe

Robotic Fabrication, Sydney, NSW, Au

pW

A robotic rod-bending love letter to Verner Panton’s original 1967 masterpiece.

The world’s first fully moulded plastic chair, the Panton Chair took advantage of new production techniques and materials to create a single surface structural shell as a form for seating.

Similarly invested in the relationship between innovative production techniques and form, the Wireframe Panton was fabricated via a custom-made robotically mounted rod-bender at the University of Technology Sydney’s [UTS] Advanced Fabrication Laboratory. This first prototype is intended as the forerunner to a version in reinforced concrete.

Special thanks to Franziska Brandenstein, our incredible German intern and specialist fabricator and to Gwyn Jones for fabricating the custom bending end-effector.

Front View
The perimeter is formed with double rods that capture the ‘warp and weft’ rods that form the chair’s surface.

Rear View
The material system has a strong influence on the chair’s form and presence.
The original chair was the first to be created from a single surface of incredible thinness. Here the underlying geometry of that surface - its wireframe - is the only element materialised producing an alternative form of thinness.

Side View
The iconic silhouette of the Panton chair is translated into a series of straight-line segments yet remains recognisable. The varying effective depth of the shell - now gridshell - remains clearly evident in this profile view.

Rear View
Tectonic detail of the duplicated
(reinforced) chair edge

Side View
Tectonic detail