modular brass grid chair draped in velvet replicates coreless exoskeleton skyscrapers

"The design employs an isomorphic process, mapping the spatial and structural qualities of high-rise architecture onto a domestic seat. A brass grid frame recalls the column-free curtain wall of corporate towers, within which a suspended fabric cocoon creates the seating surface. Modular 3D printed nodes join the frame, reflecting the parametric connectors typical of high-rise engineering systems. Unlike biomimicry, where natural forms inspire architecture, Copia New Yorkea reverses the process by drawing directly from architectural typologies. By adapting the monumentality and logic of the skyscraper to the intimate scale of the body, the work raises questions about the transfer of design languages across scales and contexts."

"The chair's enclosed form resonates with historical precedents such as the sedan chair, once used to transport elite individuals. Massimiliano Malagò draws a parallel between these vessels of privilege and modern skyscrapers, both of which serve to elevate, conceal, and project authority. 'Their reflectivity and transparency are curated, not democratic. Nor is any of the scale of them proportional to the merits of those who inhabit them,' notes the designer. 'Copia New Yorkea reframes the curtain wall not just as an aesthetic, but as a social and political skin.' The brass grid and textile cocoon become both structural and symbolic, framing the chair as a reflection on architectural skins and their social dimensions."

Copia New Yorkea maps coreless exoskeleton skyscraper logic onto a domestic seat through an isomorphic design process. A brass grid frame evokes column-free curtain walls while a suspended fabric cocoon forms the seating surface. Modular 3D-printed PLA nodes and gold-thread details articulate parametric connectors and joinery. The piece occupies a space between functional furniture and critical inquiry, adapting monumentality and corporate architectural logic to the body's scale. Its enclosed form echoes sedan chairs, paralleling vessels of privilege and skyscrapers that elevate, conceal, and project authority, making the brass grid and textile cocoon both structural elements and a social-political skin.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine