Audie has created the ultimate chair helped by its car-racing success.
The R18 Ultra Chair Image: Weisshaar and Kram |
Designers Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram have teamed up with experts at Audi's Lightweight Design Centre to develop an ultra-lightweight chair made by robots. Unveiled at Design Miami, the R18 Ultra was named after, and inspired by, Audi's ultra-light prototype race car.
It was the designers' unparalleled access to the technology of the R18 Ultra racer, combined with an unconventional approach to chair design which created the futuristic seat.
Accepting that the design and build of a seat for a racing driver requires dynamic testing, the Milan Furniture Fair offered an ideal opportunity to carry out public beta testing of the R18Ultra.
The chair was hooked up to advanced stress-analysis sensors and hundreds of people were asked to sat in it. The result was a chair that appears to offer the very latest in cool comfort.
The chair also embraces Audi's ultra lightweight design strategy, following strict guidelines to shave off every ounce of excess weight.
Its multi-material space frame is made from carbon composites, carbon micro-sandwich and high strength aluminum, but still weighs a fraction of even the best designed seats. The chair legs are cut from flat sheets of aluminium and then put together using the same cold metal transfer technology that Audi uses to make its cars.