mckay nilson's interactive woodrow stereo developed with swarm design

mckay nilson’s interactive woodrow stereo developed with swarm design
all images courtesy of mckay nilson

salt lake city, utah based designer mckay nilson, in collaboration with local consultancy swarm design, presents the ‘woodrow stereo’. deceptively simple, the wooden, wall-mounted unit (26”diameter) was developed as a functional piece to re-introduce human engagement to the music listening experience.

‘woodrow’ was driven by the desire to explore interactions between users and an analog electronic device 

in essence, ‘woodrow’ is little more than a giant volume dial. rotation counter-clockwise lessens sound, clockwise increases. but, as is the case with most minimal pieces, refinement was no easy task. hundreds of hours of engineering, prototyping, and testing — supported by swarm’s in-house furniture brand woodrow & co. — were invested into the project.

back housing, contains all functional components 

devices connect to the system wirelessly via bluetooth, but physical interaction remains paramount. altering volume is simultaneously novel and familiar, and when not in use ‘woodrow’ remains present as a tactile decorative element.

volume diagram

‘woodrow’ is made using CNC-cut, laminated plywood. the main body, uniform except for a notched section for volume indication and handling, hides a secondary unit behind. technical components including speakers, power, bluetooth, mount points, etc. are housed in the back compartment. a functional prototype was presented by nilson at his senior exhibition at the university of utah. 

the interactive disk conceals technical components behind its face

the speaker-box was cut using a 3-axis CNC router

fabrication: front disk

layers of routed plywood create the form

diagram: speaker, internal structure

object-user interaction ideations

sketches exploring technical aspects

various fabrication stages

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions  feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: nick brink | designboom