stackable mid-1990s haworth chairs become sound-diffusing acoustic installation

Stagger Repurposes Seating as a Geometric Acoustic Wall

Haworth stackable chairs from the mid-1990s were repurposed as Stagger, an acoustic installation by Umbel Acoustic Design. The project intentionally recontextualizes furniture that was intended to disappear when not in use, transforming it into an ornamental acoustic surface. The chairs are removed from the wall and used as intended whenever Umbel holds acoustic training events or lectures. Soft red tubing replaces the originally clear chair feet to express the depth and interlocking nature of the layout. Off-the-shelf red hooks safely support the chairs, the arrangement of which recalls the alternating wedges of anechoic chambers. Birch plywood finished with tung oil protects the wall surface, allows the system to be securely anchored into the studs, and provides a solid substrate for the hooks. Such an arrangement of ‘hard’ materials can readily be classified as acoustic diffusion, and Stagger certainly does diffuse sound. But even more interesting, it exhibits mild but broadband acoustic absorption.

Umbel Tests the Acoustic Potential of Everyday Materials

Umbel Acoustic Design Studio had the chairs tested at Riverbank Acoustical Laboratories as part of the lab’s Novelty testing program in order to quantify and understand the effect. Notably, Stagger involves no ‘soft’ surfaces. Umbel is dedicated to exploring the acoustic benefits of a wide range of materials that are usually not considered acoustic: concrete, metal, glass, plants, resin, and really anything that can be manipulated into an interesting form. The point is not to compete with high-efficiency acoustic materials, but rather to recognize that everything in a room matters to sound, and to use that as a starting point to do something new and interesting. Turning a flat wall into something so complex geometrically will always bring acoustic benefits. If minimal plastic chairs can do that, then imagine what could happen with new furniture and object design. Intentionality matters for the sound of rooms.

project info:

name: Stagger
designer: Umbel Acoustic Design

lead designer: Zackery Belanger

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