Smart sofa changes shape to make you comfortable [video]
cay sofa alexander rehn from Alexander Rehn on Vimeo.
As versatile as futons are, they don't exactly whisper luxurious comfort. With that in mind, Alexander Rehn tinkered and eventually developed a new kind of sofa that redefines the notion of shape-shifting furniture.
Like futons, the Cay Sofa has the built-in flexibility to accommodate various positions such as siting, sleeping and lounging. The difference is that the Swiss designer divided the couch into several segments and pieced it together using strategically-placed hinges, an ingenious approach that takes it to whole other level ergonomically. What he ended up with was a sofa that literally adjusts its contours to comfortably suit whichever way you decide to kick up your feet.
For instance, sitting up and putting the bulk of your weight on one section of the sofa causes the surrounding segments to reposition themselves in a manner that best supports sitting. Lean back and the couch recalibrates, with certain sections reclining and others springing up to properly cradle your sleep-deprived body. It even gives the popular beanbag chair a run for its money since it's firm enough to offset that sinking feeling you would otherwise get.
Rehn also took photographs to document the design process, which was a series of tinkering with the shape and size of each section. He also had to play around with the length of the wooden legs beneath the malleable frame.
As far as whether this innovative prototype is slated to go into mass production, we'll have to file this in the "let's hope so" category. The project was spotlighted as part of DesignBoom's DIY submissions feature and just might inspire a few IKEA bound ideas.
(via Design Boom)
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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com