— Furniture Today,<\/p>\n
Set for May 20-23 at Javits Center<\/p>\n
OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. — Interior design students from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) will debut their Furniture for a Solar Home exhibit at the 18th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), from May 20 – 23, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Each year, editors from several design magazines select what they feel are the most innovative student-designed projects to present at the ICFF. NYIT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exhibit will feature six original prototypes developed by over 45 undergraduate interior design students.
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Working with Assistant Professors Martha Siegel and Robert Allen, the furniture was created for NYIT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entry into the 2012 Solar Decathlon, an international competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy that challenges students to design, build and operate the most energy-efficient solar-powered home.<\/p>\n
The six high-tech furniture pieces challenge many assumptions of current sustainable design thinking by advancing a new model that suggests interior furnishings become principal participants in the overall energy and material strategy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both for solar and non-solar homes.<\/p>\n
Students began by questioning the current satisfaction in the sustainable community with architect and author William McDonough\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cradle-to-cradle\u00e2\u20ac\u009d approach to sustainable design. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Being sustainable in an expanding world population model just isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough. There is no provision for the additive consumption of resources that results from expanded growth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Allen. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We felt that we had to go beyond the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccradle-to-cradle,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 no-impact model and probe some of the assumptions often taken in consideration of function, planning and material choices to affect bigger end results.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Three principles formed the team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new model: First, they proposed that the consumer, think smaller and exploit local efficiencies rather than rely on larger more consumptive systems, i.e., create \u00e2\u20ac\u0153micro-environments.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Second, focus on using less; create overlap, multi-functional capabilities and consolidation whenever possible. Finally, begin incorporating \u00e2\u20ac\u0153smart materials,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or materials that amplify desirable effects or utilize not only recycled or re-used product, but are made from material others discard and find useless from the onset.<\/p>\n
NYIT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sofa, for example, has photovoltaic panels on the back that collect the sun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s energy, which is used to power two lamps and a high-pressure fan system integrated beneath its cushions, providing for the user\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own heating or cooling needs. The Plug n\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Play station provides a sanctuary for relaxation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a place to read or listen to music \u00e2\u20ac\u201c by also allowing the user to again create a micro-environment to provide for their own immediate personal comfort and privacy.<\/p>\n
The dining table, bedroom and work area are all designed to meet multiple functional needs and consolidate in a space-saving way. For example, the dining chairs have special casters that allow for mobility enabling them to double as supplemental chairs for other areas of a house. In addition, when not in use, the chairs nest under the eating surface to form a beautiful drum-table.<\/p>\n
The team members felt the interior of a home and its furnishings have been critically overlooked in the potential contribution they can have in impacting the overall energy and material equation for the home. Their new model suggests a far-reaching impact on the way we potentially look at homes in the future.<\/p>\n
For more information about ICFF, please visit www.icff.com.\u00c2\u00a0 For more information about NYIT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s designs, contact Robert Allen at 203.434.5610 or e-mail rallen01@nyit.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
— Furniture Today, Set for May 20-23 at Javits Center OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. — Interior design students from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) will debut their Furniture for a Solar Home exhibit at the 18th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), from May 20 – 23, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-furniture-world-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indonesia-furniture.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}