Press Release
Volta Coffee Table by Chih-Chieh Huang - NTHU Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Furniture Design
Chih-Chieh Huang - NTHU honored for furniture design by the international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ Volta Coffee Table by Chih-Chieh Huang - NTHU, designed for Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang, National Tsing Hua University, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Volta Coffee Table
Volta is a coffee table inspired by the rib vaults of cathedral ceilings. The frame is composed of crossed and diagonal arched ribs that shape the structural lines of the piece. Curved stainless steel plates are staggered at a 45 degree angle to support the tabletop, and the legs recall arched structural columns. The tabletop is made of half-reflecting glass, so the structure below stays visible. An internal light source is reflected and refracted by the glass, projecting light and shadow into the surrounding room.
About Chih-Chieh Huang - NTHU
Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang (黃致傑) is an artist, designer, and educator, currently serves as an associate professor at the Center for General Education (CGE) at the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), where he actively leads the BioLogicDesign (BLD) Lab. He also maintains a joint appointment at the Interdisciplinary Graduate Institute of Art and Technology. His work focuses on biologically-inspired computing as a means to explore new aesthetics in the realm of generative graphic art and kinetic structural systems.
Award Record
With this recognition, Chih-Chieh Huang - NTHU is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Furniture Design Award
The A' Furniture Design Award is an international furniture competition recognizing good furniture designs by best furniture designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to furniture designers, product designers, industrial design studios and furniture brands from all countries. Entries typically include chairs, tables, sofas, beds, cabinets and shelves. Awarded furniture designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/furniture
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/122527
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/122527
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!122527
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/299556
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Volta Coffee Table
- Function
- Coffee Table
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Dim Gray, Gray, Silver and Light Slate Gray
- Images
- 4
- Client
- Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang, National Tsing Hua University
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Chih-Chieh Huang - NTHU
- Country
- Taiwan (China)
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2020 - 2021
- Design ID
- #122527
Credits
- Team
- project investigator, director/ Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang and design assistant/ Andy Liao
- Image Credits
- Main Image/ Photo by Wen-Shan Lin Optional Image#1/ Photo by Wen-Shan Lin Optional Image#2/ Photo by Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang Optional Image#3/ Photo by Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang Optional Image#4/ Photo by Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The designer uses a frame form composed of cross or diagonal arched ribs as a basis rule to explore the structural lines and shapes of the object. The design of the table legs refers to the structure’s arched structure column. The special arc-shaped steel plates are staggered at a 45-degree angle to form the support structure of the tabletop.
- Inspiration
- Volta is an alternative coffee table design, inspired by the rib vault of the cathedral. This work hopes to interpret the visual appeal and beauty of the arched structure from a human perspective when look up at the space of the cathedral.
- Research
- Designer used CAD and CNC to cut steel plates to accurately fabricate the structure. In the structural design, special consideration is given to lightweight and visual performance, and the assembly details are also considered to ensure manufacturing feasibility.
- Challenge
- This work interprets the visual appeal and beauty of the arched structure from a human perspective when look up at the space of the cathedral. Through the refraction and reflection between its inside light source and the half-reflective glass used on the desktop, the object can project the beauty of the arched building into the indoor environment in the form of light and shadow.
- Realization and Technology
- In the design making processes and manufacturing tasks, the first version uses metal sculpture approach to manually bend and weld steel bars to make the main structure. The second version is an improved version of the first version. Designer used CAD and CNC to cut steel plates to accurately fabricate the structure. In the structural design, special consideration is given to lightweight and visual performance, and the assembly details are also considered to ensure manufacturing feasibility
- Operation and Interaction
- The object uses a half-reflective glass as its table-top surface. In daily mode, it presents a special transparent color, allowing users to appreciate the both functional and beautiful structural lines under the table. In the night lighting mode, through the refraction and reflection between its inside light source and the half-reflective glass used on the desktop, the object can project the beauty of the arched building into the indoor environment in the form of light and shadow.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in June 2012 in Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, USA. And finished in April 2015 in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was exhibited in Salone del Mobile in April 2015 (IT), Taipei Fine Arts Museum 2015 (TW), and FORMOSA Sculpture Biennial 2017 (TW).
- Specifications
- Material/ Stainless Steel, Half-reflecting glass, light Dimension/ 480mmW x 480mmD x 430mmH
- Keywords
- coffee table, light installation, arched structure, structural design, illumination, interior
