^{Topology Chair}

^{^{Merging Computational Efficiency with Human Aesthetic Intent}}

Duration
2021

Researcher
Hanju Seo

Affiliation
- Korea Polytechnic University · Department of Industrial Design Engineering

Role
- Principal Investigator
- Designer (topology optimisation, computational modelling)
- Fabricator (PLA 3D printing & physical assembly)

Award
- London International Creative Competition - Shortlist
- SIT Furniture Design Award - Honorable Mention

A structural optimisation algorithm does not know what a chair should look like. It knows only where material is necessary and where it can be removed. Given a set of load conditions and boundary constraints, topology optimisation redistributes material to the paths that bear stress, eliminating everything that does not contribute to structural performance. The result is efficient but not always habitable: the forms it produces follow mechanical logic rather than human intuition about proportion, comfort, or visual coherence.

This project investigated what happens when that computational output is treated not as a final answer but as a starting condition. Using HyperWorks, structural load cases appropriate to seated use were defined and the optimisation was run across the full volume of the chair. The resulting geometry, dense where it needed to be and absent everywhere else, was then subjected to a second process: selective human intervention to refine transitions, smooth profiles, and introduce proportional decisions that the algorithm had no means to make. The two operations were kept distinct throughout. The machine determined where material belonged; the designer determined what that material should become.

The final form was fabricated in PLA via FDM 3D printing, allowing the complex internal geometry produced by optimisation to be realised without the constraints of subtractive manufacture. The project received recognition across multiple international design awards in 2020 and 2021, including the SIT Furniture Design Award, among others.

Topology optimisation output, designer intervention process, and final PLA-fabricated prototype.