Students from Tongji University donate meditation chairs
Touching the Ground: Meditation Chair Exploring harmony between life in nature and standardized industrial practices, this custom chair was brought to life by Tongji University student Xincheng Jiang in his AI-driven, performance-based Tectonic Studio, utilising discarded materials to combine digital design methods with robotic manufacturing processes. wood A quiet place away from the city. It is ergonomically designed to support and correct the meditator’s posture by ensuring symmetry, straight torso and minimization of static muscle activity, helping to achieve a positive mental state while sitting cross-legged.
All images courtesy of Tongji University
Made from recycled wood and digital processing
The meditation chair is designed to accommodate both cross-legged meditation and semi-reclined relaxing positions, allowing users to choose their preferred posture for maximum comfort and relaxation. The seat is made from soft white spruce plywood with a raw textured finish that matches the contours of your cross-legged sitting position. The chair legs are made from recycled balsam fir branches discarded during the pruning process, giving new life to discarded wood and maintaining its natural texture.
Robotic manufacturing techniques play a key role in production to address the challenges posed by the irregular shapes and sizes of natural materials. The design team employed a dual robotic manufacturing approach, using a robotic end effector with homemade gripping jaws and woodworking tools to machine the irregular parts and achieve fine tenon joints.
Xincheng Jiang from Tongji University presents “Touching the Ground: Meditation Chair”
Professor Philip F. Yuan, studio advisor at Tongji University, emphasizes that the scope of digital architecture goes beyond the digital generation of geometric shapes and surfaces. In the design of the meditation chair, rustic textures and modern craftsmanship are combined to create a unique vitality that presents a new high-quality productivity in the context of low-carbon development.
Inspired by the ideas of Eastern philosophy, Shinjojie focuses on the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature, creating Zen spaces through the precise integration of the simplicity of natural materials and modern technology. The primitive and irregular shapes of natural branches symbolize the beauty of nature’s disorder, while the precision of robotic manufacturing technology reflects human ingenuity, achieving a balance of opposites and harmony in complexity.
Made from soft white spruce plywood, the seat conforms to the contours of your body when you sit cross-legged.
The seat is made from soft white spruce plywood and the legs are made from recycled balsam fir branches.
Consider both the cross-legged meditation position and the semi-reclined relaxed position
Ensure symmetry, a straight torso, and minimal static muscle activity
Bridging the gap between digital design methodologies and robotic manufacturing processes
