The Swedish national strategy for libraries, published in 2019 by the National Library of Sweden on behalf of the Government, with the utmost goal to strengthen democracy, describes a vision of a library for all in 2030. Historically, the library has been quiet rooms with collections of books. Something that does not support today’s nor future needs of a library according to the national strategy.  Is it possible to combine the vision of an open space with the old-time quiet library? Library of Östersund is a public library that has outgrown its premises from the 1950s, but due to savings, plans for a new library have been put on hold. I have examined how changes to the interior can support the aim to reach the goals of the Swedish national library strategy. Above all, to attract new groups without scaring away the visitors of today, or yesterday. The emphasis lies on how the spatial design can encourage activity versus focus, the importance of forms, flows and meetings of different materials, and how the relationship between architecture and body is formed from a diversity of perspectives.

In Taiwan, even though we have sets of desks and chairs in different sizes for school children, due to the inconsistency of purchases and the number of students in the year, many students did not have the opportunity to use desks and chairs that fit their height. In such an environment, students have incorrect postures, cannot concentrate in class, and begin to neglect or even destroy the tables and chairs they use. In this project, I designed the furniture to be adjustable in height. It solves the inconvenience of school procurement and provides students with a more comfortable learning environment. Besides, I also introduced the concept of "Wood education" to cultivate students' understanding of Taiwan's native natural resources and develop the feeling of cherishing the furniture that students use from assembling their wooden furniture.

När någon blir sjuk händer något i kroppen som vi till en början inte kan se. Något främmande börjar växa och det sjuka vill sakta men säkert ta över det friska. I de fall vi inte kan stoppa det sjuka, växer det och tar över tills inget av det friska längre orkar leva kvar. Det här projektet handlar om ett sätt att illustrera ett förlopp av den mänskliga skörheten och hur det kan gå till med en inredningsarkitekt och möbeldesigners verktyg. Möbeln har blivit en metafor för kroppen och det sjuka och det friska symboliseras av två olika material, trä och metall. Bit för bit sker en visuell förändring där det ena materialet stilla ersätter det andra. I projektet har jag som inredningsarkitekt och möbeldesigner undersökt materialmöten, förlopp och hur en serie möbler kan berätta en historia. Jag har använt mig av en metod som jag har utvecklat under arbetets gång, där jag utan att fokusera på resultatet, gång på gång låtit ett material ta över ett annat och utgått ifrån ett objekt för att sedan göra små förskjutningar och förändringar för varje ny möbel jag bygger. Med den här metoden har resultatet inte varit det viktiga utan processen i sig. Att arbeta iterativt genom att gång på gång låta ett material ta över ett annat i en experimentell process har gjort att jag kunnat släppa fokus på resultatet och istället kunnat arbeta fritt i en kreativ process. / When someone gets sick, something happens in the body that we can't see at first. Something foreign starts to grow and the sick wants to slowly but surely take over the healthy. In cases where we cannot stop the sick, it grows and takes over until none of the healthy can survive. This project is about a way to illustrate a course of human frailty and how it can be done with the tools of an interior designer and furniture designer. The furniture has become a metaphor for the body and the sick and the healthy are symbolized by two different materials, wood and metal. Piece by piece, a visual change takes place where one material quietly replaces the other. In the project, as an interior architect and furniture designer, I have investigated material meetings, processes and how a series of furniture can tell a story. I have used a method that I have developed during the work, where without focusing on the result, time and time again I let one material take over another and started from an object and then make small shifts and changes for each new piece of furniture I'm building. With this method, the result has not been the important thing, but the process itself. Working iteratively by repeatedly letting one material take over another in an experimental process has allowed me to let go of the focus on the result and instead work freely in a creative process.

Today's social climate and working environments expose us to excessive expectations and demands and more and more people are diagnosed with stress-related illnesses. My degree project is an investigation of poetic design, healing spaces and fatigue syndrome and the importance of adapted health care environments that strengthen treatment and recovery. My mother has fatigue syndrome, she has been ill for over six years, and she still has severe symptoms that probably never fully will go way. So, the purpose of this project is, on the one hand an attempt to get a deeper understanding of her situation, and on the other, to shed some light on this illness that is getting more and more common, especially amongst women. Research shows that spending time in nature has healing effects for those with mental illness. Using my definition of poetic design as a method, I have transposed qualities of nature into an indoor environment that reconnects to humans deep and genetic relationship to nature. I am proposing a new type of health care space with a much-needed holistic approach. Focus is on treatments such as mindfulness, basal body awareness and yin yoga as well as different kinds of therapy and activities in a space close to nature. A holistic space including a garden, an indoor space and a piece of furniture that are designed to respond to the non-measurable and invisible symptoms of fatigue syndrome.

The project was carried out as a master’s thesis at Royal Institute of Technology, in collaboration withthe kitchen designer Lucks by Robo in Stockholm, Sweden. The purpose of this project was to analyze new demands on office furniture due to hybrid work & homeworking, a result of the covid-19 pandemic. The project was also to apply findings in some type of furniture for the home. Using a human-centered design process the project was to answer the following research questions; (1) What may the future of homeworking look like? (2) What are some common challenges people have when integrating part of their office into their homes and what furniture related needs or desires have emerged? and (3) What are some new characteristics needed to consider when designing furniture for the home office and how can they be applied in the product design? The project carried out a literature study of the hybrid work structure and its future, an extensive userstudy and a brand identity analysis. The project resulted in four main insights where one of the most crucial was the product system needed for an optimal home working environment. Five different groups who represent different levels of needs were identified. Application of the findings were also made through the product development of a piece of furniture for the work environment in the home in a Scandinavian and contemporary style. With a product focus, a height adjustable table was designed to fulfil the identified, functional and aesthetic needs and characteristics for the home office. The product was adapted for the manufacturing and production of Lucks. This resulted in a height adjustable table made of HDF, using four gas springs for the height adjustable mechanism. / Projekt är ett master examensarbete utfört på KTH, Kungliga Teknisk Högskolan, i samarbete med köksföretaget Lucks by Robo, i Stockholm Sverige. Syftet med projektet är att analysera nya krav som ställs på möbelmarknad i samband med den hybrida arbetsstrukturen, mer specifikt den kraftiga ökningen av hemarbete som påverkats av covid-19 pandemin. Arbetet ska också applicera resultat i form av en möbel anpassat för hemarbetet. Med en människocentrerad designprocess skall projektet besvara följande forskningsfrågor; (1) Hur ser framtiden för hemarbete ut? (2) Vilka utmaningar uppstår då hemmet omvandlas till ett deltids kontor för hemarbetet och vilka möbelrelaterade behov och krav uppstår i samband med detta? och (3) Hur kan dessa krav och behov appliceras på en möbel för hemarbetet?Projektet utförde en litteraturstudie kring den hybrida arbetsstrukturen och dess framtid, en omfattande användarstudie och en analys av varumärkets identitet. Projektet resultera i fyra insikter, där en av de viktigaste var behovet av ett produktsystem för att optimera ett hemmakontor. Fem olika behovsgrupper av olika magnitud identifierades. Projektet applicerade även resultatet i ett produktutvecklingsarbete kring möbler för hemarbete. Detta resultera i ett produktfokus på ett höj och sänkbart bord designad föratt uppfylla identifierade krav som berörde både funktion och estetik för ett hemmakontor. Bordet är anpassad till Lucks by Robo’s produktion och tillverkning. Detta resultera i ett höj och sänkbartbord i HDF som använder sig av fyra gasfjädrar för dess höj och sänkbara funktion.

In this degree project I’m designing furniture for the human scale in the public space. More specifically for parks and squares in the city. As I am defining the human scale I am inspired by two main sources; the documentary Alive inside(2014) och Peter Gärdenfors Tankens vindlar(2005). The most important part of this definition is its inner logic, the idea that the human scale consists of two parts, that it is  in size close to mine  in spirit  personal. The first part determines proportion as related to the human body and the other describes the form essens. Through the workshop I gather the relevant data that gives form to the spirit, that is personal. In the workshop held with six elderly people in a home in the suburbs of Uppsala, we sat down and listened to music and worked with clay for one hour. The hand made clay sculptures are scanned and so digitalised and available for digital fabrication. This method of working with the design and production is also an attempt to work towards industrial production. So to make the design available for the city by avoiding high cost production. The data have been adjusted using Meshmixer and then realised physically through a collaboration with Scania and their large scale 5-axis CNC machine. The result is two pieces of furniture; one bench and one platform. In this first section of the report, under the title Contextualising and investigative discussion, I will describe to you why this project is important. Important to us, as people living our lives in the evolving city, creating a social standard or a social tradition together in the public space. In the next section, under the title Method of Work, I’ll go in to more extended detail describing separate parts of the design process as I’ll go through the practical aspects. In the third section, under the title The Concept and Implementing, I will sum up my initial thoughts in relation to the new information the project have generated.

My study challenges the status quo that seems to exist in the design of modern apartments, which is heavily influenced by the modernistic movement that flourished in early 20th century. Modernists strived to create a just and equal society, by challenging the social order and the traditional hierarchical system. The architecture of the time reflected these ideals and ultimately resulted in simplistic and repetitive designs that often formed box like interiors with standardised furniture. Consequently, these designs are detached from the individualism of the inhabitants, forcing people to sit, sleep, dine and socialise in a predefined space in a prescribed manner. My project is an artistic intervention to the BOX - the soulless interior of modern apartments. My aim is to explore and imagine alternative ways of existing within the box and push the boundaries of how we conduct daily activities in the living space.

In this report I have chosen to analyze how we can bring in the plants' positive health effects indoors by becoming part of the furniture. I have read plant books to find out more about the plant's properties, location and care, but also talked to people with long-standing and solid knowledge of plants. I have made a study visit to a company that works with plants and moss in the public environment and was told how they plan an interior design project with plants. After this report I am even safer that we should have more green indoors and that with the help of the plants becoming a part of the furniture can help us with that. It has been shown that the potted plants have a lot of properties, more than I knew, which makes our indoor climate healthier. They purify the air, increase humidity, are healing, make us more efficient and creative, less stressed and happier.

<p>Bakgrund: I konkurrens om morgondagens konsument kommer sannolikt materiella värden inte räcka till. Företag måste också kunna erbjuda immateriella värden genom upplevelser. Ett sätt att göra detta är via produktens design. Den företagsekonomiska relevansen understyrks ytterligare av det faktum att lite forskning finns kring immateriellt värdeskapande och design. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att bidra med förståelse för hur design kan tillföra immateriella värden till en produkt. </p><p>Genomförande: Initialt konstruerades en begreppsapparat, ur teori från vitt skilda discipliner, som sedan genom tolkning av en rad intervjuer med relevanta aktörer utvecklades. </p><p>Resultat: De immateriella värden som tillförs en möbel genom design kan förstås med hjälp av två huvudkategorier: estetiskt och socialt värde. Dessa värdens tillblivelse kan i huvudsak förstås som en social konstruktion uppburen av en rad aktörer i en värdekonfiguration. En historia konstrueras och ger möbeln ett värde. Kunskap har central betydelse för konsumentens/nyttjarens värdeupplevelse. Resultatet torde ha stor generalitet i form av dess språkbildande karaktär.</p> / <p>Background: In the competition for the consumer of tomorrow it is not likely going to be enough to deliver material value. Companies will have to offer immaterial values through experiences. One way of doing this is by the design of the product. The relevance is emphasised further as there is little research available regarding immaterial value creation and design. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to contribute with understanding for how design can add immaterial value to a product. </p><p>Research method: Initially a number of concepts were constructed out of theories originating in widely different theoretical fields. These concept were then evolved by interpretation of a number of interviews with relevant actors. </p><p>Result: The immaterial values that are added to a piece of furniture by design can be understood with the help of main categories: aesthetic and social value. The creationof these values can to a large extent be understood in the terms of a social construction carried by a number of actors in a value configuration. A story is constructed which give the piece of furniture value. Knowledge is of great importance for the value appreciation of the consumer/user. The result should have great generality as it is of a concept creation quality.</p>

<p>The project consisted of developing an office workstation specially designed to compete at the Spanish market. The assignment was received from the Daifuku Designs, a design company in Barcelona, Spain. Daifuku Designs are well experienced in various kinds of product and interior design, but has not designed office furniture earlier. The project’s purpose was to introduce the company to the branch of office furniture.</p><p>The research phase consisted in three different parts, a survey concerning office work that was handed out to Swedish and Spanish office workers and cleaning staff, studies of the world leading companies in the branch of office furniture and educational visits at different showrooms and offices.</p><p>The project resulted in a desk that is offering a flexible space dividing system and a unique cord solution. The space dividers can be put anywhere along the desktop and are easily moved by hand. All the cords and cables are hidden in the desk and computers, phones, e.g. can be installed anywhere on the desk. The desk can be used both separately and in big office landscape. Flexibility is a common sales argument and the demand of this kind of flexibility is constantly growing. The trends to hire personnel and to work in temporary project groups are two reasons to the growing demand. The office furniture needs to be able to be used in different ways when the constellation of the project group is changing. It is a big advantage if the same desks can be used for different occasions.</p> / <p>Projektet bestod av att utveckla ett kontorsskrivbord, designat för att marknadsföras på den spanska marknaden. Uppdragsgivare var Daifuku Designs, ett designföretag i Barcelona, Spanien. Daifuku Designs har stor erfarenhet i olika sorters produkt- och inredningsdesign men har ej designat kontorsmöbler tidigare. Projektets syfte var att introducera företaget på kontorsmöbelmarknaden.</p><p>Researchfasen bestod av tre olika delar, en enkät om kontorsarbete som gavs ut till svenska och spanska kontorsarbetare samt städpersonal, studier av världsledande företag inom kontorsmöbelindustrin samt studiebesök på olika showrooms och kontor.</p><p>Projektet resulterade i ett skrivbord som erbjuder ett flexibelt avskärmningssystem samt en unik sladdlösning. Avskärmningarna kan sättas vart som helst längs skrivbordet samt kan lätt flyttas för hand. Alla sladdar och kabeldosor är gömda i skrivbordet och datorer, telefoner, etc. kan installeras vartsomhelst på skrivbordet. Skrivbordet kan användas separat så väl som i ett större kontorslandskap. Flexibilitet är ett vanligt säljargument, behovet av denna typ av flexibilitet växer hela tiden. Trenden att hyra in personal samt att jobba i projektgrupper är två anledningar till det växande behovet. Kontorsmöbeln måste kunna användas i många olika grupperingar när konstellationen i projektgruppen förändras. Det är en stor fördel om skrivbordet kan användas för många olika tillfällen.</p>