filed under: furniture design+fabrication // tools: AutoCAD, welding, wood fabrication, illustrator, waterjet cutting
There is a classic table form referred to as a “demilune(link)” (literally “half a moon”) which describes a semicircular table that is often placed against a wall to create an intimate space for small items.
a classic English demilune.
initial mounting concept sketch.
ARCHI-PRIVILEGE
DBA was approached by a well-known architect to build a custom demilune for his Austin residence. After an on-site sketching exercise to determine placement, scale and general shape, we had to determine the exact form it would take and the way it would be installed. We arrived at the idea that we could selectively excavate the drywall, mount steel brackets to the wood studs, slide the steel plate into the brackets and patch the wall. In sum, we would create the most minimal of demilunes, dispensing entirely with the overwrought, inlaid wood legs and tops of traditional demilunes, achieving the visually-arresting ‘miracle’ of a quarter inch of beautifully-profiled steel emerging effortlessly from the plane of the drywall.
“I can’t help thinking of it as ‘structural stuntin’. Sorry.”
FORMMAKING
Formally, the project was one of simplicity so the shape of the table had to reflect that. Generally proposed as an “airfoil” or “wing” shape, I went through a geometric exercise, creating a curve out of the radiuses of two circles perfectly tangent circles. Starting on paper with my grandfather’s compass (from West Germany!), I deconstructed the airfoil shape and realized that the key to realizing a seamless shape was to employ a set of intersecting circles to figure out where the center points of my radiuses would be located.
I’m not sure if anyone else notices or cares about this geometric precision, but I know I do. And I also know that said well-known architect and his wife love the table, so all’s well that ends well. And it ended particularly well because Isaac Martinez is a drywall genius.
TLDR: We made an elegant wing-shaped steel demilune table for an architect. Drawing with your hands helps you draw better with a computer. Studs are a builder’s best friend.
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