Lapella Marble Chair

Lapella Marble Chair by Zaha Hadid

The very #1 Edition of 'Wegner' reinterpreted Lapella lounge chair by Zaha Hadid Architects and AKT II. New Fundamentals Research Group Generelli. Unique Palissandro Classico Marble and Carbon Fiber, Lapella continues the investigations in structure and fabrication-aware tectonics by reinterpretation of the iconic 1963 design by Hans J. Wegner.

 Zaha Hadid Architects retained proportions, scale from the Danish Design Whilst deploying contemporary stone tooling and carbon fibre composites to create it. Beautiful design and remarkable comfort.

Creator: Zaha Hadid Architects (Designer)

Dimensions

Height: 29.14 in (74 cm)

Width: 31.89 in (81 cm)

Depth: 33.08 in (84 cm)

Materials and Techniques

Marble,

Appliqué,

Polished

Place of Origin: England

when danish designer hans j. wegner first presented his ‘shell’ chair in 1963 its reception was mixed. however, over the last half century the piece has become a design classic thanks to a resurgent appreciation of its avant-garde appearance defined by its apparent lightness and distinctive three-legged construction. now, 55 years later, zaha hadid architects (ZHA) has reinterpreted the iconic design using italian marble reinforced with carbon fiber.

in developing the project, titled ‘lapella’, ZHA teamed up with engineering firm AKT II, new fundamentals research group, and stone fabricator generelli. the team approached the field of furniture design from an architecture and engineering perspective, a strategy that allowed them to harness the compressive properties of stone as well as carbon fiber’s tensile characteristics.

the team sought to retain the proportions, scale, and form of the original design, while employing contemporary engineering techniques and materials. to enable the parallel study of multiple loading configurations on an evolving design, structural analysis was delivered using AKT II’s in-house parametric interoperability solution, re.AKT.

this analysis was pivotal in incrementally improving the project’s design parameters to address factors such as stone tolerances, curvature thresholds, and mass distribution. simultaneously, the design was modified through ‘dynamic relaxation’ to minimize effects of bending within the form itself. the result is an optimized design that demonstrates the thinnest and lightest structure capable under the given constraints.