Kram/Weisshaar: R18 Ultra Chair

At Design Miami/, Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram presented their R18 Ultra Chair for Audi, offering an insight into the design and production process of the finalised object in an installation that included an industrial welding robot.

During the 2012 edition of Design Miami/, which took place through 9 December in Miami Beach, Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram of Kram/Weisshaar presented the finalised R18 Ultra Chair, designed for Audi using methods borrowed from automotive manufacturing in collaboration with Audi's Lightweight Design Center. The chair's multi-material space frame is made from carbon composites, carbon micro-sandwich and high strength aluminum, weighing a mere 2,2 kg. The chair embodies Audi's ultra lightweight design credo following strict guidelines to shave off every gram of excess weight.

At Design Miami/ the chair's designers and engineers displayed drawings, samples, models, mock-ups, moulds and prototypes from the various stages of the development process, offering visitors an intimate insight into their studios and labs. The installation included an industrial welding robot and the chair's namesake and inspiration, the R18 Ultra car.

The R18 Ultra Chair's legs are made of folded sheet aluminum, welded by an industrial robot using a cold metal transfer process. The seat shell is fabricated from the latest carbon composite materials: a combination of carbon micro-sandwich and carbon rubber composites extrapolated directly from components of the racecar.

Top: Left, Kram/Weisshaar, R18 Ultra Chair front. Photo by Tom Vack. Right, Kram/Weisshaar, R18 Ultra Chair cardboard model. Photo by Frank Stolle. Above: Kram/Weisshaar, R18 Ultra Chair exhibition at Design Miami/ 2012. Photo by Tom Vack

The R18 Ultra Chair's genesis incorporates crowd-sourced data acquired through thousands of testing sessions held in Milan during the Salone del Mobile in April 2012, during the event The Future in the Making organised by Domus and Audi. Using advanced physics simulation software, the big data set enabled designers and engineers to analyse a wide variety of load scenarios and carefully adjust and optimise the carbon fiber lay up, geometry and dimensions of the final object accordingly.

Kram/Weisshaar, R18 Ultra Chair rear. Photo by Tom Vack

Kram/Weisshaar, R18 Ultra Chair exhibition at Design Miami/ 2012. Photo by Tom Vack

R18 Ultra Chair Beta tests at the 2012 Salone del Mobile, Milan

R18 Ultra Chair Beta tests at the 2012 Salone del Mobile, during the event The Future in the Making organised by Domus and Audi, Milan. Photo by Tom Vack

Kram/Weisshaar: R18 Ultra Chair

At Design Miami/, Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram presented their R18 Ultra Chair for Audi, offering an insight into the design and production process of the finalised object in an installation that included an industrial welding robot.

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