Towards Zero-Waste Furniture Design

TL;DR

This paper introduces a computational approach for waste-minimizing furniture design by providing design variations that optimize material usage while preserving original design constraints.

Contribution

It presents a dynamic analysis method to suggest design modifications for better material efficiency, bridging the gap between design intent and material optimization.

Findings

Effective material usage demonstrated in complex scenarios

Design variations improve material efficiency without altering design constraints

Computational support enables waste reduction that is otherwise difficult to achieve

Abstract

In traditional design, shapes are first conceived, and then fabricated. While this decoupling simplifies the design process, it can result in inefficient material usage, especially where off-cut pieces are hard to reuse. The designer, in absence of explicit feedback on material usage remains helpless to effectively adapt the design -- even though design variabilities exist. In this paper, we investigate {\em waste minimizing furniture design} wherein based on the current design, the user is presented with design variations that result in more effective usage of materials. Technically, we dynamically analyze material space layout to determine {\em which} parts to change and {\em how}, while maintaining original design intent specified in the form of design constraints. We evaluate the approach on simple and complex furniture design scenarios, and demonstrate effective material usage that is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve without computational support.