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From Touch to Space: An Adaptable Shelving System
Name
Lara Joy Schilhansl
Education degree
Kandidat
Fagfelt
Architecture
Institute
Design, Product and Material
Program
Furniture Design - Products, Materials and Contexts
Year
2026
This project explores adaptability beyond function alone, focusing on how touch, assembly, and reconfiguration shape how furniture is used and experienced. The flexible wooden shelving system with removable gravity-based connections enables reversibility, repair, and adaptation over time, responding to changing needs and ways of living.
Gravity-based joinery
Shelving plates lock into the joint through gravity and a hook-and-groove geometry. The assembly process encourages tactile engagement through shape, materiality, and wood-on-wood contact of each component.
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Scale spectrum
The project moves between different scales, exploring small-scale joinery and tactile detail, larger-scale spatial arrangements, and emerging furniture typologies through changing configurations within the system.
Components & Configurations
The components developed throughout the project form a mix-and-match system, enabling a range of configurations. Together, they represent the first iteration of a system intended to evolve and grow over time.
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from larger shelves and side tables
to small-scale placement options
The Prototyping
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Details
Spatial arrangements
The system can be adapted to different contexts and uses. Shown here is a selection of possible configurations, including a side table, console, wall-mounted shelving, coat rack, wardrobe, and larger room-dividing arrangements.
The Royal Danish Academy supports the Sustainable Development Goals
Since 2017 the Royal Danish Academy has worked with the Sustainable Development Goals. This is reflected in our research, our teaching and in our students’ projects. This project relates to the following UN goal(-s)
