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Adaptive Storage Furniture for Transient Lifestyle: Traveller Shelf
Name
Siu Yeung Tang
Education degree
Kandidat
Fagfelt
Design
Institute
Design, Product and Material
Program
Furniture Design - Products, Materials and Contexts
Year
2026
Traveller Shelf is an adaptive storage furniture project that responds to the increasingly transient lifestyles of young adults. As frequent relocation and temporary housing become more common, conventional storage furniture often struggles to accommodate changing living situations due to its scale, weight, and permanence.
The project originates from observations of people leaving home and establishing new lives in unfamiliar places. While moving is often associated with new opportunities, it can also bring physical exhaustion and emotional stress through the repeated cycles of packing, transporting, unpacking, and reorganizing belongings. These experiences raise a fundamental question: can storage furniture better support the realities of contemporary mobility?
Traveller Shelf explores an alternative approach to shelving through a modular system designed around Mobility, Adaptability & A Sense of Home and continuity. Rather than treating moving as an occasional disruption, the project considers mobility as an integral part of everyday life, enabling furniture to evolve alongside changing spaces, needs, and living environments.
To reduce the stress of moving, Traveller Shelf can also be used as a moving box. This reduces the need for single-use cardboard boxes and makes packing and unpacking easier. When moving to a new apartment, users simply place the lids on the storage boxes to make them ready for transport. After moving, the lids can be placed underneath the boxes, turning them into open shelves for usage. This system allows the furniture to shift between storage, display, and moving functions in a simple and direct way.
Mobility for Traveller Shelf
Traveller Shelf is designed to be flat-packed. Users can fold the aluminium storage boxes themselves without machinery. The material and system supports both structural strength and flexibility, while keeping the furniture suitable for repeated moving and reconfiguration.
Storage boxes are designed around an A4-sized footprint for easy handling, packing, and transport. At home, users can choose between three configurations: a closed drawer for concealed storage, an open drawer for top access, or an open shelf for display. The design aim to balance accessibility, visibility, and visual tidiness.
Traveller Shelf - Storage Configuration
The module can be used individually, stack up in pairs, or until four levels to form a storage tower. They can also be arranged in a 2 × 2 layout to create a display shelf. Each unit has three settings: drawer mode, open-drawer mode, and bookshelf mode. This allows users to decide how visible their belongings are and adapt the furniture to different living situations.
Traveller Shelf – Stackable Modular Design
Stack up to 2 units
2×2 Display Shelf
Stack up
4 units storage tower
Adaptability of Traveller Shelf
Traveller Shelf – Selected Process & Future Possibilities
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)
