TAM-TAM
Stool(s) & side-table
Designed by Pau Moltó /// 2018 /// Andreu World 2018 Contest
Affordable housing is becoming a problem for the big cities and their inhabitants. The square-meter price increase and the evolution of the tourist accommodation paradigm into new solutions like house-sharing and co-living has led to a situation where the great majority of the population living in big cities are paying 70 percent or more of their incomes for shelter, while rents continue to rise and construction of affordable rental apartments lags far behind the need. In response to this global problem, new housing trends are popping-up; One of them is the “small house movement”, an architectural and social movement that advocates for living simply in small homes, generally under 500 square feet (46 m2). This social trend also promotes financial prudence, eco-friendly choices, shared community experiences, and a shift in consumerism-driven mindsets.
Within this context, Tam-tam stool(s) was born of the desire to conceive an affordable, modular, convertible and space saving proposal for the small homes. Tam-tam is a versatile piece of furniture and can be used as a side-table, a stool or even divided in two stools when necessary.
Tam-tam stool(s) aims to follow the “small house movement” philosophy and is a modular stool that can, not only be used as a side-table, but also be divided in two when required, offering a seat for two users instead of one. Tam-tam stool(s) is a versatile, modular, simple and easy to use piece of furniture.
Regarding materials, seat is made of recycled high density Polyetilene (HDPE) rotomolded – coming from recycled plastic shopping bags, food containers, trays…- while the legs are made of solid Oak wood machined.
Assembly of the stool is pretty easy, requiring only a small amount of bio-adhesive as the complementary wedge-shape of the legs and their housings on the seat guarantees an easy assembly and a strong bonding between parts.
The scrapping of the stool, at the end of its lifecycle, could be easily done by a mechanical separation of the legs from the seat and processing each part independently for an upcycling or recycling.
Seat could be transformed again in recycled high density Polyetilene pellets that can be used to produce a great amount of products such as furniture, floor tiles, trash cans, shipping envelopes, gardening tools, toys, etc…
The solid oak wood legs could be upcycled to produce small wooden utensils or recycled to produce feedstock for wood composite materials, paper pulp, fuel for energy generation, animal bedding and litter, mulch, soil amendment or compost, landfill cover and road stabilization.
Within the context of the contest, a 1:5 scale model prototype was built-up.
Within the context of the contest, a 1:5 scale model prototype was built-up.
Also within the framework of the contest, the video above was created as a presentation of the project:
