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Design Ballendat's Hyper-Efficient Stacking Chairs, Benches and Tables
The VLEGS are nuts-and-bolts industrial design at its finest
The issue with the design of most stacking chairs is that, when stacked, they look like this:
Enter a caption (optional)That is to say, each stacked chair nests slightly forward of the one beneath it. That's fine for homes or offices that only require a half-dozen of these. But for institutions and convention centers that need to provide hundreds or thousands of chairs on demand, then store them away afterwards, parallelogram-shaped stacks are unsuitable.
Enter a caption (optional)It is for this latter type of client that Austria-and-Germany-based Design Ballendat created the VLEGS chair for manufacturer Begasit.
Enter a caption (optional)By manipulating the elliptical-cross-section tube legs into a "technically demanding 60° angle," industrial designer Martin Ballendat has created a self-centering nesting design that's extraordinarily space-efficient: Some 25 chairs can be stacked in only two meters of height.
Enter a caption (optional)The chairs can be linked side-to-side, and fitted with optional armrests.
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Enter a caption (optional)The armrests do not interfere with the stacking, due to their design:
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Enter a caption (optional)Ballendat has also created companion tables and benches.
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Enter a caption (optional)The benches, as you might expect by their legs that are mounted outside the footprint of the seat, stack. But what's impressive is that the tables also stack. You might wonder how this is possible, since you can see in the photo below that the table legs are recessed beneath the tabletop.
Enter a caption (optional)Well, this is how they stack:
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Enter a caption (optional)Very clever design, and a fantastic example of designing for space efficiency.
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This is a lovely collection. I do have to comment though, on the celebration of the way the chair stacks and it's density. There are many (arguably too many) categories of chairs. The image shown first is a HIGH density stacker, and I would argue that the one featured is a MEDIUM density chair. High density stacking chairs tend to need to stack up to 40 high (although in reality most only get to around 35) and be able to fit through standard doors. This usually happens with the help of a dolly - not only for mobility, but as you point out - to compensate for the angle created by the the way they stack. 25 in 2m might be good for a medium density chair, but it shouldn't be compared to a high density stacker. As I said, nice collection all the same.
This is great for tables however HAG has been doing stack chaise call the Wing chair for years. It is a fantastic chair. Including a self leveling feature along with a rocking movement. Check it out.
Hi Charles, I've seen the Wing series and while I've heard they're surprisingly comfortable, aesthetically they don't do it for me (totally subjective, I admit; something about them seems very '90s to me).
I'm digging Ballendat's bent single tube for each leg because I'm a sucker for manufacturing prowess. I also like the space efficiency and the fact that they've gotten the benches and tables to do the same trick.
That being said, I'm guessing the Wing is probably the more affordable of the two.
I never thought about the parallelogram stack as taking up more space, but I guess it does. I've seen carts that offset the angle so the chairs can stack straight up, but that creates the requirement for an additional product. This is a great solution afforded by a simple geometric move.
Hi Sean, I believe the table legs being set beneath the tabletop are a prequisite for situations where the tables need to be butted up end-to-end, as in the cafeteria-style photos above.