Exploring the design of storage furniture for small spaces, that is more usable and appropriate for the urban working class in China.

Description

According to the China working class credit development report released in 2017, more than one quarter
of China's employed population currently belongs to the working class. Such a large population plays a
very important role in the economic development of China (Pun, 2020), where working classes have to
suffer some of the most embarrassing and difficult living conditions in the largest cities. Taking
Yuzhong District, Chongqing, China in 2012 as an example, 43.6% of the people who own real estate have
two bedrooms and one living room, while 29.1% have only one bedroom and one living room. Among the
rental families, 47.9% of the people live in one room and one living room, and 34.7% live in one room
single room. In China, with the rapid growth of house prices, the number of renters is also increasing.
The living area of these families is generally less than 40 or 50 square meters, where their indoor
storage space becomes very limited and difficult to manage to store all their belongings. For
constructional materials, plywood has become the best choice for their cheap and easy to assemble
furniture. Although the durability and texture of this furniture is poor, and the aesthetic feeling at
the cultural level is weak, there is very little choice of reasonably priced furniture types that are
both practical and long-lasting. In addition, it is worth noting that these people often need to move
due to work and housing reasons. where their furniture will be simply be discarded rather than moved
to the next apartment. Subsequently, China has a huge amount of wasted furniture every year. Taking
the Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, in China as an example, by 2017 the average annual output of
large furniture waste in Baiyun District was about 12000 tons. Such a large number of abandoned
furniture has brought a very bad impact on the environment and earth resources. A considerable part of
the reason why this furniture is discarded is because of it's poor quality, troublesome movement and
fixed size. When the user changes the use environment or moves to a larger or smaller living space, it
is difficult for them to adapt the furniture system to the new space and is costly to transport during
the move.

Period	1 Feb 2022 → 1 Jan 2023
Examinee	Yutong Yang
Examination held at	Department of Industrial Design
Degree of Recognition	Local