Innovative design with lightweight chair for Audi – R18 Ultra Chair

Design duo Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram used racing-industry technology to develop an innovative chair design for Audi that weighs only 2.2 kg.

Innovative chair design by Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram

The two designers worked with experts from Audi’s Lightweight Design Center to develop the R18 Ultra Chair, named after and inspired by Audi’s lightweight R18 race-car prototype. They began with technology used by the engineers on the R18 car and transferred it into a piece of furniture.

Lightweight chair design shaped by robotics

The designers conducted a public beta test for the R18 Ultra Chair at Salone del Mobile in Milan, where hundreds of visitors sat on the chair while sensors measured stress loads. It was a process similar to the testing and development of a race car. Sitting is a dynamic, highly individual activity, because everyone uses a chair differently.

With sensors

Using data from the public beta test, the designers removed every unnecessary gram from the carbon-fiber structure. The process is very different from many furniture molds, where the material often has a continuous wall thickness and uniform weight. Here, the designers could manipulate not only the form but also the material.

Lightweight carbon-fiber structure

The chair is made of carbon fiber and high-strength aluminum foil, and it weighs only 2.2 kg.

Lightweight 2.2 kg chair

Carbon-fiber details

Innovative lightweight chair

Innovative lightweight chair designed for Audi

Ergonomic

Beta test at the Milan Furniture Fair