Terra Chair

Designed by Jemima Manton and Gavin Zanotti for the 2023 MPavilion

Terra Chair by Jemima Manton + Gavin Zanotti

The Terra chair deliberately stands in distinct contrast to Tadao Ando’s geometric pavilion, with its hand-kneaded appearance, metallic pink shell and unordered placement. Naturally formless, the Terra Chair look like giant hands have causally molded them from putty or clay - with large scale fingerprints left in the dough like forms - tossing them into the geometric play arena like the ancient game knucklebones. 

The Terra chair, without being obvious, is designed for the human body. There are two sizes of ‘rocks’ that can seat up to 3 people at one time and range from 400-500mm high - accommodating people of all sizes. They are robust enough to endure rough and tumble play from children, yet comfortable enough for an individual to sit for a while, enjoying Ando’s 2023 MPavilion.

The Terra Chair is milled to shape out of recycled polystyrene, with less than 1mm tolerance using a 5 axis polystyrene milling machine. It is then hard coated in a waterproof and impact proof polymer. Primed, then coated in the desired metallic finish. The result is a durable, robust and lightweight form that is easily transportable. The chairs would be manufactured in Melbourne, close to site. Initial quotes indicate production costs of circa $1000 AUD per chair. Each chair can seat more than one person.