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Sixty years ago Arne Jacobsen designed the Series 7 chair - the "Sevener." Unlike many other Jacobsen designs, the chair was not designed for a specific use, leaving it to interpretation. In light of the chair's 60th anniversary, Fritz Hansen commissioned "seven cool architects" - BIG, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, Snøhetta and three others - to recreate the chair. The results, after the break.
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Inspired by the chair's layered veneer and stacking capabilities, BIG's Series 7 redesign resulted in "a subtle repetition of the iconic form language."
Carlos Ott Architects with Carlos Ponce de León Architects
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Designed specifically for the restaurant at Celebra, a flagship building of the technological campus Zonamerica by Ott & Ponce de León, these chairs "intervene the same way the vertical garden grows organically up the wall in the open-roof basement" with "curved lines" that mimic the garden and adapt to the anatomy of the chair.
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With contrasting colors and juxtapositions, "an example of Jean Nouvel's design signatures," this pairing "plays together in a feminine and masculine flow."
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In the context of Jun Igarashi Architects' wood House M and "rectangle of light," this recreation is an example of how debris wood from earthquakes can be repurposed into furniture.
Neri & Hu Design and Research Office
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Embracing the notion of duality, Neri & Hu redesigned the Series 7 chair in the context of the renovated 1930s Waterhouse in Shanghai. By creating "an actual double," the "single chair" becomes a "community" of chairs that reminds us "we are never alone, but always together."
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Likened to Snøhetta's Rauland Mountain Church, this re-envisioned chair shares a special connection with the outdoors; its shell can be freed from its legs and used on any sloping surface.
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Formed from two continuous steel rods, Zaha Hadid's Series 7 recreation boasts a sinuous shape much like the acclaimed Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku.
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All seven chairs will be exhibited worldwide in a touring exhibition.