PLAYGROUND LOVE
Rita Schneeberger, 2026
Diploma Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien
- realized with SHRINX 4903

PLAYGROUND LOVE revolves around the design of a club chair. The project investigates how a reduction of materiality can be combined with the preservation of an autonomous formal language, and how the classic club chair can be translated into a contemporary social and ecological context.

In contrast to seating furniture that encourages with drawal and isolation, such as pieces oriented away from the surrounding space or designed for solitary activities like reading or the use of digital devices, PLAYGROUND LOVE follows a dialogical approach. The designed chairs aim to foster communication, enable encounters, and support attentiveness within shared spaces. PLAYGROUND LOVE updates the classic club chair by questioning its traditional modes of production and social configurations, while critically reflecting on its historical roots in the exclusive context of the gentlemen’s club. In doing so, the project reopens the question of who is invited to sit, and how access to comfort and presence is shaped. The seating posture is deliberately comfortable yet upright. It conveys ease while simultaneously supporting presence, eye contact, and exchange. Comfort is not understood as passive retreat, but as an active state of social participation.

Problem Statement: Circular Design and Materiality
From a circular design perspective, conventional club chairs are problematic in several respects. Their large dimensions, high weight, and complex, largely inseparable material combinations often result in these objects being discarded as monolithic waste at the end of their life cycle. The reuse or recycling of individual materials is, in most cases, neither intended nor technically feasible. Particularly critical is the widespread use of foam. Although attractive to the furniture industry due to low costs and fast processing, foam has a comparatively short lifespan and is only limitedly recyclable or reusable. Its use significantly exacerbates the ecological shortcomings of conventional upholstered furniture.

Design Approach
The form, dimensions, and materiality of a club chair influence not only individual body postures but also social interactions and access to comfort and authority. The occupation of space has historically been unevenly distributed; design can either reproduce these inequalities or consciously challenge them. PLAYGROUND LOVE is conceived as an experimental attempt to develop a chair that completely dispenses with foam while still offering both visual and physical comfort. The design focus lay in maintaining a sense of volume and generosity without generating it through material abundance or mass. Instead, comfort is defined through construction, material tension, spatial presence, and a direct relationship to the body. 
PLAYGROUND LOVE responds to these social and material tensions with a foam-free club chair made of SHRINX 4903 textile, that defines comfort not through material quantity, but through construction, spatial effect, and bodily relation. The chair is understood as a relational object that makes spatial presence accessible to different bodies without enforcing with drawal or dominance.

The seat and back surfaces are formed by SHRINX 4903 textile by Krall+Roth.
After being stretched onto the frame, the material is heat-shrunk, creating the necessary structural rigidity. This construction combines stability with flexibility and fully replaces conventional upholstery materials.

PLAYGROUND LOVE aims to create a seating object that addresses both social interaction and ecological responsibility. The chair is not conceived as a place of retreat, but as an invitation to encounter. The central hope is the development of an object that people sit on—and choose to remain seated in.

Credits: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien,Video: © Anna Sophia Rußman und Kilian Immervoll, 2026 licensed under CC BY NC ND 4.0 bzw. im Falle eines Bildausschnittes Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Filmstill: © Anna Sophia Rußman und Kilian Immervoll, 2026 licensed under CC BY NC ND 4.0