December 5-9, 2012
Design Miami/
Miami Beach, FL, USA

Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram have developed a chair using methods borrowed from the future of automotive manufacturing in collaboration with Audi's Lightweight Design Center. The chair's multi-material space frame is made from carbon composites, carbon micro-sandwich and high strength aluminum and weighs only 2.2 kg or 77 ounces. The chair embodies Audi's ultra lightweight design credo completely by following strict guidelines to shave off every ounce of excess weight.

The R18 Ultra Chair's genesis incorporates crowd-sourced data acquired through thousands of testing sessions held in Milan during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April 2012. Using advanced physics simulation software, the big data set enabled designers and engineers to analyze a wide variety of load scenarios and carefully adjust and optimize the carbon fiber lay up, geometry and dimensions of the final object accordingly.

At Design Miami/ the chair's designers and engineers are giving visitors an intimate insight into their studios and labs, displaying drawings, samples, models, mock-ups, moulds and prototypes from the various stages of the development process. This includes an industrial welding robot and the chair's namesake and inspiration, the R18 Ultra - the pace car for an entire technology: Audi ultra.

Audi ultra stands for state of the art lightweight construction, technology and design aimed at streamlining and optimizing efficiency across the board. This begins with the raw materials sourced for production all the way through various manufacturing stages, the operation of the vehicle, its fuel consumption and its deconstruction and recyclability at the end of its life cycle.

Aluminum is a key material in Audi’s repertoire of lightweight design technologies: The chair’s legs are made of folded sheet aluminum, welded by an industrial robot using a cold metal transfer process.

The chair’s seat shell is fabricated from the latest carbon composite materials: a combination of carbon micro-sandwich and carbon rubber composites extrapolated directly from components of the race car.

The R18 Ultra Chair manifests Audi’s ultra lightweight design credo in a 2.2 kg (77oz) piece of furniture that is ultra light and extremely durable.

Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram have been referred to as “the vanguard of the next generation of digital designers” (FORM Magazin) and “the poster boys of a new breed of designers” (International Herald Tribune). Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram’s works can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. The R18 ULTRA CHAIR is their second project for Audi after the widely acclaimed, award-winning installation OUTRACE on London’s Trafalgar Square in 2010.

Audi has been the exclusive automotive sponsor of Design Miami/ since 2006 and is as committed to design as it is to engineering. Most recently Audi has commissioned installations by international designers including Tom Dixon, Moritz Waldemeyer, Mirko Borsche and Bjarke Ingels, thus underlining the brand’s commitment of fostering design culture and research.

Design Miami/ is the pre-eminent global forum for design. Each fair brings together the most influential collectors, gallerists, designers, curators and critics from around the world in celebration of design culture and commerce. Taking place alongside the Art Basel fairs in Miami, USA each December and Basel, Switzerland each June, Design Miami/ has become the premier venue for collecting, exhibiting, discussing and creating collectible design.