A chair for the overworked and underpaid immigrant family

Phú Chair

Feed The Family

The Tran family has recently immigrated to the United States. Most of the jobs available to them are low paying so they depend on each other to support the house. With technology moving forward, many of them are working from home. Each member needs space to work to support the household.

84,988

Refugees arrived in US in 2016

1,183,505

immigrants claimed permanent US residence in 2016

18.2MILLION

Children of immigrant parents born from 2000-2017

Close Quarters

The house gets very crowded so space becomes very limited. Every night, towels are layed out to sleep on. Whenever the day starts, the makeshift sleeping mats are put away to make space to work.

Incredible pressure is put on everyone to try to make enough money and to support the family. Every member is working under heavy stress leads to isolation and less socializing within the family.

Overworked and Underpaid

Staying Connected

Despite always being closely huddled up together, every family member is so caught up in his/her own work that they rarely talk, causing loneliness and disconnection throughout the family.

How might we bring together and relieve stress from overworked immigrant families?

Family Business

8 weeks of ideating based around different problems and solutions of living in a crowded family household.

I liked the phone concept because it served a way to disconnect to speak with family while not missing out.

The small office (turned home) space

What problems come up in a small work space that also becomes a living space?

Technologically driven and socially aware youth

Technological solutions to social issues for the future centered youth. The youngest family members tend to be the most socially aware resulting in them being the most driven to change the future. I liked the slipper the most as it brings awareness to underpaid workers in countries the families originate from.

Old with new tricks

Equipping the elderly with new ways they can potentially work. I liked the Push 1-800 the most as it is the most feasible to help elderly with shaky hands slide buttons instead of pressing them.

Creating meaning in a stressed space

How might we find meaning when we feel alone in our families? Choosing to go for my hugging chair as the chair is the most immediate thing to grab when working on the couch. Many traditional Asian families don't talk about their feelings. This could be a nonvocal way to call out for help.

Crowded but lonely small space?

Designing for a workspace where family members feel unable to speak to each other about their issues. Choosing to continue the hugging chair because it creates a vehicle for the user for work and emotional expression to call for others.

Refining the chair to be collapsible into a floor mat. This reduces space usage and references the towels/blankets laid down every night to sleep on in many immigrant households.

Expanding ideas

Based on different folding techniques from traditional Vietnamese cooking and origami for storing without causing clutter while being able to expand the chair to create a secluded space to relieve stress.