Image source: Poltrona Frau — Rp02 Armchair
© Poltrona Frau and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research.
Rp02 Armchair
RP02 armchair: Renzo Piano's narrow wooden tip-up seat for Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Official product information
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Go to the official product pageDescription
Overview
The RP02 is an armchair that Renzo Piano designed for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Poltrona Frau's page describes it as suitable for all kinds of venue and calls it narrow but comfortable. It is installed in rows.
Construction
The structure of the seat and backrest is wood. The sides are veneered wood with armrests in visible solid wood, and the padding is fire-resistant, non-deforming polyurethane over a seat spring system of elastic belts. The seat raises itself (automatic tip-up) on noise-damping nylon pivots; the underside is guarded by an acoustic wooden panel and the back is covered in wood. A writing table and padded, upholstered armrests are available on request. Choose velvet, fabric or Pelle Frau® leather from its Color System; riveting is invisible. Rows are fixed by a metal cylinder in scratchproof, shock-resistant epoxy powder paint, with an air diffusion function on request.
Story
Designed for the Gardner Museum
The page credits the RP02 to Renzo Piano and names the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston as the project it was designed for. Poltrona Frau adds that the chair is actually suitable for all kinds of venue, and describes it as narrow but comfortable, a seat that the company says guarantees perfect seating.
The designer
The page identifies Renzo Piano with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, which he established in 1981 and which has offices in Genoa, Paris and New York. It also mentions his work with the engineer Peter Rice, with whom he founded Atelier Piano & Rice in 1977.
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