Personally I think that there is one clear winner but what do you guys think? the link is http://www.dwell.com/vote
number 3 for me. # 2 cantaliver design means that in a few years time you get micro fractures and a cat failure, then a metal post up your ass. #1 is ho humm, # 3 has multi functions and ARM RESTS these are leasure chairs where are the god damn armrests on the others?
It’s interesting looking at the designers’ submissions compared to the renderings Blu Dot produced. They made big changes to #3- I much prefer the original.
I remember those green webbed back outdoor chairs (like #2) being horribly uncomfortable.
Also kind of interesting that all the finalists they selected use bent tube frames.
personaly I like #1 I think that it was much more thought out. The details are all there. It also seems to me that the first person actually took time to render their chair and not have blue dot do it. It seems that Blu dot used the format from the first person to model the others. i agree that #2 has the “retro” feel but that retro feel includes being uncomfortable and sticking to that awful weave. My vote goes to #1!
voted for # 1
i like the overall combination of classic form in #3. looks like it would actually be pretty comfy and indeed the armrests help the lounge factor.
#1 is OK, but doesnt look that comfy with the steel rods and fix position.
R
Ummmmmmmmmmmm ok, do we sit with our hands folded in out laps when we lounge? As to the fabric, who cares that skinny little rod is going to get you or a freind sooner or later, jeeze how about some pratical thought once in a while.
I love the votes that had been tabluated to date a true example of form over function, however classics become classics because they serve the function that they were designed for in a good looking way. The winner will be as allways in the consumers hands, cant have a classic that ends up in a showroom gathering dust.
My vote goes to #1. I like the leg details.
Zippy’s right, the rod on #2 will get you someday.
Yes, #3 has arm rests, but they look more like throw pillows. You could bring some throw pillows with you on any of the chairs.
Throw pillows have a nasty habbit of ending up on the ground, agreed the pillows could use some work but at least they are attached. I guess what I didnt like about number 1 (besides lack of arm rests) is I have seen this form over and over and over agin, and frankly the detalis are not enough of a wow to me.
and you havn’t seen form #3 over and over again?
I went for #3, the most classic… the proportions are nice and I liked the old school wobble sketch that went with it. Clearly Ralph Rapson know how to live large. Look at that sketch. An oversized chair so you can lounge with you lady while drinking a Mojito or perhaps a mint julip (he didn’t spec the drink)? Mission accomplished!
#1,“What inspired your design? The profile curves were inspired by an aerial view of a racing circuit.”… uhm OK, but why, you like race cars? Arial view as inspiration for a side view? Things that go fast and are uncomfortable as inspiration for something stationary that is comfortable… doesn’t scan to me… contrast stitch on the cusions are nice though… mmm, contrast stitch.
#3
not in that proportion a “classic syboisis of old and new combining the day bed with the loung chair in a new revolutionay form factor” see i can write bullshit too 
Ok, chairs are chairs, 0/3/4/5/6/7/8/ legs you got something to prop up your butt, so all are to a extent reflections on the past.
Has anyone here worked with mesh seating? I wonder how all that mesh on #3 would fare (his illustration shows the scale better than the rendering). And back to the armrests, it looks like you could only use one at a time on #3, although I guess that’s all you need sometimes.
I have, the mesh can be spected in everything from fiberglass coated in polyureathanee (been around for 15 years) to kevlar polyureathane (stroger than steel) and top grade is spectra polyureathane (stronger than kevlar). The trick is you use the ridigity (springyness) of the sides to act as your springs not the fabric…old trick btw…hey must be old I know it after all.
Aeron chair is a great example of mesh seating surface. not sure what type of fabric, but the material really keeps your rear cool and adjusts to the constant respositioning needed for a task chair you spend 8+ hours in a day.
R
How do you know it’s a good design if you haven’t sat in it?
i don’t really like any of them.
i like #1 for function, but no arms is a bit of an oddity for a lounge chair, given that posture. #2 looks like an unfinished upholstery frame, the right materials could pull it off, but vinyl webbing? ugh. #3 is another rainbow. fabric mesh doesn’t form like that. the tension needed for a ‘forming’ mesh would be insane and the weave would get strung out. also, @ 60", that’s a a HUGE span for mesh. you would feel the forward frame. ouch. a mettalic mesh might work, but given the bariatric proportions, it would have to be extremely rigid (costly) and a bit uncomfortable.
KFJ, I know kevlar is up to the task, how you ask, I have built trampolines for catamarans and trimarans with spans over 10 feet using that stuff with no sag or bag, remember that stuff is STRONGER THAN STEEL.