Futuristic design of transforming furniture in the first half of the Twentieth Century: Concepts and perspectives

The purpose of the article is to identify the main concepts of creating futuristic transforming furniture of the first half of the 20th century and to determine their influence on contemporary design practice. The research methodology is based on a historical and comparative analysis of the design of futuristic transformer projects of the first half of the 20th century and their comparison with modern design solutions. This allowed the authors to identify the influence of new ideas on the further development of furniture design and outline the features of forming a small-sized residential object-spatial environment. The study also used such theoretical methods of cognition as analysis, comparison, abstraction, and generalisation. The methods of analysis and comparison of the features of structural elements and characteristic features of the formation of futuristic transformer objects of the specified historical period allowed identifying the leading concepts of their creation. The methods of abstraction and generalisation were used to summarise the results of the work. The scientific novelty of the work lies in identifying the prerequisites for the emergence of multifunctional transforming furniture in European countries in the first half of the 20th century, highlighting the concepts of creating transforming objects and outlining the impact of these predictive developments on modern furniture design. Conclusions. The study has revealed that the leading concepts of creating futuristic-transforming furniture in the first half of the 20th century are: 1) rationality of design; 2) multifunctionality; 3) laconism of forms; 4) introduction of innovative technologies and use of modern materials; 5) interactivity