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This Convertible Desk-Bed Encourages You to Sleep at Work…Just Don’t Drool in Front of Your Boss

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 12:42

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(Before It's News)

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Perhaps none of us will top the professional-level squatting recently done by a young entrepreneur at AOL’s headquarters. The then-19 year old Eric Simons was a part of an AOL incubator focused on helping young people with their startups. Having ran out of money, the persistent Simons ended up squatting at AOL…showering in their gym, sleeping in their lounge area, and eating meeting leftovers. Perhaps it was a legal and moral gray-area, but Simons went on to secure more than enough to get his startup off the ground. For most people however, a simple place to nap might be the ideal solution after hammering away for 18 hours on a project with a 5 AM deadline and presentation. Bring on the office-sleeping YouTube prank videos.

The ’1,6 S.M. OF LIFE’ Convertible Desk-Bed

Inspired by her experience of seeing exhausted classmates sleeping on a row of chairs in the classroom, designer Athanasia Leivaditou of Greece took on the challenge of constructing the project with low tech materials and mechanisms. Essentially, the lid of the desk is pulled away in order for more space to be created and accessed below. The front facade lays down and constitutes the base and mattress of the bed. The right facade can slope in order to function as a headrest while the left side can be used for storage.

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“It was an inspiration that came from exhausting working hours of my classmates that did not have an apartment close to the university and they were putting chairs together in order to take a nap during the night at the graduate school. Eventually I realized that each civilization may have a very different perception of things depending on its social context. For example this desk could be used for a siesta, or in interiors where there is lack of space or for a few hours of sleeping at night between deadlines.”
-Athanasia Leivaditou, Designer

The convertible desk-bed was a Silver A’ Design Award Winner in Unexpected Design Category in 2011.