Cabinet Profile with Shadow Gap Design for Visual Depth and Privacy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cabinets lack design flexibility in the handle bar area, particularly in terms of visual aesthetics, as the traditional visual protection profiles do not provide sufficient optical depth or creative design options.
Innovation Solution
A cabinet design featuring a profile with interconnected or single-piece first and second parts, where the visible faces form a shadow gap, providing an optical depth effect and allowing for angled or curved designs, and optionally incorporating lighting for discreet illumination, to obscure the view into the cabinet while offering a new handle bar aesthetic.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a traditional visual protection profile (C-profile or U-profile) is used to obscure the cabinet interior, then the privacy function is achieved, but the design flexibility and visual appeal are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The profile is divided into two distinct parts (first part and second part) with different visible faces, allowing each part to contribute differently to the overall design while maintaining the obscuration function. This segmentation enables varied design configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The two visible faces of the profile parts are arranged asymmetrically to create a shadow gap, breaking the symmetry of traditional profiles. This asymmetric arrangement provides new aesthetic possibilities while maintaining functionality.
2Ease of manufacture
If a simple flat profile is used behind the access opening, then the manufacturing is simple and cost-effective, but the optical depth and visual appeal are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The profile design transitions from a simple flat structure to a multi-dimensional structure with visible faces arranged at different orientations. This creates a shadow gap that adds perceived depth without significantly complicating manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the spatial arrangement parameters of the visible faces (their relative positions and orientations), the design achieves optical depth effects while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through standard profile fabrication methods.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the profile is designed with complex shapes to enhance visual appeal, then the design flexibility is improved, but the manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The profile is segmented into two parts that can be manufactured separately using standard processes, then assembled. This reduces the complexity of individual manufacturing steps while achieving a complex overall visual effect through the arrangement of simpler components.
Data Source
AI summary
A cabinet having a front part, which closes access to the inner region of the cabinet and is mounted movably relative to the cabinet carcass, and supporting inner or side walls or a side cheek arranged vertically in relation to the floor on which the item of furniture is standing. An access opening is formed between the front part and the side cheek, between the front part and at least one further front part, or between the front part and an upper side, which is formed as a table top. A profile is arranged to the rear of the access opening such that it is impossible to see into the inner region of the cabinet through the access opening, the profile having a first part and a second part, each having a face visible through the access opening, the visible faces arranged such that a shadow gap is formed therebetween.