Outdoor Lounge Chair for You and Your Dog

I had the idea of a human and animal companion shared outdoor furniture when I was laying on my lounge chair in the backyard. My big dog, Zooey, was trying to share the chair with me and left me with essentially zero leg room. Even though she had her own outdoor dog bed, she still chose to squeeze in next to me on the chair because dogs like being close to their caretakers. So I designed this outdoor lounge chair with an attached dog bed that will fit a dog of any size, provide the dog with the closeness that they want and leave you with plenty of leg room.

• Autodesk Fusion 360
• Photopea
• Canva

I initially researched furniture that compounded human use and animal companion use. I found that the furniture only suited small dogs.

I moved on to researching outdoor furniture and there was a complete lack of human and animal companion furniture. There were only individual dog beds and individual human lounge chairs.

Pinterest is my go to for creation inspiration so I can first and foremost credit that site for all my finds.

I liked the functionality of the lounge chair such as the wheels for mobility and the adjustable head rest. So I used that to guide my design process.

Curves or circular shapes can make a space feel more lax which is the environment you want when you are lounging. Additionally, I included bold coloring to invoke happiness with patterns by artist Martcellia Liunic.

I initially tried designing a foldable outdoor chair that would simultaneously expand a dog bed when opened. That felt a little too complex so I moved on to a lounge chair. Like the furniture I found in my market research, I switched to designing static chairs. I played with different legs and shapes. With the static designs, I considered making the legs taller so large dogs could fit. The height felt awkward for human use so I eventually settled on a pull out dog bed. The new pull out dog bed idea felt perfect because it could easily accommodate small to large dogs while maintaining space convenience and human comfort.

Step 1: Model the base frame and wheels.

Step 2: Add additional rail layer with a hinge for folding. The idea to add another layer of rails came after I started designing in Fusion 360. I added it because I liked the retro aesthetic that it created.

Step 3: Attach support bar and hinge for holding up the head rest

Step 4: Create dog bed frame and wheels

Step 5: Add slats throughout the frames

Step 6: Place cushions

Step 7: Render -- I wrestled with many color combinations and fabrics and ended up settling for perforated leather and metallic spray finishes. You'll see more of how I incorporated this in my final designs.

The upper half of the lounge chair can be adjusted to four different, comfortable angles: 60, 45, 30 and zero.

The dog bed can roll in and out from under the chair for convenience. It's also important to note that these cushions are not attached to the frame of the chair. To push the dog bed under the chair, the user will have to pick up and place the cushion somewhere else first.

Additionally, the pair of wheels at the head of the chair allows the user to push/pull the chair like a cart to an ideal location.

I chose to go with 3 different designs for my lounge chair displaying a plethora of color and funky patterns designed by artist Martcellia Liunic.

This lounge chair can easily be marketed for individual or business use. It can be used in someone's backyard. Multiple chairs could be placed around a hotel pool or apartment pool. Even tech startup hubs known for creating hip places for the employees to decompress could use my lounge chair.

I had so much fun getting to design this chair. I actually used to pursue interior design before I started going into mechanical engineering so I got to combine the best of both worlds for me with this project.

Looking back on my design, I think I could have added a case for the cushions to go in when the chair was not being used. Alternatively, the user could cover the chair with something more accessible like a tarp. This way the integrity of the cushions would be maintained. Otherwise I am really happy with what I came up with and I really wish I had a chair like this. I made it my goal to come up with something practical while avoiding overengineering something and I feel I was able to achieve that.