Storage Wall Concept for Multifamily Apartments

The mission of VRT is to improve the lives of tenants by providing a builtin furniture system so moving into an apartment becomes nearly as simple as checking into a hotel. VRT is looking for a partner to collaborate on a prototype. The first milestone VRT has set is to design, fabricate, and install a prototype storage wall.

Once the prototype is built it can then be evaluated on several criteria: Was installation quick and easy ? Is it adequately supporting representative loads ? Does it add to the stylistic 'panache' intended in the design ? How do fabrication and installation costs compare with those of more conventional cabinetry ?

Here is a link to a set of drawings demoing VRTs design which uses three discrete pieces: A back panel, a bracket panel, and a shelf. The back panel has surface routes and drill holes on just one side. The shelf has only edge boring on three sides. The bracket has edge boring and surface routes on BOTH surfaces. With panels so machined they fit together LEGO style. The wall storage system can be assembled as a continuous unit rather than separate sections assembled and then hung up.

In this scheme a panel kit is delivered to the site in flat pack / RTA form where it is assembled in place on the wall. After each new link in the wall is installed and tangent it can then be screwed to the rails.

Now a perennial issue with cabinets is wall curvature. The natural inclination has been to find the high spot and mount the cabinets along a line tangent line to it. This involves little shims and adjustments and likely requires more than one installer. What VRT is keen on is a more 'organic'

approach. By assembling the cabinet in place on the wall the cabinet in effect wraps along it, absorbing either convex or concave wall curvature AS THE CABINET IS CONSTRUCTED. This aspirational objective is illustrated in the latter part of the drawing set. In these drawings a different strategy is taken in which the back panel is installed tangent to the wall and the brackets pinned to each side with H Clips and spring pins. The shelves mount to the back panel with channel locks and to the brackets with H Clips and pins. The wall curvature is greatly exaggerated the better to illustrate how the component pieces shift and rotate as they orient to both concave and convex surfaces. Displacement encountered in practice is more likely to be on the order of a fraction of an inch rather than the 24 inches used for illustrative purposes.