By CD Eskilson  /   Photos by Myles Richter

Myles Richter cannot help giving everything his all. As an eight-time All Southeastern Conference Athlete in track and field, he maintains an intense, year-round training schedule on Arkansas’ nationally competitive team while also completing honors coursework.

Richter brings this same drive to his design practice. An architectural studies major with a minor in sustainability, he developed a process for digitally manufacturing furniture using Japanese joinery techniques for his honors capstone project. Richter recalled that reaching the final product — a modular wooden bench assembled without screws or glue which is capable of being disassembled — also required a sustained level of dedication. “I took 50 passes, and I came up with some really bad ideas initially, leading to some better ones,” he noted. 

Richter’s bench applies Sashimono wood joining principles where interlocking geometric pieces and friction allow wooden components to form a durable structure.

“Throughout history, Japanese joinery’s been used in architecture to produce some of the most durable, long-lasting buildings,” he added.

This form of wood joining and construction appears in the world’s oldest known wooden structures, including the Hōryū-ji Buddhist Temple in Ikaruga, Japan, which dates to the seventh century.

While these joints have been historically handcrafted by artisans, Richter used modern fabrication techniques to create his bench components. He utilized a “computer numerical control” machine that automates the movement of machining tools with programmed software. This allowed identical components to be produced quickly and accurately from a single sheet of Baltic Birch plywood. To Richter, this modern innovation expands the potential application of an enduring building form.

“Japanese joinery is so precise and so durable because of its tectonic qualities,” he explained. “If you can mass produce that, then you can make a high-quality, bespoke piece of furniture that can be disassembled, reassembled … and it doesn’t have to be such a laborious thing to make.”

Following graduation this year, Richter will pursue a graduate certificate in project management at the U of A before later applying to Master of Architecture programs. While designing built environments remains a career goal, he maintains that furniture-making will remain a serious passion. “I think I will be doing woodworking on the side for my entire life — I’ve got a whole garage full of tools,” Richter added.