Two student designers have seen the future and building toward it with a flexible, foldable, affordable and recyclable cardboard desk that support the weight of a whole person but can also be built in minutes without any tape or connective hardware. The desk has an adjustable height factor allowing it to be used while you are standing or seated.

From Refold creators Fraser Callaway, Oliver Ward, and Matt Innes: “the way we work is changing. We are more mobile and more connected than ever before. We have the ability to do our jobs from almost anywhere at anytime, but our workspaces have been slow to reflect this.”

Standing desks, its New Zealand-based designers argue, are healthier and more interactive than conventional sitting types – they raise energy levels and encourage group collaboration, idea sharing and more. Of course, a fringe benefit: standing desks require no chairs, so this becomes a one-piece furniture solution, further simplifying the design problem.

Created in three sizes for different heights and body types, these desks could be deployed “for schools, creative studios, pop-up stores, mobile offices, or disaster relief.” Since the desks can be adjusted up or down, you could also theoretically carry two and use one to sit in, too.

The material is 100% recyclable, using digital fabrication rather than conventional die cutting for greater precision and overlapping vertical with horizontal oriented cardboard fluting, laminated together to provide maximum structural support. Pieces can also be replaced individually, such as the top should the surface become worn or damaged during transit or usage.

If you cannot spot this giant  bus shelter in Baltimore, you may have bigger problems than missing the bus and getting to work on time.

Standing 14 feet high, the signage-plus-bus-stop spells out B-U-S in big capital letters, providing spaces to sit (on all three characters) as well as overhead protection from the rain (in the B and S). Each letter is also seven feet wide.

Created by mmmm, “BUS is a place to enjoy, interact, and meet while waiting for the bus. It is a leisure space in the middle of the rhythm of the city, a fun place for the inevitable waiting at a bus stop. BUS is made with wood and steel, materials that are typically used to build urban furniture.”

The idea is to work with simple, conventional and durable materials to create something both functional but potentially iconic – a place that anyone will know when you mention it. Like other guerrilla bus stops and functional urban shelters, it certainly stands out, but also seems more straightforward and civic.

“The three letters of BUS are big enough to accommodate two to four people each and protect them from rain, sun, wind, and inclement weather. They allow people to assume different postures of sitting or standing while waiting for the bus. The S allows people to lie back while they wait, and the B provides shelter.”

From their website, this is “a permanent public art project supported by Creative Alliance and Southeast Community Development Corporation in conjunction with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), and SPAIN arts & culture. It is part of the initiative TRANSIT, Creative Placemaking with Europe in Baltimore.”