Case study day bed  

It is not unlike
my Robin day Hilleplan sofa.
That has a hardwood frame with webbing.
I take it you won't be using any MDF ? ;o)

Speaking of Day
I'd love to find one of these ... and if you tell me you already have one I'm going to be pea green

Nope
Unfortunately not..
yet ;o)

Just had my case study sofa
delivered last weekend!!! Love it!!!
It is surpisingly comfortable and extremely well built. The seat is firm, but not too firm. And the back bolsters are angled just right for lounging.
Initially, I was hesitant to purchase
a sofa without arms. But it has worked out fine.
I did upgrade on the fabric - the Type I fabric did not seem very durable, and the store confirmed that. For about $170 more, I got a better quality fabric, along with more color options.
One warning, though. The hairpin legs on the sofa will f-up your hardwood floors. Initially, I put self-adhesive felt protectors at the bottom of each leg, but then the sofa kept sliding about.
I ended up cutting up a Flor carpet tile (www.interfaceflor.com) and putting a small piece of the tile under each leg. That has worked out well, since the carpet tiles have a rubber non-slip grip backing on them.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with the purchase. One of these days, I'll post a pic of muy living room for comment.
Hope this helps.
David

on your DIY question
The case study bed is a very simple design. The thickness is made up of two 3/4 inch pieces of plywood, which are then routed along the edges.
I don't have the carpentry skills, or tools, to make it myself. (It takes time to learn how to route properly).
You could hire a carpenter to do the frame. You would save a couple hundred bucks. However, I would not use put the seat cushion over a solid platform; it would be way too firm. I would use webbing or metal "S" springs, which I've seen on the internet (do search under "upholstery supplies.")
David

Further DIY
if you decide to go the DIY route you can find the hardware here: http://www.ianmaclean.com/casestudy.html
I sat in this sofa at the Modernica store in NY. I love its look, it was comfy enough. But I only spent 10 minutes on it.
http://www.ianmaclean.com/casestudy.html

James...
That is an extremely cool desk. Around what year did Day design it? Any idea?

Found it browsing
the website architonic.com
http://www.architonic.com/mus/8100172/1
I just got rid of two huge steel workstation desks from the days when a big screen computer monitor weighed 75lbs. Today I can keep my computer on a real piece of furniture. No more 100+ pounds of monitors, no mousepads fewer cables, so I'm rebuilding my office into a "study" and have been looking for an appropriate desk, smallish, a couple drawers. Leave enough room in the old office for a guest/day bed.
http://www.architonic.com/mus/8100172/1

James
I've done you some pictures of the construction of my Robin Day one..it dates from 1955, 5 years later than the Hillestak series

and the missing one..
[IMG] [/IMG]

Doh!

Webbing
That's very interesting. It looks as though the iron legs are what keeps the hardwood frame rigid in the mid span so you can have webbing over the complete seat area with no extra framing in the mid-span. Very nice, very clever and doubtless very comfy.
The hairpin legs don't allow that option. I would need additional framing in the middle to keep the frame rigid which would create one uncomfortable spot right in the middle ;-(

Difficult to see
in the pic, but the centre one isn't a leg..it's just a brace.
So, presumably the hairpin legs would work with a centre brace ?

Center brace
Damn that's a clever design. I can probably find someone to forge a brace like that. It's an arc under the centre so even when a large person sits in the middle they just get the cushion? Something like this?