Glen George, Simran Tomar & Alex Mackie
Virtual Environments
Semester 2/2013
Group 6
IDEA DEVELOPMENT The Drop by designer Olivia Decaris was a good example and inspirational of inclusive space, which we drew upon in our idea development stages.
Our group liked the idea of personal space including another human, instead of just one. This was due to the fact, the other member may make one feel more comfortable instead of the person being alone. We therefore developed designs of wings, which were inclusive of two members.
IDEA DEVELOPMENT We felt as though the idea of embracing someone within your personal space is a more underrated and personal approach to the concept. By digging deeper into this idea of ‘wrapping’ the subject within the second skin, the definition and concept could become more powerful and meaningful. Encompasing the arm alone with a defensive mechanism could potentially be a little too straight forward. The idea of using defence as a means to define personal space is a very surface based and dosent seem to delve deep enough into varied ideas of what personal space actually is.
The panel and fold system relies heavily on extention and retraction, which would be really good to include in the design. The wing idea used in a more literal sense means this extention is emphasised and a more intimate personal space can be explored.
IDEA DEVELOPMENT
These sketches look into various way that the body can be ‘wrapped.’ They arent exactly design ideas, but rather conceptual visualisations of how the body can be enveloped by a skin. It also demonstrates ways in which the form of the second skin is influenced and determined by a body’s form and structure.
IDEA DEVELOPMENT We tried to conceive a wing pattern, which could be further developed on Rhino using the Panelling Tools. These wings are made up of triangular panels, and might potentially be transparent (having no material), so users in the wings could see outside.
Further modelling the design idea of wings in Rhino, using panelling tools. This also shows the inclusive personal space which our group had decided on. The interaction of two humans within the second skin. There is a surface on the wings, however that could be removed, or a type of transparent material, so the people within the wings could see what is outside
DIGITAL SKETCH MODEL By taking the digital fan model and applying the ‘twist’ command, we were able to accidentally create a surface uncannily like wings. Two group members had already been interested in the concept of wing-like boundaries – to either protect, or enclose. Although we decided the design was far too literal, fiddling around with 3D manipulation in Rhino was a very useful experience. We now feel we have more understanding of how to warp and alter relatively complex objects.
Unfortunately we had some technical difficulties in the program 123Dcatch and were unable to export a complete .OBJ human model. However, we were still able to discern how this concept would appear when given volume and dimension.
IDEA DEVELOPMENT Instead of the ‘wrapping wings’ concept, we once again went back to defining personal space and the interaction of two humans in one space. The most common area of the body that is given the most attention to is the human eyes and the head.
As such, we thought instead of having wings focusing on the mid section of the body - we would design a second skin which is mainly focused on the head of the two people part of the second skin. The second skin design idea, which wraps around another person in a more intimate, comfortable manner.
MAPPING ANALYSIS Facial Overlays In order to define our personal space parameters, we decided to track two group members’ eye movements, when looking at and conversing with each other. Both members tended to either maintain direct eye contact, or look downwards, sideways and occasionally upwards. Generally, they did not focus on other body parts.
Analysis 1
Analysis 2 Afterwards we attempted to visualise this information more clearly, with cylinders showing where, according to our test, people might be most likely to look during conversation.
Continuing on from our experiment, our group began considering the potential issue of creating too enclosed a space for both users to feel comfortable. Although it seems most important to be able to see a person’s eyes when conversing, an important design aspect should be providing (to some extent) harnessable distractions – i.e. usable if desired.
http://www.tobii.com/en/ey e-trackingresearch/global/research/d evelopmental-psychology/ http://www.plosone.org/arti cle/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371% 2Fjournal.pone.0053286#s2
PRECEDENT STUDY - NATURE
This rough design proposal uses the same form and shape that was created sing the eye tracking technique. However this time i created a paneling pattern over the top of the surface to create a more engaging design. The pattern was chosen for its structural integrety and visual aesthetics. Although this is still a rough conceptual sketch with plenty of development still to go, I feel we are edging closer to an appropriate second skin. The design is still far to large and complex for the purpose and context in which it is seen. This will need to be rectified. Also from this skech it is hard to get a working understanding of the form that the second skin has. This is another thing we will need to devolop and work on.
Above is a very odd reference for materiality but the pattern of these fethers and the way they overlap oneanother is something I find interesting
INITIAL PROTOTYPE
Looking into some materiality i think cut card would be the most effective material to use to create this second skin. Solid shapes work weel in reference to privacy but it can be quite a costraphobic and isolated experience.
Using translucent spaces withing the solid shape is a way to open up the second skin to the outside world. This allowed privacy and external vision by creating a skin with both solid and trasperant aspects.
A design using different shapes which fold, wrap around the heads of two users.
PRECEDENT STUDY - VEASYBLE
The Privacy shell by Veasyble is an inspiration and relevant example for the panel and fold material system. It also gave our group inspiration to further expand on our ideas of personal space, as we had thought from the start, that we wanted the space to be inclusive- interaction of two people, rather than just one, like the privacy shell itself. I like how the privacy shell is first just a simple shoulder bag, but it beautifully folds out into a shell, which can enclose the heads of two humans, and give them privacy from the outside world. This was inspirational, as it gave us ideas to focus mainly on the areas where two people usually look at each other- the face is the main part of the body the eyes refer to and where the most connection with another body.
REFLECTIVE READINGS In Scheurer’s reading- Parameter Space, the main topics were on abstraction and reduction, which made me find there key differences. Abstraction has a little evidence and complication; however there is still a clear description. There are abstracting shapes (eg.NURBS), materials and details. In relation to the work done in module one, was developing shapes with meshes on Rhino, and using control points to change shapes. In contrast, reduction is about finding a technique to convey it and restate the description without changing it. It is also divided into normalization, which is when anomalies are disregarded, using modellers such as Grasshopper. Also includes refactoring, the cleaning up of a model.
Heatherwick designs to create effects which have ‘soul’ and unique meaning to them. For example, the Rolling Bridge constructed in Gran Union Canal isn’t just a standard opening bridge, which Heatherwick found simply boring. It is a bridge that smoothly curls when it opens, and transforms into a circular and octagonal type of sculpture, as each of the ends touch together or as he describes they ‘kiss each other’. It has a fascinating curing function. The sculpture then sits near the edge of the waterway. An ordinary bridge may be flat and straight forward, but however with this design you get to understand the true creativity, thought and imagination that was applied to the design, which makes the design a great piece of work Heatherwick. It is a high tech piece of design which fulfils the purpose of a bridge, letting pedestrians cross over.
CONCEPTUAL IDEA In terms of creating an encompassing volume based on the same way as a fan unfolds, one concept we came up with was a series of curved bone structures supporting paper panels, fixed together with a single pin joint. This way, we could simplify the entire structural system – and furthermore, if each bone structure was a slightly different length, we could create a more organic, ovoid volume.
Elevations
Plan
RHINO DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
This was one attempt to make one of the ideation designs in Rhino. It was done by making a semi sphere, then using panelling tools to make the hexagon panel surface.
PRECEDENT STUDY - VELASQUEZ Contemporary Polish artist Maurico Velasquez recently produced an elaborate, experimental fashion series using complex patterns and folding techniques (2008). This series, ‘Geomorfos’, fascinated audiences with both its creativity, and highly innovative material use. Velasquez’s fragile medium, paper, has been at times countlessly layered to form strong yet flexible volumes. Despite the extreme breakability of one paper strip, the total combined strength is greater than any individual part. Indeed, such an approach is much like interlocking paper or balsa laser cutting works.
Own Sketch Responses Aside from interesting material use, I also found Velasquez’s complex geometrical designs relevant to our own brief. Not only do they have aesthetic appeal, but repetition of shapes (e.g. rectangles) are used to create many folds, which users can dynamically flatten or open. To me, researching these artworks further exemplified our lecture discussions: patterns can be used to create visual effects, no matter how seemingly ‘simple’ the repeated shapes are. Furthermore, this was an excellent reminder of how countless final products can stem from slight variations on elementary shapes. Reference: ‘Animorfos.mpg’ http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7bBtMA2miHc9ajha [Accessed 23/8/2013]
PROTOTYPE - TESTING Since we are doing panel and fold, we thought it would be good to look and get inspired by some origami, as they have very complex paper folding designs which turn into various forms in a similar way to fans.
I first tried making a simple but appealing type of fan. It was great that it could fold back into just one piece, compressing, but when pulled turning into this form.
Then I started to make more complex forms, starting with creating one, and connecting them together. I used a square shaped paper, and folded it in half then through the two diagonals.
PROTOTYPE
I then cut into the origami shape, to make a area from which the users could look through, as our group discussed we didn’t want the Joining all the pieces together by sticky tape to get this form. It was hard, but it resulted in a cool origami design which could fold by compressing it and then back into this form.
These are the back and front views of the prototype
PROTOTYPE
These images basically show the structure of the prototype, and how it can move and be flexiable, eg turning into a spherical form (image above). The top right hand image shows the part which I have cut and how it turned out to look from before. The bottow right image displays the folding technique. How it can be compressed into a smaller volume.
PROTOTYPE: CREATING FORM Instead of the very uniform, conical design from previously, we decided to explore a more organic and adaptive form. We felt we would be more able to respond to the second skin brief in a way which effectively captures individual users’ needs and desires. We also decided to remove the pin joint element of the fan, but still retaining its original layered, folding elements.
Using Rhino to model a 3D version, we responded to our analysis by extending out the major ‘viewing pathways’ users tend to look towards into funnel shapes. Essentially, the further away a surface is to a user’s body, the more likely we predict their eyes will be drawn towards that section.
Birds eye and orthographic viewpoints
DIGITAL PROTOTYPE: BONES Originally we used the ‘Project’ tool in Rhino, creating a series of curved lines mirroring the models’ bodies. Using this, we extended these lines outwards and connected them to createclosed lines encompassing both figures.
We also explored the hinged joint structural component of a fan. One group member suggested creating two major pin joint
BONES: EVALUATION
Upon reflection after making the prototype, we decided the glued paper was strong enough to not require a supporting bone structure. Although this designing process won’t be used in our final product, it was still a worthwhile experience and I believe I learnt a lot about the projection, offset and planar tools in Rhino.
DIGITAL PROTOTYPE: FORM
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BLACK
COLOUR MAPPING
WHITE
Red arrows = major eye pathways Using our previous analysis, we mapped out the sections most commonly looked at, and decided to have these as white, with the WHITE remainder of the design black. White, as a bright colour, tends to attract the eye, whereas black, representative of the absence of light, would in our opinion do the exact opposite.
3D CUSTOM PANELLING After finalising the form, we moved on to conceptualising the finished product with the same origami rectangular folds used in the prototype. Initially, it was challenging to digitally replicate the connected tabs from our previous prototype. However, we found creating multiple shapes fitted together in the way we wanted eliminated the gaps (as shown in the next page).
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Side viewpoint
FINAL DESIGN
I then tried to evaluate how much space two users might need, and what shape their ‘second skin’ might be, using Sommer’s ‘Personal Space’. According to a general rule, one needs ‘at least two square feet’ of space to feel comfortable, when in a crowded place. Nancy Russo’s findings also seemed to suggest humans experience the greatest degree of spatial invasion when approached from the side (although this depends on visual awareness).
MODEL ASSEMBLY
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03 These connected sheets can be compressed in the same manner as our original fan: essentially, they both rely on the mechanisms of the ‘panel and fold’ system.
FINAL DESIGN
FINAL DESIGN Folds over in the same manner as our actual construction. We didn’t cut holes because we felt it would be structurally unstable. Black and white colouring concept took over from our original idea of cutting holes. Different way of conveying the same idea.
FINAL DESIGN
OPEN
PARTIALLY CLOSED
CLOSED