Week 6 by Harriet Craig

MODULE ONE IDEATION --------------

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS STUDENT JOURNAL

PANEL AND FOLD/ INFLATABLE SYSTEMS ----------------------------------

http://www.emmalee-design.com/art-design/coffee-filter-rose-tutorial/

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

MATERIAL SYSTEM

Our material system is panel/ fold and inflatable. We began Module One by examining two objects that represented these systems - a coffee filter and a floatie. After we did measured drawings of our seperate objects we were able to evaluate the systems in more detail than just observing them. Some of the information we learnt from the systems included: Panel and fold: You are able to create different types of objects using more or less panels, creating different angles, sizes and shapes. Inflatable: The template varies from the final object and it is difficult to create curved edges with and inflatable system.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

NOTION OF PERSONAL SPACE The reading, ‘Personal Spaces’ by Sommer helped us to examine our own perceptions of personal space in our lives and in society. What we individually viewed as our own personal space may not be considered so in other people’s minds. According to Sommer, ‘personal space refers to an area with invisble boundries surrounding a person’s body into which intruders may not come’. This quote indicates that personal space can be viewed as a very private thing and people like to keep unwanted people (or perhaps even the public) out of it.

Diagrams indicating personal space

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

MODULE TWO DESIGN --------------

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

BRIEF AND IDEAS GATHERED FOR MODULE 2 The brief for the design is to ‘Work in groups to design and develop the idea of a second skin. During this module (Module 2), students will focus on the effects that the second skin will produce and explore ideas of personal spaces. Students will use 3D scanning techniques to digitise their body and use the digital model as the context of their design. Students will focus on specific Rhino modelling tools and technique appropriate to their design. At the end of the module, students will make a prototype of their design to test out the effects. The week 4 lecture talked considerably about personal space and in particular, not having a “preconceived notion” of personal space and of a second skin design. We were encouraged to challenge the conventions of space and skin and of the idea of making use of something in an unusual way. An aspect of personal space, which we were told to consider, was the fact that it can shift and change depending on the body part and side of the body in focus. Other considerations included the idea that the body is static and that we may want to design a second skin that encloses sound or own space – to “create an atmosphere”. It was shown how different design effects could be achieved by taking a single object and multiplying it (for example a pattern).

HANDS

MOVEMENT We were primarily concerned with the following issues: - SENSITIVITY - PROTECTION / SELF DEFENCE - HANDS / ARMS AND THEIR ROLES - FORM - MOVEMENT / FLEXIBILITY - INFLATABLE AND PANELISED

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

PRELIMINARY DESIGN IDEAS

Hands are usually associated with intimate interaction with other people such as holding hands with a lover, placing one’s hands over a loved ones’ (family, friend etc.) to offer comfort – all of which are conducted with those who are to some extent “emotionally close” to the person. Other forms of contact with unfamiliar people include handshakes, but these are only momentary and are usually seen as an act of obligation rather than one of desire. By making the link between ‘sensitivity’, ‘social norms’ and ‘personal space’, we have come up with a design proposal. Since there is an increasing amount of sensitivity starting from the area below the elbow until the fingertips (most sensitive), we have produced the following structure of the 2nd skin. It would be the narrowest at the top, widest at the wrist area and would be worn around the forearm. Also, it would be worn on both arms.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

SKETCH DESIGN The exposure of the hand means that others will be able to see it and that it can still hold and be held by other hands. However, the proposed 2nd skin’s structure – composing of the inflatable system and “spike” appearing panel and fold system – and its shape, gives viewers the impression that the area from below the elbow and hand of the individual wearing the 2nd skin has an increasing need for personal space and thus should be approached or held in caution (the hand(s)).

These are sketchs of the first design idea. The inflatable clouds cover the lower part of both arms, just below the elbow. The bottom heavy shape provides personal space as it creates a larger personal area that others can’t walk into than without the clouds.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

This is an explaniation of the object that will be paneled on the cloud. We began by imagining an object with three folds, however we soon realised that this wouldn’t be as symmetrical and logical as a square with four folds. The final outcome would look like a pyramid.

SKETCH DESIGN

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MODEL MAKING - A SINGLE COMPONENT

This is the first model we created, it is an exploration of of the inflatable component in our design. After creating the triangular shape, we learnt that making a template for a desired shape may be difficult, as when it is inflated (see second picture) the shape is warped. This knowledge can be useful when we create firstly our prototype and then our final design as we will understand the difficulties that come with creating an inflatable system.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

Above is the panel and fold system that we designed to be on the exterior of the inflatable system. Through making a physical model we realised something that we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t incoporate into our design - that you need to create a flat 2D surface with one side with a tab that can be attached to another side to build the final 3D object.

MODEL MAKING - VOLUME

The second task was to use clay to make the model for the wooden mannequin. In order to make model fit the mannequin, we have to choose the dimensions accurately, instead of determining it roughly in the sketches. This task it's also very helpful to refine our design, since it can test how the model works on human body, especially when people move. By putting the model to the wooden mannequin, we knew that the top opening of our design should be wider to let the arm go through and the bottom opening should be narrow enough to make it stay on the arm. When we put the clay to the mannequin, I found it is difficult to keep it still, which helps us to improve the design. And it is also very valuable for us to know how much space it literally takes up. This task, making model for the mannequin, is really different from the digital model-making, it allows us to roughly predict whether the design works and how it works in reality.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

MODEL MAKING - MOVEMENT

We were to demonstrate “movement” in our system model. To achieve this, we simply deflated and inflated our already constructed inflatable and panel & fold system to show how our second skin transformed into a different form and shape when air was blown into and sucked out of it.

From this exercise, we were further able to see how the appearance of the deflated version of the model differed from that of the inflated version. We also observed that the arrangement of the panel and fold system component may change too as the inflatable changes shape/form (given that the panel and fold system is attached to the inflatable). After seeing the effects of air on the movement of the material systems, it gave us an idea of how our second skin design may be adjusted to reduce or increase the amount of air inside, depending on the amount of personal space the person wearing it may want (i.e. more air inside = more inflated = more personal space required).

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

PRECENDENT STUDY - PANELING PRECEDENT RESEARCH: PANELING & SPACE

The Bloomberg pavilion by Akihila Hirata The 'bloomberg pavilion', an outdoor installation designed by japanese architect, Akihila Hirata. The pavilion could be described as a triangular enclosure with a folded sky. The form of pavilion is derived from the structure of a tree. The paneling is comprised of isosceles triangles. And a triangular footprint connects the 'branches' together, and with crisp planar walls begins to unfold at the roof plane into a series of pleats.

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PRECENDENT STUDY - ELIZABETHAN SLEEVES/ 18th CENTURY SLEEVES

Source: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/gallery/1569.html Our second, more refined model represents a sleve. One precedent that can be used to describe the form of this second skin is Elizabethan sleeves. These sleeves are puffy at parts but not all parts and are puffy and large at the wrists. This can be seen as a representation of our own idea of personal space and the sensitivity of hands. Furthermore, these sleeves were created to protect young women’s modesty by being long and covering bare flesh. Thus protecting their own personal space and morals. This idea is also communicated in our own design - however we aren’t covering up bare flesh to ensure people’s morals are intact, instead we are hoping to giver the wearer more personal space.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

Source: http://faybruno.blogspot.com. au/2011/02/18th-century.html

Source: http://18thcenturyblog.com

Also, this idea of a sleeve that is wider at the wrist can also be seen in 18th century fashion. However the sleeves here were much less structured at the wrists, instead the wrists were more flirty and feminine because of the materials used (such as lace). In our own design we haven’t tried to make the sleeve restricting and cover all of the arm, like seen in the pictures above we have created a second skin that has holes and reveals.

PRECENDENT STUDY - SLEEVE TYPES

Since our proposed design for our inflatable and panel & fold material systems resembles that of a sleeve, research was conducted on the different types of sleeves that already existed. The #20 sleeve on this image, in particular, interested us and we decided we could develop our second skin design to adopt its “shirring” and “sectioned” characteristics.

Source: http://pinterest.com /julieinleeds/sleeves/

Source: (left) http://pinterest.com/pin/268456827759104763/ (right) http://pinterest.com/pin/268456827759104732/

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

Here are other examples of existing inflatable designs related to clothing (sleeves and other areas). They further gave the impression that sleeves needn’t be a single, uniform form – that it could be composed of visually separate sections but still be one system. They also gave us the idea of the type of shape the inflatable components of our design could have.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IN RHINO We decided in order for us to further explore our first model in Rhino, we had to explore both the paneling system and inflatable system on their own. We changed the object that was panelised (two of the sides verticle to eachother are now holes). Furthermore, we made our second skin longer to now cover up to just beneath a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s armpit. This means that the second skin would become more like a sleeve and protect the wearer more than before.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

FURTHER PRECEDENT STUDY - PINECONE

After we were told to reconsider our design idea for our final proposal we bgan looking at organic objects that can represent our first design. A pinecone consists of layers, that work together harmoniously to create a shape similar to our own first design. A pinecone is stiff and hard, difficult to break unless you break off one singular component. We believe this represents self defence or protection - one of our design brief constraints - well.

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FINAL PROPOSAL

We decided after feedback from our tutor in the week 5 evaluation that the best way for our design to move forward was to revist our original idea and create two uniform but also singular designs to sit on the arms. This new design would be larger that the first design sketch idea, to instead cover up to the armpits. We decided that this would be a better fit for our design brief as it would protect and cover more of the arm. However, the movement will be hindered more than our previous design we believe that this won’t matter as it satisfies some of our other constraints more. We feel that this new design is more imposing on a larger scale and the more we re-thinked our design the more we realised we had to push ideas of scale to help us move forward as designers. Furthermore, our new design better represents a ‘sleeve’ of sorts - responding to our precedents of various historical sleeves. We believe that a sleeve can be worn on a more daily basis as it fits in with regular norms of clothing - however our sleeve will also serve as a second skin that will define the wearer’s personal space.

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There is one major difference however between our first design and the final proposed design - this final design consists of a folded base and then panelised small inflatable objects. We have decided to change our systems around to get a more puffed out design, whilst still remaining true to our design brief and images that we wish to carry out.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN

123D CATCH - FAILED ATTEMPT

Unfortunately, all attempts at creating a digitised mesh of Harriet in 123D Catch were unsucessful - we were able to upload the mesh however the Rhino program crashed and we were unable to move our final designs onto the model of Harriet. Instead, we have placed the designs on the model of Harriet to indicate where they would go if we hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had difficulties.

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS S2 2013 HARRIET CRAIG, YINGLI LIU, ABBY ZAPLAN