Digital Design + Fabrication SM1, 2015 Section&Profile Hoi Yin Ho [662109] Michelle Emma James, Seminar [6]
Introduction In this semester, our goal is to design a second skin for a person addressing personal space. Before the final model, we went through a series of modules, which is a design process from analysing material system, idea generation, digital modelling to fabrication.
M1 Ideation Object
Before measuring in details, I first photocopied the egg cutter and traced on top of the photo to get the basic idea of its size and where the detailed parts are. Then I measure the details with ruler to get the exact measurements of the several components.
Then I moved on to draw the digital version of it through Rhinoceros. I started from the part where the egg is placed first as it is more box-like and like a base of the egg cutter. Then I moved on to the metal panel part. The most used command was probably extrude and I found it very useful to turn a flat surface into a 3D solid/ volume.
Analysis
While analysing the egg cutter, I think the most interesting part is the part where the egg is placed as it is where the material system, section and profiling, shows. It is made by panels with certain gap in between, forming a caved in shape for the boiled egg to be placed (as seen in above images). Another interesting point is that the function of this object also cuts eggs into sections accruing to the gaps by the wire panel. So, the object itself and the products it create both demonstrates the section and profiling material system.
Reconfigured Models Below are images of the reconfigured models I made from the actual egg cutter inspired by the material system. I focused on the negative space effect that the panels create in the first model (image on the left), and invested how rearranging the panels can create new space and volume (image on the right).
Design Proposals
Proposal 2: Proposal 1:
-A protection gear that can be designed to wrap around certain sensitive areas of body (eg. neck and arms). !
-A helmet/ hat that avoid others coming too close to the head area where people normally feel the most uncomfortable with others (eg. the eyes, mouth and lips, ears etc.). !
-Create an visual illusion that there are invisible bubbles wrapping around body instead of solid balls. ! -At the same time, the person will still be able to see, talk, and listen. This keeps a certain distance between people but at the same time not blocking other communication.!
-Give the person a sense of protection but actually still interacting with the outside, like wearing invisible army.!
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M1 Reflection In module 1, I got a basic practice on hand drawing and also digital drawing using computer softwares. While doing the drawings 2D and 3D, I started to get a sense of how curves, surfaces and volumes work together to create different complicated shapes and forms, which is like abstracting shapes. I also developed the basic idea of personal space to focus on.!
When thinking of personal space, I think about keeping distance with people around and self-protection, also an area for a person with ‘invisible boundaries’ as argued by Sommer (1969). Hence I produced 3 proposals according to this idea of personal space, which is actually 3 different sets of rules for the design brief, which is like a ‘game’ and the rules have allow others to play this game of personal space. We are assigned to sketch on A4 sized paper only, I am assuming that is because tutors want our ideas to be as simple as possible but at the same time being able to convey to others. This gave me an idea of abstracting ideas.!
Proposal 3:
-A shoulder patch/ shoulder wrap that goes around the shoulder part that gives out a signal of ‘do not come close’. Not necessarily setting up closed area/ boundary but stop people from coming near!
-The amount of spiky flowers are adjustable depending on the person’s mood and the situation.!
After this module, I recognise I can be more daring to explore ideas from my reconfigured models by not literally making structure out of them, but get the idea of creating new void/ invisible space and use it into my design proposals.!
M2 Design
With Ke Jia Yun (Emma), 621409
Design Development As we started working as a group, we first combined our ideas through finding similar ideas that we both focused on. Our first idea is to design a protective gear that can wrap around certain sensitive areas of body, at the same time allow the person to interact with the outside world.
We also want to focus on people’s reaction and response when his or her personal space is intruded. We found the pattern created of human body temperature, which is triggered by emotions, very interesting (as shown in the image). !
As emotions are generated after the person’s personal space is intruded, there will be a change in temperature in different body parts, and our design will protect the heated parts of the body as they are more sensitive.!
Ke, 2015
At this stage, we also measured the personal space for us.
2nd Skin Proposed design
Version 1
-Both horizontal and vertical components are put on the left hand side of the body which create an effect of they developed from the boca and rotate downward, like emotion!
-Vertical panels are curved as a person’s side profile as seen on the front view (second image above), which can be seen as revealing another side of himself/herself!
-Horizontal panels create an embracing effect to give the person sense of security!
-The main idea is to show the contradiction of wanting to unravel one’s personality to others and keeping distance with the outside world
Version 2
-The panels are on different side of the person in this version. The right hand side of the face will be hidden behind the vertical panels, showing the person is willing to communicate with others as long as a comfortable distance is kept. The shape of the vertical panels is actually the negative spaces crafted out with two people in front and behind the person. When looking from the right hand side, the panels are also hiding the person.!
-The horizontal panels are more like a defensive mechanism as shown in the spiky edges to keep distance and show the defensive emotion!
-Comparing with version 1, the panels are more geometric to give a sense of rigidness, security and strength.
Precedent Research We understand that at that stage we came up with 2 contrasting ideas which will be hard for us to compromise and choose one, therefore we looked at this precedent study to get more inspiration to come up with a more defined design.
Olivia created this series, which are series of shelters that can enclose an area, or encapsulate desks and beds. The aim is to provide users a sense of privacy and protection. It also keeps the user(s) focus and they are blocked from distractions outside, which provide great sense of personal space. The shelters are also adjustable, lowered or raised above, allowing users to customise the space they want.
This inspired us how the person can interact and move with the design in order to enhance the emotional effect of wanting to hide away and keep distance. The Drop Series (2009) by Olivia Decaris
Further Design Development We then narrow down our theme to FEAR. Sensitive people may feel fear when his/her personal space is invaded, and we want to show it through the temperature change, plus three common actions that we observed when someone feel fear: (1)raising shoulders; (2)cover face; (3)curl up
Sketches and models exploring ideas:
Image showing how the exterior shape is defined (top) We also want the person can be fully covered to have a hiding effect and a sense of embracing. So we will need a structure big enough for the person to crotch down or kneel down. We then measured to get the minimal space we need, using me as the model.
UPPER BODY LENGTH: 380MM
SHOULDER WITH: 415MM
Design Development Outcome Version 1 - Horizontal grid
Version 2 - Diagonal grid
The dark colour shows the shape of the interior, at the same time expresses the spreading of temperature from the upper body to other body parts. In the side profile, we exaggerated the exterior shape, in order to allow the person to kneel down and create stronger contrast with the interior shape. The interior shape is closer to the human body to provide embracing effect.
In this version, shoulders are higher and more focus is put on the upper part of the body. The notching components in the centre part of the body is denser to reinforce the idea of heat spreading out.
Prototype #1
This prototype is made up of polypropylene with horizontal and vertical notching. It is circular in the exterior but has a trapezoid interior volume, representing a different shaped interior space.!
The panels are painted to make the interior shape obvious from the exterior, also showing the temperature effect as it is spread out from the interior.
Prototype #2
M2 Reflection
We also tested out the head component. Physically we tried out spiral notching, also using polypropylene, and digitally we tried horizontal notching.
After reading ‘Lost in Parameter Space?’ by Scheurer and Stehling (2011), I learnt about abstraction and reduction. Abstraction is about making ideas as simple as possible without including too much information, in terms of shapes, materials and details. It cans be done by making up a set of simple rules that can apply on the design in different cases. On the other hand, reduction is about making ideas being able to transport to others such as elimination of redundancies and making the descriptions and processes clearer.!
I guess module 1 is more about abstraction, which allows us to explore with ideas and opportunities. Moving on to module 2, is more about reduction as we are assigned into groups and we have to come up with one less general idea and work on it. Not necessarily creating more details but redefine and rewrite the descriptions to exaggerate our ideas. We had a lot of ideas from the start of M2 and after the precedent study and many considerations, we eliminated many of them and hence to amplify the details that we want to stress on to produce the effect we want, which is the idea of reduction. I think this is a very important stage of designing.!
! The density of grid will have different effects. For wider gaps (left), there is a greater sense of openness and transparency. With smaller gaps, it has greater sense of hiding behind blinds, peaking outside.
M3 Fabrication
With Ke Jia Yun (Emma), 621409
Design Development After the M2, we decided that we would focus on the effect of totally trapping the human body to create a stronger sense of hiding, which is like the reflex reaction of someone feeling insecure when his/her personal space is invaded.!
We also decided to go for the horizontal grid notching instead of diagonal for stronger support.
Moving on to modify our design before fabrication, we came up with an idea of separating the exterior and the interior space into two parts, instead of having a single structure but different shape on the exterior and interior. !
By doing this, the difference in space, which is the personal space that the person will want to keep (inner part), and the limit of the distance that the person will like to keep with others (the outer part), will be shown.
Fabrication of Prototype V2
Polypropylene prototype (Helmet) Although it provides great flexibility, we think that the material is too thin to provide the rigid frame that we want. Also, when the polypropylene undergone laser cut, the notches did not have a clear cut, making the panels really hard to fit together. So we think this might not be the material we should use.
Perspex prototype (Helmet) The perplex prototype has strong sense of transparency and seems rigid, however, it is very crisp around places where notches are made. So we might not continue using it as well.
Fabrication of Prototype V3
We then decided that we will use MDF instead of boxboard as there are more fails in the material. It can be easily peeled into different layers where it is not fully cut through. Defects can be easily made as well.!
In terms of notching, very long notches are made, indicating that the way we are making the notching in our digital file has large problems need to be revised. This is also why this prototype was not complete as it could not be assembled. Thats why we changed our notching method to spiral notching.
This is the prototype to see if the size actually fits a human body and to check out the notching method. Unfortunately it was a bit too small and there are problems with the notching as well.!
The good thing of making this prototype is that it allowed us to try out materials like MDF and boxboard.
Comparing MDF and boxboard
Final Prototype development + Optimisation
In our final design, there are 2 separated gridded volume: a larger exterior grid with a lower density that covers the upper body only, and a fitted interior grid with higher density. !
The exterior addresses on the raised shoulder effect to show the reaction of a person triggered by the fear emotion after his/her personal space is invaded; while the interior allows the person to kneel down and covers the whole body to provide an embracing effect and hiding effect, to keep the personal space fully to himself/herself.!
We omitted the helmet from our previous design in M2 as with this large exterior part, it will allow the person to lower his/her head, which will also have the covering and embracing effect.
Final Prototype development + Optimisation
Top view
Front elevation
Isometric view
Side elevation
Final Prototype development + Optimisation
Exterior Interior The orange parts shows the volume inside the structures. The orange part of the interior grid indicates the personal space of the person.
Whole design
Assembly Drawings
Exterior horizontal
Interior vertical
Exterior vertical
Interior horizontal
Steps of making notches in Rhino: Twin curves from the planes — form 3 surfaces for each panels, the interior, exterior and a full surface on both horizontal and vertical planes Offset surface both sides 1.5mm as the material thickness is 3mm Move panels a bit so that the interior of the vertical panels are touching the exterior of horizontal panels Boolean split Spread out panels and check for faults
Assembly Drawings
A1 - A6a/A6b
B1 - B15
C1 - C13 D1 - D7
Design progress
Final Prototype development + Optimisation
Final Prototype development + Optimisation
Testing Effects
Shoulder bit too packed, hands are very uncomfortable
Exterior would not stay up by itself
As the exterior would not stay up, head is not covered
M3 Reflection
After doing the readings ‘Architecture in the Digital Age’ by Branko Kolarevic (2003) and ‘Digital Fabrications: architectural + material techniques’ by Lisa Iwamoto (2009), together with our hands on practices, I got a clear image how digital fabrication allows us to produce actual design models and products in a different approach.!
In the readings, and lectures as well, it is mentioned that the development of digital designing programs and fabrication machines changed the way how people design. I experienced that myself in this module as me and my group mate created digital models and used laser cutting. We created a large structure and laser cutting provided us precision and efficiency as it is almost impossible for us to make the model by hands because of the thickness of the material and the need of accuracy for the notching system.!
Lisa mentioned in her book Digital Fabrication that the frequency of the section in a waffle-grid structure will give different victual intensification (2009), and this inspired us that we can make our interior and exterior grid with different density. At the end, we made our interior grid denser to show embracing and enclosed personal space, and exterior grid less dense to show the fading effect as it is further from the body.!
Faults on the notches, they did not fill well and need tape to fasten the panels There are also burnt marks on the MDF which made the appearance of the model less appealing
However, there are disappointment and things need to improve. Our ‘final’ prototype at this stage failed because of the lack of skill and consideration during digital model making. This reminds me that although machines will provide precision, we still need to be very careful and detailed from the start to the end and should not rush the progress.
M4 Reflection Optimisation/ Redoing Final Prototype After M3 presentation. we decided to redo the prototype as there are too many faults and did not match the aim of digital fabrication. We made changes in both exterior and interior grid. The first change we made is smoothen out the surface of both volume in order to make sure we can get a prettier finish and able to create more even notches. Secondly, we raised the upper part of the exterior, forming a ‘collar’ structure, to enhance the covering-face hiding effect. We also carved our holes for the arms to stretch out when the person is in normal stage, and arms to get inside the interior volume as well when the person is kneeling.
Fabrication Process
Remaking digital model in Rhino
Double check and go through laser cutting
Spray paint the MDFs black to cover up the burnt marks. We chose black to show the feeling of fear.
Assemble the interior and exterior
Drawings
Front view
Interior grid
Side view
Isometric view
Exterior grid
Outcome/ Effects
After remaking the model, head is able to lower down, and the hand are movable. With head down, not showing the face and no eye-contacts with others, and hands, the whole body is like embraced by the whole structure and no body parts are sticking out. This demonstrates the reaction when someone is in fear (ie. due to his/her personal space is invaded), which is want to hide away and stay in his/her personal space to gain comfort and security.
Exterior and interior have different grid intensity, but when wearing them together, the grid in the upper body part is even more intense than the head and the lower body, which shows the spreading effect.
Reflection
I figured that this 12 weeks have been very fruitful and I learnt a lot from this subject, from module 1 where we use hand drawings to analysis the geometric pattern in our assigned objects, learning the concept behind digital designing programs, to module 3 where we use machines to fabricate and produce prototypes. Throughout the subject, I got chances to practice using digital designing programs especially Rhino, and also using laser cutter to make prototypes with materials I have never used before (MDF and perspex). I also learnt proper photographing and visual presentation techniques.!
Another great lesson I have learnt is how to deal with failure in the design and model making process. In module 3, we failed the ‘final’ prototype as it came out very different from what we expected and had many defects, and precision should be the key of fabrication. This is due to the lack of skill and time, therefore we made the digital model in a wrong way and submitted to the fab lab to meet the deadline, turned out many of the notches did not fit. Failure is tough, as we spent a lot of time on it, but I understand that people only judge you by what they see in design presentations, so we just had to move on and work harder to improve. We remade the model as fast as we can to solve the problems raised. At the end, we got a more successful model, although still has some defects, and also learnt a great lesson on how precision is important in both design and fabrication and one should always aim for perfect.
Bibliography Architecture in the Digital Age - Design and Manufacturing /Branko Kolarevic. Spon Press, London, c2003. Accessed from: <https:// app.lms.unimelb.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-4708187-dt-content-rid-16474190_2/xid-16474190_2>!
Digital fabrications: architectural and material techniques / Lisa Iwamoto. New York : Princeton Architectural Press, c2009. Accessed from: <https:// app.lms.unimelb.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-4708187-dt-content-rid-16474191_2/xid-16474191_2>!
Scheurer, F. and Stehling, H. _2011_: Lost in Parameter Space? IAD: Architectural Design, Wiley, 81 _4_, July, pp. 70-79. Accessed from: <https:// app.lms.unimelb.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-4708186-dt-content-rid-16474188_2/xid-16474188_2>!
Sommer, R. (1969). Personal space : the behavioral basis of design / Robert Sommer. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1969. Accessed from: <http://issuu.com/annie_walsh/docs/01_sommer_personal_space>!
Study: body mapping reveals emotions are felt in the same way across cultures, <www.wired.co.uk>!
The Drop Series by Olivia Decaris, <http://www.dezeen.com/2009/06/29/the-drop-series-by-olivia-decaris/>
CREDITS Page Drawings Cover
Computation
Model
Model Assembly Photography
Writing
Graphic Design
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Drawings
Computation
Model
Model Assembly Photography
Writing
Graphic Design