ENVS10008_VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
SECOND SKIN JAIME LEE_636903 2013_SEMESTER02
‘An area with invisible boundaries surrounding a person’s body into which intruders may not come.’ (Sommer, 1969)
Personal space is gained usually when one’s alone
When there are no distractions from other people or any outer sources
Personal space would usually be invaded when one’s at a weak state
When one’s personal space is at threat, one would feel that their comfort zone isbeing intruded
01_Cover Emotions
02_Create Illusion
03_Keep People Away
04_Would not affect the physical movements of the wearer
01_COVER EMOTIONS
Mask: something used to conceal or disguise, it defenses people erect to protect themselves. (Merriam-Webster dictionary 2013)
Taking inspiration from a mask, my design would incorporate the elements and characteristics it, covering the distinct facial parts that would give away the most emotions. In order to protect one’s I would like my second skin personal space I think it’s to have the ability to cover important to cover one’s mainly any traces of insecurity emotions so people around will so outsiders will be less likely to not be able to make intrusion invade and intrude through at one’s weakness. these weaknesses.
01_COVER EMOTIONS
The gaps between pieces were not close enough in the prototype from module two, therefore I have refined this element of the design in the final fabrication. In terms of the shape of the mask, I designed my second skin with a resemblence of the beak of a bird. This is because I think the mouth is a distinct facial feature that shows a lot about a person’s emotions,and since a beak is rigid, we hardly see a bird smiling or frowning therefore I emphasized the mouth area in my design, making it a rigid part of the design and seem more distant to viewers. The rigidity would be demonstrated more accurately with the completation of the profile and section material system.
01_COVER EMOTIONS In order to try out the different effects that can be produced by how close each gap is, I tried making a few prototypes to test out these alter-
I. Vertical pieces distance: 45mm Horizontal pieces distance: 35mm
II. Vertical pieces distance: 40mm Horizontal pieces distance: 30mm
III. Vertical pieces distance: 18mm Horizontal pieces distance: 17mm
02_CREATE ILLUSION Masks can also create illusion, leading into people thinking anything but the truth. I want my second skin to create such illusion, the colour, structural system, irregular geometry of the design would assist in creating this effect. Leading people to think that the wearer is strong and unpredictable, symbolised by the colour black. The rigid structure built from the strong interlock principle of cardboard pieces will enhance the illusion of the wearer being tough just like the second skin.
03_Keeping People Away
I hope that the previous two ideas on hiding emotions and creating illusions would produce this effect to keep people away from the wearer. This may not neccessarily mean scaring them away, but only to not let them think that the wearer is at a weak state and would be an easy target to invade their personal space. The design of previous prototypes are of a very predictable bird-cage shape. In the final fabrication stage I think I will need to alter the shape, making it more ‘interesting’ and reinforce the ideas I want to portray through it. Hence the idea of creating a resemblence of a bird’s beak.
04_Would not Affect the Physical Movements of the Wearer
Although my design proposes the idea of hiding emotions however I would like to maintain the level of physical movements one can do while in the garment. I think it would be difficult to achieve this by the arrangement of the cardboard pieces, of how you place them so that people from the outside can not see you but you are able to see outside. Therefore I thought of achieving this effect by the choice of material. I have chosen to use corrugated cardboard to build this garment mainly for its corrugation. It allows the wearer to see through the cardboard to the outside but it would be very difficult for people to see the wearer since the corrugations are small and dense. The making of the prototypes during the fabrication process has allowed me to discover that whether or not you can see through the cardboard depends on how the pieces are cut and how they are orientated on the piece of cardboard when they are sent for cutting. Therefore the layering out of the pieces on rhino for laser cutting was extremely important in order to achieve the desired effect.
Assemblence
Altered shape to enhance the effect of unpredictiveness
Carefully orient the pieces to achieve the full effect of the corrugation in the cardboard pieces
Use of the colour black to depict a sense of strength and mystery to avoid intrusion