Johnny Wang Udie Tran Sara Webber
Second Skin concepts Second skin. To our group, the second skin design must not only be a physical layer that covers the “first skin”, but should also represent the characteristics of the “first skin”. From there, we started by looking at the way our body works. Immediately, we thought of the central nervous system and the way it passes messages through the spinal cords and to each of the limbs. And we wanted to represent that sort of system and structure through our second skin design. We believe there are three ways an individual can be related to different personal spaces. 1. To welcome – Approaching others on a friendly level, welcoming them into your personalities and characteristics. 2. To hide – To avoid certain contacts with others who you are not familiar and comfortable with, therefore consciously hiding parts of your personalities and characteristics. 3. To interfere – We often consciously or unconsciously breach others’ personal spaces which can appear to be an unwelcoming actions to others
Initial ideas and sketches After we decided on our idea of main concepts, we began developing our designs. We wanted to create a skin that represents the three types of relationships we have with different personal spaces.
Structurally, we wanted to incorporate a spinal system that connects each parts of our designs together.
Problems and solutions In the first few weeks, we worked on a design with a cape, a wing and a tail, each representing a metaphorical element.
The cape – The element that protects one’s privacy and other aspects of personal spaces. The armor – The scales of the armor are able to open up to others individuals to contrast against the characteristics of the cape. These first two elements will be placed on the two sides of the torso. (However, after our group meeting, we decided to change the armor to a wing which appears to be more welcoming visually. ) The tail – The tail, being on the individual’s backside, is easy to hit others by accident while moving around, interfering with others’ personal spaces. In the first few two weeks, we received feedback from our tutor and peers, suggesting that our designs have very distinct stylistic differences, and many aspects of our design are too literal. Therefore, we had group meetings and decided on a group goal, and worked on connecting each pieces of our designs together.
First design This is the very first cape design that we created. Although it covered a lot of the person’s body, it appeared to be too literal, and definitely needed more refining at that stage. Structurally, it was too simple. Layers of ribs would extend from the back of the body, and fabric would be placed in between each ribs. We also thought the form that the cape created was not interesting enough, but most importantly, wasn’t a strong representation of our ideas of protection, privacy, fear, discomfort and so on‌ However, we did like the fact that the cape was able to provide a strong visual contrast, with it creating a large volume, and the scales on the other side of the torso creating a smaller volume.
Design Idea After a lot of sketching and experimenting with shapes and other design elements, we came up with this idea displayed in this brief sketch. We designed the shape of the cape to be rigid, but not enough to be threatening to others like the tail. We also wanted the cape to hide the head and torso of the person’s body when looked at from the side the cape is located on.
Structural concept We wanted to build the cape so that it is able to hide one side of the person from others.
However, we thought it would be appropriate to allow some movements within the cape to demonstrate the idea that one might often need to adjust to other people’s viewing angles to protect themselves and their privacy. This extended idea of protection gives another twist to the cape element, making it act somewhat as a shield also. Inside the cape, there will be a stick that is attached to each rib/bone that form the cape. The person wearing the skin will be able to hold the stick and alter the direction the cape is facing.
Cape’s Functions This is a sketch that displays the inner layer of the cape. The red lines represent the bones that are moveable depending on the person’s movements
This is a visual display of the cape’s movements. It will only be able to move horizontally, as it will be attached to the spine located on the person’s back.
Rhino Model The Rhino model for the cape appears to be accurate to what we had in mind in our initial stages. It is irregular, unique and rigid but not threatening. It also covers up the entire upper part of the body like we wanted it to, to illustrate the idea of protection.
Initial Design We watched tutorials on YouTube and researched on other websites to see how we could construct different types of wings that are able to open and close. This is the first structural design that we have decided and built in Rhino. In the bottom left image, the basic motions of the wing is demonstrated through our model. However, although we were happy with the structural system, we thought the aesthetics of the wing can still be improved with further developments.
Built model The model is built by strong plastic and put together with screws. The wing is perfectly functional with a string that is attached to one of the screws that opens and closes the wing.
The three pieces on the end of the wing are connected by thin wires to make sure they open stably.
Further Developments After we made sure the structure of the wing is made and functional, we began developing the aesthetics of the wing.
We were given the suggestion that we should tie the three elements of the design together by giving them similar visual characteristics so that it seems like one design instead of three separate ones. Therefore, we decided to add these rigid, scale like elements to the wing to match some of the visual elements of the cape, even though the two represent very different ideas.
For the wing to still effectively open and close, we decided to use wires as the bone structure, and soft fabrics as the skin, because both materials are easy to bend.
Model development This model is built by wires and plastic materials (bin liners). The model accurately demonstrated our design idea, however, we intend on using a different type of material other than plastic in our final model.
Final Rhino model These models were made after we decided to change the aesthetics of the wing.
We think after the changes we have made, the design will appear less disjointed visually.
Sketches We wanted to use visual elements that can appear to be threatening and intimidating in our tail design based on our concepts behind it.
Initial design ideas These were our designs from week 2 and week 3. As you can see, we had an attempt of making the tail seem intimidating to others. We looked at patterns, plants, animal tails and other elements. However, after the week 4 tutorial feedbacks, we decided to further develop the tail, because these designs weren’t able to blend with the other elements of our design.
Rhino model This is the final tail model that we have designed and constructed in Rhino. It consists of different shapes tied to a string. The form that is constructed by the outlines of these shapes are unique and matches other aspects of our design.
Tail Model The model is made of a string of cardboard shapes wrapped around by black tights. The cardboard pieces used inside the black tights are of two colors (black/white), and they are pierced by a metal rod at the center.
Tail Model The model actually turned out to look better than we expected. The transitions between each of the shapes were smooth while really showing the sharp angles on some of those shapes. We think the materials we have used were appropriate, however, we may use some other types of materials instead of cardboard, because some of the edges are bent due to the pressure applied by the tights. We may need to find another type of material that is stronger.