GITAL DESIGN + FABRICATION SM1, 2016 Sleeping in Sweater Qian Rong (Rebecca) Li (760650) Michelle + 9
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IDEATION
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In the first module, I was exposed to my initial understanding of material systems. Through commencing measured drawings, photo graphing and sketching details of my object, I had a chance to have a closer look at how parts of the egg cutter “work together as…an interconnecting network” (lecture 2). Particularly, I was interested in the slotting movement of each cutting plates into the cutting platform creating geometric cuts and the moulding of the shape of an egg on the platform. On one hand, I have explored different methods of measuring the egg cutter, taking some photos are also essential in order to “express the essential ‘feeling’ of it”(Heath, Heath & Jensen 2002,). Not only the texture, but also the motion of plates. Filtering the photos into black and white provide a strong emphasise falling motions, “form and surface”(Heath, Heath, Jensen 2002) that I want to analyse. Via dissecting multiple sections through the egg cutter, I found that the irregular shapes, spacing and placement of the teeth that make up the platform is created by different geometric cuts: they are, up-down, leftright and diagonal slicing directions. Each of these three geometric cuts is responsible by the three different egg slicing plates.
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Ultimately, my reconstructed objects focused on the geometric cuts that attempt to distort the user’s vision. As vision affects the size of our personal space, limiting views one can see while sleeping provide them more comfort. It is usually people around the sleeping or concentrating person who create disruption and somewhat annoyance (Personal space).
Ian Richardson 2012
Therefore, I decided to interconnecting triangle hollow sections to blur the views of the users which can help them to change their “attitude and regard their presence as complement� (Robert 1969). Although, the sketch model my reconstructed object did not accomplish the characteristics of section and profile system, I learnt that using slotting joints to connect a set of repeating two-dimensional cross sections to create a three dimensional system a basic property of my material system.
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DESIGN
COMBINING IDEAS Aim of our design is to construct a flexible but stable structure for people to wear and lean against will sleeping in their comfortable position. The level of comfort comes from creating an area the provide as sense of protection and belonging to the environment one is sleeping in.
In order to reduce the feeling of isolation, we design a sleeping pod that would allow light to penetrate gradually. A sharp change from a light to a dark space will cause a sense of separation, whereas gradient of transition from light to dark provide connection between the sleeping and the external environment.
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INITIAL IDEA Interference was our initial technique to create distortion. By using flat curved strips to create a seemingly three dimensional surface. However, a practical problem we have was that our sleeping pod is cylindrical as it loops around the head, it is difficult to satisfy the moirĂŠ effect we wanted.
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REVISION 1 In order to provide the user support on the neck, forehead, and on the side of their head, we decide to construct a waffle structure that accommodate the shape of human curve from head to the upper body. This can provide comfortable support while allow flexible movements to sleep in the user’s desired position.
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REVISION 2 With our attempt to create a distorting surfacing, we created a flatter surface for horizontal polypropylene strips to thread through the front part of the sleeping pod. To increase the stability of polypropylene on the front part of the sleeping, learning from the C-space Pavilion, we divide a long curve to shorter pieces. We have also revised the panels of the waffle structure to become lighter and have a sense of fluidity. This provide also a sense of visual comfort for people around the sleeping person. As our prototype from the first revision will look like a cube from the outside, although the internal edge of the panels follow the shape of human curve.
Rieder 2012
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In our one to one prototype, we stabilise the sleeping pod on the user’s shoulder. However, the mountboard panels are too thin to provide rigid support for the user, especially when the user wants to lean back. Furthermore, there are sharp corners of the sleeping pod is stabbing into the user’s back when they are wearing it, causing it to be uncomfortable. As the panels are too soft, they branch open when the user lean forward creating large amount of light to penetrate through.
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FABRICATION
MATERIALITY
Fabrication have been the most challenging part of this project, as our ability to plan and complete a one to one model is essential. At this stage, we are still testing the material that is most suitable for our design. Absorbing feedbacks from the design module, we realised that mount board is not thick enough to be self-sustainable as the front part wobbles.
the structure has a high tendency of collapsing when human weight is added to it. To resolve this problem, we decided to crease the thickness of the panels from 1.5mm to 3mm. By doubling the original thickness, not only does the structure becomes more rigid, but also reduce the sharpness of the edge which is much more comfortable when people lean on it.
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IMPORVEMENTS
Yet, the edge still feels hard when the user lean on it for too long. A design solution for this problem is to wrap wool thread around the panel and stick a layer of soft material around the edge of each panel that is facing the inside of the sleeping pod. The soft material elongate on the edge has to be in strips. Hence, we are considering pipe cleaner and non slippery matt. A problem with pipe cleaner is that once wool thread is warped on it, its fluffiness is reduced. This cause the wider in the pipe cleaner to show hardening the edge. After testing the effectiveness of non-slippery mat and pipe cleaner, we chose non-slipper as it has elasticity and volume. sticking a thin strip of non-slippery mat along the internal edges of the sleeping pod. We have also tested the colour for wool threads used to wrap around the panels. As it is to serve as softer surface of a sleeping pod, we decided to use calm colours.
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Distortion development
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Exploded drawing With the aid from digital software and laser cutting machines we are able to produce panels in precise measures and accurate allocations of each panels. By using laser, cut we first shaped two-dimensional parts then interconnecting them in two directions to create a threedimensional waffle structure.
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FABRICATION SEQUENCE
These mirror shards are adhered to the threads that are crisscrossing the front part of the sleeping pod. Yet, it becomes messy and disruptive. While fabricating our final prototype time limitation and the amount of wool thread required to wrap around all 17 panels create a serious obligation to completing it in a desired form.
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FABRICATION SEQUENCE
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REFFERENCE Throughout the study of Digital Design and Fabrication, I have exposed to the difficulty of abstracting a given object, merging ideas as a group of two and converting a digital design into a physical object. The fabrication and prototype testing taught me to consider what is workable in reality and what is not. For example, the polypropylene strips are actually not flexible enough to pass through openings booleaned in the digital model. Moreover, the physical size also a critical matter to encounter. The thickness of corrugated cardboard is actually enough to allow the panels to have a smaller surface area. This could have made wrapping wool thread on much quicker and easier.
Taking feedbacks from our final presentation, we have given up on the distortion concept, rather we focused on shade, semi-privacy and distorted view that prevents eye contact. Through my experience of creating a digital design to fabrication in real materials, I have learnt the importance of understanding size of the sleeping pod in a one to one scale before choosing the thickness of the wool. The warping process had taken up an enormous amount of time, which has affected our ability to completely finish wrapping all twenty-eight pieces of large panels. Therefore, we decided to only wrap half the amount of vertical panels we have created. Although this does increase the gaps between each panel, it allowed a sense of visual relief. Such sudden change depicts that the process of design does not end even after the final product has produced, as refinement is constantly required. In addition, I have also learnt that, simplicity is a crucial component in design, as complexity that is created by adding unnecessary component that seems forced can cause a design to be confusion and messy. As Scheurer & Stehling (2011) stated: “a perfect model does not contain as much information as possible, but as little as necessary�. This allow a clear and unambiguous explanation of a design.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Heath, A., Heath, D., & Jensen, A. (2000). 300 years of industrial design : function, form, technique, 1700-2000 / Adrian Heath, Ditte Heath, Aage Lund Jensen. New York : Watson-Guptill, 2000. P9 Sommer, R. (1969). Personal space : the behavioral basis of design / Robert Sommer. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1969. Scheurer, F. and Stehling, H. _2011_: Lost in Parameter Space? IAD: Architectural Design, Wiley, 81 _4_, July, p79 Flickr, Ian Richardson, viewed 2012 <https://www.flickr.com/photos/underscore_ian/8117280451/in/faves-martinvlach/> Rieder, C space pavilion, viewed 2012 <http://www.rieder.cc/at/en/main/news/news/browse/6/article/29/cspacepavilion-aa-school-london/>
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APENDIX
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