Virtural Environments M4: Reflection Semester: 2/ 2013 Group: 2 Sarah Chan
Student No: 641728
IDEATION
PERSONAL SPACE
Personal space is interpreted differently for every individual. It is determined by one’s experiences and how they perceive situations. One may be more comfortable in a room full of strangers, whereas others are more introvert. This is dependent on the individual and how they react in various situations. Personal space is a culturally acquired daylight phenomonon (Sommer, 1969). Whe we are in the dark, we do not worry much about personal space because we forget about it.
UCO. 2011. Jumping silhouette. [image online] Available at: http://ucoweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/COA-2011-Jump-Silhouette.jpg [Accessed: 29 Oct 2013].
Melton, C. 2012. Silhouette portraits. [image online] Available at: http://fstoppers. com/awesome-silhouette-portraits-at-sunset [Accessed: 29 Oct 2013].
SKETCHES The parasol represent skin and bones. Where the skeleton and the structure are the bones and the thin paper represents the skin. In between the parasol, the middle part that connects everything together is held by thin string that create a beautiful and unique pattern. It does not only hold the compartments together, but also helps the ability to help the movement of the parasol.
Interestingly, the wooden bars seem like they are overlapping as they look like they are overlapping each other. This gives off an interesting appearance as they overlap especially because the bars are thin, but not too thin like the threads connecting them together.
MEASURED DRAWING 860
“Observation is a necessary part of creation” (Heath, Heath & Jenson, 2000), and this is an example of design archaeology. This is where doing measured drawings can put you through both mental and physical activities that are necessary to put you through the meanings of the designer’s principal working meadia. These measured drawings teaches drawing techniques and control (Heath, Heath & Jenson, 2000).
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The red dotted represents the top view if parasol was closed
PLAN
860 55 110
580 395
85
ELEVATION
25
SECTION
Scale 1:10
BLINDNESS
Sight is very important when it comes to personal space. For us to understand our own preference of personal space, we first must be able to visualise the situation in order to interpret personal space. 123RF. 2013. TV digital estรกtica. [image online] Available at: http://es.123rf.com/photo_10950839_tv-digital-estatica.html [Accessed: 3 Sep 2013].
Without our sense of sight, it is hard to imagine things and we are less aware of our surroundings. This may cause us to feel insecure and uncomfortbale; like how we would feel when knowing that we are being judged by others. If there is a way to intervene with our sense of vision or void strangers from judging you, this is ideal because personal space is no longer a worry of being judged and you can feel confident with the help of your second skin.
ALAMY. 2012. Blindness. [image online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9427204/Blindness-canbe-cured-by-simply-injection-in-eye-claim-scientists.html [Accessed: 3 Sep 2013].
BLINDNESS ACTIVITY
This activity represents the difficulty of being blind. Losing your sense of vision creates a different environment for you to manunver through because you must rely on other senses such as touch. It was a difficult activity to do and it brought to my attention of how sight is very important in every day life. Without vision, imaging or thinking about personal space is difficult, therefore the worry of being judged and fear of showing your true self diminishes because that is no longer the problem anymore. Therefore sight plays an important role in personal space.
MAPPING ACTIVITY
This is a map made from the blindfold activity. This depicts the various movements that was required to manuver my way through the obstacles in the room. It is obvious that there is little movement in the leg area, but more so with the arms. This is because the arms help in feeling these difficukt obstacles and find a safe are to walk between. It is harder to move freely around the place. Being able to see what’s happening in the surrounding environment can influence us to react differently. The dominant side of the body is our right side, and from this image, we can see that the right hand moved in the majority of time in order to find my way around.
DESIGN
DESIGN IDEATION
The theme of blindness influenced the idea of having something over the head of an individual to avoid any eye contact between the individual wearing the second skin and the stranger. A variety of shapes were experimented. These shapes are asymmetrical and their frames are twisted specifically to represent the movement map. Where our right side does not require much volume because it is our dominant side. No circular shapes are used because it is harder to represent personal space without corners extending longer than others. We decided on the design which had a unique characteristic, where the headpiece produced two pieces that are created from the one design. There is an inner and outer area which is used to create a denser appearance so that the face is not visible at the front; creating the sense of blindness.
PRECEDENT - GABRIEL DAWE
(Dawson, 2010)
Gabriel Dawson has a unique way of integrating colours together by choosing the material used wisely. Here, the colours can represent a sense of interferance which was used as inpiration for our design. Where these strings and colours would interfere with the individual wearing the second skin and others looking. As seen in the these images, the more string that are closer together, the more dense it becomes, therefore making it harder to see past the stings. This idea helped create our design to represent blindness, where onlookers could not visually see the person wearing the second skin as the strings are too close together, creating a dense appearance. Heatherwick (2011) suggests that it is important for the design to relate to the situation it is in, which is what we have created based on our theme of blindness. String is great to use because however dense it may be, if you get close enough, you have the ability to see past it anit can be seen past it, which gives you confidence knowigng that other cannot see you.
(Dawson, 2010) Dawson, G. 2010. String art. [image online] Available at: http://www.gabrieldawe.com/installation/plexus_004. htm [Accessed: 29 Oct 2013].
EXPERIMENTING
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We experimented with different patterns by using various coloured strings which were inspired from the precedent study.
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The first experimentation shows a random pattern that does not require a specific allocation of pins like hte others. The second experimentation creates diamond shapes through the various looping patterns that are expected to form these shapes. The third image shows a lot of density coming from the middle section. This appearance and pattern was used on the inner section of our second skin to produce a barrier between the individual’s face and strangers that walk past them. Similar to the thrid experimentation, the fourth one is more separated and not as dense because there are more axis to fill up.
SKETCHES
The decision to have the headpiece mostly covered at the front by intensifying the amount of strings is because it easily represents blindness.
The left side of the headpiece is larger and extends out longer because it is not as dominant, which was presented in the blind activity.
PROTOTYPE The first prototype we used cardboard and pins to understand the structure of the design before completing it on the computer program Rhinoceros.
The hooks had not been designed yet to understand which form of hook system would work best with this design and structure. This is why small pins were used to compensate for the hooks first.
The supporting structures are made by creating a small gap in the rods in order to slide into the square frames. This experimentation of the first prototype helped design the structure into the three dimensional digitalised version.
The thin strings wrapped around the pins created a random appearnce. This tested the patterns that could be created and how dense the strings can make.
PROTOTYPE The different hook systems were tested to see how it would work and how the strings would look using these hook systems. Using thicker strings on the hooks that are designed closer together work weel. But for a dense appearance using thinner string will be harder because the string can easily come loose.
Because there is more of a gap between each hook, the density of the strings would be harder to create, especially with thinner string. ALthough, this thicker string appears to look better when there is more distance between the hooks. The idea of using thicker string on the outer headpiece came from this prototype because the juxtaposition between the dense inner piece and a spacious outer piece is interesting and unique for aesthetic purposes. The best hook design is to have circles running through the frame structures because the strings can loop through each one without coming loose. It can be used for both thin and thick strings. There is also the choice to skip holes if we decide to have the strings further apart from each other. After testing different kinds of hook systems, the most relaible was the ones with holes, where the strings would have to be looped through. Although it is the most time consuming option, it is also the most effective.
PROTOTYPE
The first frames were made with the hook system that required you to wrap the strings around them. This was inefficient because the strings are not secured and because these hooks are thin, we had difficulty when separating the the laser cut from the perspex.
The images below show our second prototype. Layering the strings over each other created a denser appearance. A common problem was the bending of the perspex frames. This was due to the tightness of the strings as they continued looping around the section of the frame. In the final model, we tried to avoid this by not looping the strings through too tightly.
FABRICATION
INTERIOR STRUCTURE
Breaking Bad. 2012. Head piece. [image online] Available at: http://www.ign. com/boards/threads/what-did-everyone-think-of-breaking-bad-season-premierethen.452579424/ [Accessed: 31 Oct 2013].
We found inspiration from this image of someone with a headbrace, which is what we needed for our headpiece. We had to find a way in which the design could be fitted well on the head.
Our first prototype was unsuccessful because the structure was too weak. Having only two supporting structures connecting the botttom and middle frame could not hold the largest top frame.
There are four supporting structures in this design and looks very stable as it connects directly to the shoulder piece.
The hook system that was orignally chosen, unfortunately did not work best. Due to the material of perspex, the notches were easily snapped off because they were too thin.
Inseatd of having the middle frame connecting to the top frame, we made the decision to have them all connect to the bottom frame, producing more support. More supporting structures were also introduced, to keep the design as stable as possible. The hook system was changed to having holes because they were the most efficient as stated in the experimentation of different hook systems.
DIGITISATION OF MODEL
Using a computer program, Rhinoceros, this design was pruced. Th structure here represent the bone aspect and was measured in accordance to my partner’s head measurements and shoulder length. The middle frame is a square shape that fits percfectly on my partners head, which surrounds his whole head above his ears that will not move around and become loose. The supporting structure are situated in specific positions that will hold and be securely place on the front and back of my partner’s sihoulders.
We decided to create the skin with the material of string. Where we would use both thick and thin strings in order to create some areas more intricate and fragile looking. Whereas other areas more bold and obvious.
FABRICATION OF MODEL
01 The assembling of the inner structure was attached together through the small gaps made to slide through the perspex. The frames also had a gap for these supporting columns to slide through to have a more scure fit.
02 We beagn with the inner section of the headpiece first, because this area would have to be the dense looking section to represent blindness. The same pattern was created for the two faces that would cover the visibilty of the face on the individaul wearing it.
03 The outer structure uses thicker stings to have a contrast between the inner and outer structure. We made sure that the thicker string was not dense at the front of the model in order to keep the intricate design pattern of the inner structure visible.
FINAL PRODUCT
The colours were specifically chosen to have a dull look, but we did not want to use the tones of black and white. From our precedent study, Gabriel uses many colours that blend together and we wanted to incorporate her idea into our design. Therefore we decided on using different tones of green, where the darker green colours were used on the inner structure, to further enhance the theme of blindness, whereas the outer skin was lighter colours of grey and olive green. The decision to make the inner skin out of thinner string was inspired by the artworks of Gabriel Dawe. When the thinner string created a dense pattern, it is impossible to see past is unless your face is up against it, in which the individual who wears the headpiece will be able to see past. This creates a space of their own and confidence is aroused from this experience, because you have the ability to see your surroundings and no one can see you. Personal space is then dependent on the individual and extended to their imagination.
FINAL PRODUCT
RIGHT
BACK
FRONT
LEFT
FINAL PRODUCT
The purpose of this design is to represent personal space, and how it can be interpreted by the idividual. This design that we have come up with and made, allows the person wearing it to interpret and imagine what they consider as their personal space. Not allowing others to judge and see you arouses a sense of confidence becasue you have the ability to see them without them knowing. The back of the headpiece is not dense, but is created by a pattern of tessallated diamond shapes. There was no need for the back to be dense because the main section that was required to be denser to create a sense of blindness was the front.
REFLECTION
REFLECTION When we were initially exposed to the design brief, we were asked to represent a second skin that would represent personal space. This was really hard to begin with because we didn’t know what was expected from us and how we could go about this project. Although, what was useful was how we were placed into categories based on an object. I chose the parasol that focused on skin and bones. Using ideas through different forms of measuring and also photography, I was able to sketch out the object using a measuring tape from various corners and angels (Heath, Heath & Jensen, 2000). It was found that personal space was dependent on the individual and varies from one to another. Understanding this concept, we had to produce a product that could also incorporate skin and bones as well as representing personal space itself. Pottmann et al. (2000) discusses what developed surface is, which helped in further understanding sketching my object especially through curved surfaces; also created when the parasol is open. Sheurer and Stehling (2011) state that ideas and designs are originally formed three dimensionally before they are flattened two dimensionally onto a plane that can later be printed off and constructed. This was the exactly what happened with our design, where we had to use the program Rhinoceros to have the design three dimensionally modelled before we could deconstruct it. Doing it this way made it a lot easier because we were able to see the model first. It would have been impossible to have it two dimensionally made first.
Designing has become more and more digitally driven, especially the architecture we see today (Kolarevic, 2003). They have all been designed through calculations that can be interpreted by technology because they are faster and efficient. As students of this subject, we are already subjected to digital fabrication from using the FabLab, where we can laser cut our work. However, even with this choice of method of designing, it is still important to master the skills of sketching. It is evident that digital design and making will be our future as technology continues to have better functional systems and creates an easier atmosphere for designers to use. They do not only have an influence in our designs, but it is also a new economical, political and social movement (Rifkin, 2011). Virtual Environments has allowed me to have a greater scope in knowledge of design, where it is not all simple. There are many factors and methods in design that can influence our work and we can see this through ways of calculating or measuring not only objects, but also intangible things such as personal space. This subject has provided me with the knowledge that creativity is challenging but possible if we have the right equipment and understanding.
References Heath, A., Heath, D., & Jensen, A. (2000) 300 years of industrial design : function, form, technique, 17002000, Watson-Guptill, New York Heatherwick, T. (2011) Building the Seed Cathedral. [video online] Available at: http://www.ted.com/ talks/thomas_heatherwick.html [Accessed: 31 Oct 2013]. Kolarevic, B. (2003) “Digital Production” in Architecture in the Digital Age – Design and Manufacturing, Spon Press, London, pp. 30-54 Pottmann, H, Asperl, A, Hofer, M, Kilian, A, (2000) “Surfaces that can be built from paper”, Architectural Geometry, Bentley Institute Press, pp. 534-561 Rifkin, J. (2011) “Distributed Capitalism” in The Third Industrial Revolution, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp. 107-126 Scheurer, F., Stehling, H. (2011) “Lost in Parameter Space?”AD: Architectural Design, Wiley, pp. 70-79 Sommer, R. (1969) Personal space : the behavioral basis of design, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.