Cleaning in Progress

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Section title

Cleaning in Progress

by Chidi Ofulue

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Cleaning in Prog ress

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CSA Research Report

Project Details Project Lead:

Chidi Ofulue

Design Tutors:

Lucy Jones Owain Caruana-Davies

Title:

Cleaning in Progress

Type:

Responsive Architectural Installation

Location:

UCA Canterbury campus

Project Dates:

6 August - 21 August 2018 On-site Construction 24 August - 31 August 2018 Installation open to public

Design Period:

May - August 2018

Budget:

ÂŁ300

Scale:

15m x 5m x 5m

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Section title

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Research Agenda and Process Overview Cleaning in Progress is the design research development of an investigation into the relationship between retail environments their design, use and impact on social behaviour.

The aim of my research is to highlight social hierarchy by creating an installation that focuses on one area of my research; the windows.

The installation will allow viewers to step into the role of the ‘lower’ social classes while interacting with a window. Using the theories of Paco Underhill, Shonquis Moreno and many others (who suggest that the design of retail stores are influenced by human behaviour and vica versa), I have looked at many different avenues and have focused on one particular aspect to design my final installation.

Research Questions 1.

Does window design construct social hierarchy within retail design?

2. What methods do designers use to separate viewers into social groups and how can we make poeple reflect on these creatively?

3. What are the interactions a cleaner/maintenance staff would have with a window display on a daily basis?

Fig.01 (previous page) Particle system testing on Processing

Research Statement

Significance and Contribution Cleaning in Progres vs encourages retail designers, interior designers and architects to consider the amount of people that are affected by art. By forcing individuals to experience design through the eyes of another, a better understanding of what is required when designing for all.

One person’s heaven may be another persons hell. For someone that spends their days cleaning a window, and making it look ‘perfect’ for the like of another, a sense of resentment may be felt and from then on the beautiful display may not be so beautiful anymore.

This project is important as people have discussed these theories, but I am yet to come across them tested in industry. The theories have not yet gone from critical analysis to critical/interactive design or user experience.

Methodologies 1.

Exploring the way in which the public interprets of retail design reflects and constructs class hierarchy with simple architectural features, such as a window.

2. Developing a digitally interactive window display which place users in diferent roles and expands their awareness of the social world created by retail design.

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Design Proposal The overall aim of this project is to allow the viewers of the exhibition to change their role between that of ‘the seeing’ (the people who look through store windows, see the projects and are encouraged to go inside and purchase), and become ‘the unseen’ (those who interact with windows everyday).

The proposal will compromise a 1:1 model of a store window using plywood and printed acetate. I will then create a virtual imaging of a solid teal mask that will be projected onto the acrylic, restricting the view of the display behind the window. During the

formatting of the mask, I will code for colour detection. The colour detection will be vital as viewers will interact with the window by wiping away the mask with a specific coloured sponge, thus giving the impression of them being a window cleaner.

Finally, once areas of the mask have been ‘wiped away’ the display will be revealed. After thus, the mask will move back to its original position and the process will start again.

Key technological outcomes of proposal 1.

Creating a virtual imaging where the coloured mask moves back to its original position after movement and making the colour detection as strong as possible so it only reacts to the colour of the sponge.

2. Projecting on printed acetate without having the projection move through it.

3. Displaying an image that summarises my research on colour, and what colour means in social hierarchy.

Fig.02 (right) Dichroic Blossom, 2014 (Jason Bruges Studio)

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Proposal & Context

Design Research Context Field of Work

Work by others

There have been a few people who have questioned the role of the window and window displays.

Shonquis Moreno talks about the techniques used by designers to entice people into entering a store in her book, Forefront: The Culture of Shop Window Design, and there are a few others. However I haven’t seen any projects that are challenged this issue and been presented artistically, which makes the proposal more significant.

Jason Bruges studio and TeamLab are well known for their use of virtual imaging in their art projects and installations.

In particular, they both have a unique and interesting way of demonstrating the potential scope of colour in their projects.

Jason Bruges studio created a world of colour with the use of three elements; dicroic filters, periscopes and LED lighting.

The result was an explosion of reflected colour.

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Design Methodologies To replicate a store window, an From then on the process will be existing window at the university to work with specific softwares will be used. that I can develop a digital world that viewers will physical interact The next two areas of focus are; with. This will consist of working the physical and the virtual. Both cameras, projections and gaming will be heavily determined by softwares. Both areas will need investigation into colour. numerous tests before and anything can be finalised or The physical design aspect of before moving onto the next step. the installation will consist of detemining what should be To come to a solid conclusion displayed in the window and about the outcome of the replicating the ‘behind the installation, I will test the colour scenes’ atmosphere of an actual spectrum colours against various store window. These decisions fabrics and materials, to be must be made in order to move certain of what material and on with the digital section of the colour should be used. installation.

Critical Design Elements 1.

Coloured mask system from the virtual world used to mimic the idea of a display item not being within reach of a specific social class.

2. Spectrum of colour from the iridescent vinyl.

3. Physical virtual interaction with the colour detection and the physical window.

4. One space infront of the window and another behind where the display will be.

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Process & Methods

Prototyping and testing There are many components to a. Projection consider in this installation.

To test the projectiojn I need to acquire different types of surfaces Having them successfully that don’t absorb the light and work independentaly and as colour from the projections. a collection will effectively adress the issues found from my b. Colour research.

As glass is a main absorber of There are 4 main elements to light, the colour projectedneeds consider that each need thorough to be strong enough to hide testing in order to work well the items on display. To do this, testing the colour codes of together in the installation. brightness is important. c. Window Frame To allow the exisiting window to stand out from it’s non high street surroundings, various designs for the frame will need to drawn, modelled and tested. d. Display Items The items actually on display need to be relevant to the theories researched. And in addition to this need to not be seen until the particle system is moved.

Fig.03 (left) Material frame made for projection testing

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04a Window cleaners at the university

04b Beginning projection tests on clear acetate

04c Laser cutting testing frame

04d Window frame testing

04e Projection testing on scratced acrylic onsite

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Process & Methods

04f Projection testing on tracing paper onsite

04h Building of display box

04g Assembly of projection testing frame

04i Beginning projection tests on scratched acrylic

04j The seeing: a passer by observing the Selfridges, London window display

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Fig.05 (left) Louis Vuitton gold dinosaur display. The brand is known for often using the colour gold in its displays Fig.06 (right) Iridescent vinyl used to test the colour of the display items

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Process & Methods

Fabrication Techniques The installation has both physical In addition to this I researched and digital elements in it. The the written pieces about windows fabrication of the physical and social hierarchy. elements are as followed: Shonquis Moreno says: A pane a. Display Box of glass, not more than 1.5 To hold the display, there will be a centimetres thick, divides the display box. The box made of mdf shop from the pavement. On will fit around the exisiting walls. one side, the climate-controlled The interior of the box will be interior welcomes those who can painted black, due to results from buy; on the other, the intemperate street is where those who cannot projection testing. buy may look without paying in the time-honoured ritual of b. Window Display Having established that colour window-shopping.� (2005:8) is huge factor in my research, I These models or printed words looked into the science of colour, will be wrapped in iridescent such as their wavelengths. film as it projects a range of the spectrum colours. c. Projection Material To give the appearance of projecting through clear glass is to printed a light image onto acetate thus allowing the projection to be seen without blocking the display.

16 Fig.07 Exploded Axonometric of Display Box

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Process & Methods

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Fig.08 Display Box Elevation

Fig.09 Display Box Section

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09a Step 1: Getting particles to flow from one area

09d Step 1: Getting particles to flow from one area

09b Step 2: Allowing particles to become worldwide

09e Step 2: Causing a change in colour at different particle life times

Fig.10 (above) Particle System testing on Processing Fig.11 (right) Particle System testing 09c on Unity

09f Step 3: Changing the movement of particles to 3D universal

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Process & Methods

Control Systems After testing a number of different softwares including Unity, Max MSP and Processing, I found that Processing was the only software that would combine the digital colour mask and colour detection elements into one virtual output. a. Projection Colour The are 13 colours in the visible light spectrum. To establish that teal would be most effective colour in the installation, I needed to test all the colours by projecting them onto the installation window. Teal was the best colour, as it was clearly seen on all testing materials and

prevented transparency for the display items. The use of teal as the main colour also means that during the colour detection part of the installation, the webcam will find it hard to pick up the colour teal anywhere other than the object ‘wiping’ the window. c. Display Box Colour As previously mentioned the inside of the display box will be painted black. This was decided after testing the reflection of the spectrum colours.

Fig.12 Window Display Proposal

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Occupation and Interaction The virtual interaction of the installation is essential in conveying the message of all my research.

Working with Processing has allowed me to immerse the viewers into the installation simply but also effectively.

Being able to wipe a window with a sponge causing colour mask move to reveal the display behind, is the most effective way to allow the audience to truly begin to understand the work of a ‘cleaner’. It allows them to see the display through another persons’ eyes.

Review of Outcomes

Fig.13 (left) Display Box Plan Figs.14 (right) The Unseen: Window Cleaner outside Selfridges Fig.15 (overleaf) ‘Cleaning in Progess’ onsite

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Section title

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Fig.16 Display Box Section

Review of Outcomes

Dissemination and Future Work When doing my research for this installation and for my thesis I noticed that although people have spoken about this topic in books and articles, there hasn’t been an art based project relating to this topic.

Looking further into how these issues can be portrayed through design I believe will be benefitial, and looking at ways to incorporate the virtual and digital world into retail design, could be the starting point in retail reaching new levels in the design world.

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Fig.17 (left) Installation design development

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Appendix

Appendix Code Excerpts import gab.opencv.&; import processing.video.*; import java.awt.Rectangle; PSader maskShader; PImage srcImage; PGraphics maskImage;

Capture video; OpenCV opencv; PImage src, colorFilteredImage; ArrayList<Contour> contours;

int rangeLow = 123; int rangeHigh = 133;

void setup() {

video = new Capture(this, 640, 480) video.start();

opencv = new OpenCV(this, video.width, video.height);

contours = new ArrayList<Contour>(); fullScreen(P2D,1);

srcImage = loadImage(“bgimage.jpg”);

maskImage = createGraphics(srcImage.width, srcImage.height,P2D); maskImage.noSmooth();

maskShader = loadShader(“mask.glsl”);

maskShader.set(“mask”, maskImage); background(255); }

void draw() { maskImage.beginDraw(); maskImage.background(0);

if (video.available()) { video.read(); }

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Materials and Suppliers List Timber (from Workshop, University for the Creative Arts)

1 x (1220mm x 607mm x 9mm) Plywood Sheets

3 x (2440mm x 1220mm x 18mm) MDF Boards Electrical

Webcam, Argos UK

Projector, University for the Creative Arts UK

Mac Computer, University for the Creative Arts UK Printing Material (from University for the Creative Arts)

1 x (2m x 1m) Acetate Sheet

Other sundries:

1l White Emulsion, University for the Creative Arts UK

2.5l Black Emulsion, Wilkinson UK

500ml MDF Sealer, Wilkinson UK

4no. Angle Brackets, Screwfix UK

100pk Screws, Screwfix UK

2no. Shelf Brackets, Wilkinson UK

100pk Bolts, Screwfix UK

5m Rubber Tape, Amazon UK

Iridescent Cellophane, Ebay UK

25pk Masonry Nails, Wilkinson UK

1 sponge, Wilkinson UK

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Appendix

Bibliography Crane, D. (2012) Fashion and its Social Agendas: Class, Gender and Identity in Clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Moreno, S. (2005) Forefront: The Culture of Shop Window Design.

Basel: Birkhauser Mores, C. (2006) From Fiorucci to the Guerilla Stores: Shop Displays in Architecture, Marketing and Communication. New York: Marsilio Morgan, T. (2008) Visual Merchandising: Window and In-store Displays for Retail. London: Lawrence King Underhill, P. (2000) Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. New York: Simon and Schuster

Image Credits Figure 02: Dichroic Blossom [online] At: http://www.jasonbruges. com/dichroic-blossom/ [accessed 2 August 2018] Figure 06: Gold Dinosaur Skeletons Adorn Louis Vuitton Display [online] At: https://mymodernmet.com/louis-wuitton-dinosaur-windowdisplay/ [accessed 2 August 2018]

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Credits MA Interior Design Course Leader: Lucy Jones MA Interior Design Tutor: Lucy Jones Owain Caruana-Davies Special Thanks: JJ Brophy Chris Settle Kim Trogal Anna Holder

Section title

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