Jamie Richardson
I have always been fascinated by Science and Technology and its connection with design. I find that design can become the bridge to the public, bringing scientific innovation into the hands of everyone in the form of tangible products. I began my research by exploring modern science and technology on the whole. This included current innovations as well as future predictions, calculated from solid research and testing. I found the exploration to be exciting and fruitful, with every piece of research providing inspiration. I began to map some of my research in order to get an organised overview of the main ideas I was interested in. I found that through collating my research, I was mainly interested by the future of Science and how new ideas could expand humanities potential. My central topic then became “Evolution” as I found that this word summed up all of my interests best. The word didn’t just refer to Darwinian evolution but also the evolution of ideas, theories and knowledge. I split my research at this stage into 6 categories: Nanotechnology, Medicine, A.I, Energy, Materials and Computing. All of these areas seemed to have huge potential in providing design intervention, but none more so than Nanotechnology.
Energy Materials
A.I
Evolution
Computing
Medicine Nanotechnology
From my research, Nanotechnology seemed to be a holy grail of scientific innovation. With the power to build on the atomic scale, a whole new range of materials and properties would be available. As a designer, I started thinking about how I could utilize such a new and inaccessible technology. This came in the form of Graphene, a material with huge strength and conductive ability. Graphene is simply a single sheet of carbon yet it’s molecular structure gives it it’s strength and conductivity. Graphene is laid down every time a pencil is drawn on a piece of paper, and so I began thinking of ways that I could express this material through design.
Molecular Structure of Graphene
After a meeting with Dr Raymond Whitby, the head of Nano-science and Nanotechnology at the University of Brighton, I began to see flaws with attempting to create a workable Graphene without a laboratory environment and expensive equipment. Dr Whitby did however; tell me about some exciting research that was being undergone at Stanford. The scientists there were working on developing a Nano-paper battery. This battery had been developed by coating paper with carbon nano-tubes, similar to graphene, carbon nano-tubes are simply rolled up sheets of graphene, creating a thread with all of graphene’s properties. I began to see the potential of these paper batteries in all sorts of products. For example, lots of work has been done over the past few years with Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED’s). Scientists working with these have been attempting to make bendable screens. I noticed that paper batteries would complement these screens very nicely in order to make bendable electronics. I began researching batteries in general and found that standard alkaline batteries that we use are very harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly. I began working on a concept for a campaign that would allow people to recycle their old batteries in return for a receipt that would be a battery itself.
BioBattery - Nano-Paper Battery Concept
At this stage, I began to explore batteries in more detail and found that historically, they were very simple to make and not harmful to the environment. The earliest version of this is the Baghdad battery, thought to date back to around 250 BC. The battery consists of a terracotta pot with a rolled up sheet of copper surrounding an iron rod inside the pot. The corrosion inside the pot at the time of its discovery led archaeologists to believe an acidic electrolyte solution such as vinegar was housed inside the pot meaning it would have been a working battery. This research led me to start thinking about how many of the products that we use today have been re developed from their historical roots into items that are less environmentally conscious than their predecessors. I therefore began developing a way of using these original, more sustainable ideas of products that we use today. The first of these was “Baghdad” a lamp which took its power from the early Baghdad battery concept but updated it slightly by adding more copper and iron cells in order to potentially upgrade its power output.
“Baghdad” - Concept for sustainable battery powered lamp
My research into these batteries also led me to find that urine could be used as the electrolyte solution. This started me thinking of when you may need power so much that you would be willing to use your own urine. This thinking developed into an emergency mobile phone charger. A simple multi cell copper and iron battery that would screw into the top of a standard water bottle. When the water bottle is filled with urine, the battery would begin to work, providing emergency power to hikers, campers and outdoorsmen in general. I began testing the urine batteries and found that even after increasing the cells from the original Baghdad battery, the power output was still too low to be able to charge a mobile phone.
“Urine Luck� - Emergency urine powered mobile phone charger
I therefore went back to my earlier research on science and technology and looked for other avenues of design intervention. After writing my dissertation: “The Bridge between Science and Design, Nanotechnology and its Influence on Creative Conjecture”, I found that many designers had engaged with the future of science and technology in a more conceptual way. This prospect was quite exciting to me. I found that I didn’t need to use many of these up and coming technologies that were very expensive and many still in development, I could simply create awarness of the shape of the future through design. I found that this was a very important thing to do, much of the public are unaware of what science is doing behind closed doors and so I began to develop theories of the future through scientific research. The first of these came from Nanotechnoloy in the form of nanobots. Nanobots were first envissioned by Richard Feynman in 1959. He believed that through manipulating individual atoms, mankind would eventually have the power to create nanobots, a swarm of nanoscopic robots that would be injected into the bloodstream where they woud be programmed to fight off diseases. This would potentially double human life expectancy. This in my opinion could be something that many people would reject, either due to religious beliefs or simply not wanting to live that long. There are also problems that arise if someone managed to hack the nanobots and instead of helping mankind, they were turned into a harmfull weapon. I therfore started to develop an educated vision of the future whereby people would be injected with nanobots at birth and would grow up no longer wanting them. My work became a magnetic syringe that would allow the nanobots to be safely ejected from the body. This then developed into a society of people who would be proud to be “natural” without nanobots constanty circulating their bloodstream. The syringe therfore developed into a marking mechanism, a way of displaying that this procedure had be undergone. This came in the form of a logo featuring a cypress leaf merged into a power button. The cypress leaf symbolises death and so is appropriate as people undergoing the nanobot extraction would be accepting death at an earlier age. The power button symbolises the ability to turn off a process that would make the individual live longer. This logo developed into a tattoo that would be imprinted from the syringe after extraction or a piece of jewellery that would be formed from the extracted nanobots.
Cypress leaf logo
Concept for Nanobot extraction tool
Concept fot “Design My Baby” app
This concept then led me to another. The idea that babies could eventually be injected with a substance that would allow them to live longer was very similar to some of my research into genetics and specifically genetic modification. Genetic modification has been used since 1973, when it was first used to modify bacteria. Since then, scientists have been working on altering human genomes in order to fight diseases. Research in genetic engineering has led to the term “designer babies”. This is where parents can choose to add or remove genes in their unborn babies genome in order to remove reccessive diseases and even alter their eye colour, make them taller, make them smarter etc.
Cytosine
The ethics surrounding designer babies began to intrigue me. One in vitro fertilisation company in the United States has already been forced to close down after offering parents the choice to change their childs eye and hair colour. At this stage i began developing a concept for a mobile application that would allow parents to “design” their baby. Similar to the nanobot syringe concept, this idea was to be a way of expressing scientific possibilities to the public in order to gain a response of their views of the controversial subject. I decided that the program should be an application as it expressed the ease of the process. Parents could sit on the train on the way to work dragging and dropping eye colours and pinching and dragging height and muscle mass. This process led me to understand a deeper knowledge of genetics. I found that the human genome was composed of a series of chemicals: Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine. These chemicals or base pairs are found in DNA and are expressed as their abbrevations: A,C,G and T. The order that the base pairs appear in a strand of DNA expresses the gene in which they encode. With the human geneome consisting of around 3 billion base pairs, I began looking for ways to illustrate the genome in 3 dimensions.
Guanine
Adenine
Thymine
Cell
Nucleus
There are around 10 trillion cells in the human body. These are divded into around 200 types, for example muscle cells and skin cells. Each one contains a nucleus. Inside this nucleus are 23 pairs of chromosomes.
Chromosomes are comprised of a single coil of DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and nucleotide sequences. Humans have 22 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes. Females have 2 X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y.
DNA is a molecule which contains instructions for building proteins, thereby instructing everything, from the colour of our eyes to the size of our feet. DNA is essentially a code, and is read as a series of chemicals, Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine (A, C, G, and T). These are also known as base pairs. A sequence of base pairs in a DNA strand is known as a nucleotide sequence.
I found that the simplicity yet at the same time complexity of nucleotide sequences was very inspiring. The way that mutations could occur by just one chemical being in the wrong place in a strand of DNA opened my eyes to the fragility of human biology. I began exploring different ways to express these sequences in objects. This exploration began in the form of 3D printed bowls. I wanted to allow the printer to build up extrusions in the form of the bowl whilst taking reference from a nucleotide sequence. The printer would lay a line of plastic while the sequence was healthy and would leave a gap where the sequence was mutated. This became the roots of Genetically Coded Objects with a bowl, used to contain generally small items, unusable due to mutations in the genome. I wanted to take this idea a step further and so began to develop objects that were not so much designed by me, but by a code that has evolved over millions of years to shape humanity.
Genetically Coded Objects - Bowl
ggggtgcggt taaaaggcgc cacggcggga gacaggtgtt gcggccccgc agcgcccgcg cgctcctctc cccgactcgg agcccctcgg cggcgcccgg cccaggaccc gcctaggagc gcaggagccc cagcgcagag accccaacgc cgagaccccc gccccggccc cgccgcgctt cctcccgacg cagagcaaac cgcccagagt agaagatgga ttggggcacg ctgcagacga tcctgggggg tgtgaacaaa cactccacca gcattggaaa gatctggctc accgtcctct tcatttttcg cattatgatc ctcgttgtgg ctgcaaagga ggtgtgggga gatgagcagg ccgactttgt ctgcaacacc ctgcagccag gctgcaagaa cgtgtgctac gatcactact tccccatctc ccacatccgg ctatgggccc tgcagctgat cttcgtgtcc acgccagcgc tcctagtggc catgcacgtg gcctaccgga gacatgagaa gaagaggaag ttcatcaagg gggagataaa gagtgaattt aaggacatcg aggagatcaa aacccagaag gtccgcatcg aaggctccct gtggtggacc tacacaagca gcatcttctt ccgggtcatc ttcgaagccg ccttcatgta cgtcttctat gtcatgtacg acggcttctc catgcagcgg ctggtgaagt gcaacgcctg gccttgtccc aacactgtgg actgctttgt gtcccggccc acggagaaga ctgtcttcac agtgttcatg attgcagtgt ctggaatttg catcctgctg aatgtcactg aattgtgtta tttgctaatt agatattgtt ctgggaagtc aaaaaagcca gtttaacgca ttgcccagtt gttagattaa gaaatagaca gcatgagagg gatgaggcaa cccgtgctca gctgtcaagg ctcagtcgct agcatttccc aacacaaaga ttctgacctt aaatgcaacc atttgaaacc cctgtaggcc tcaggtgaaa ctccagatgc cacaatggag ctctgctccc ctaaagcctc aaaacaaagg cctaattcta tgcctgtctt aattttcttt cacttaagtt agttccactg agaccccagg ctgttagggg ttattggtgt aaggtacttt catattttaa acagaggata tcggcatttg tttctttctc tgaggacaag agaaaaaagc caggttccac agaggacaca gagaaggttt gggtgtcctc ctggggttct ttttgccaac tttccccacg ttaaaggtga acattggttc tttcatttgc tttggaagtt ttaatctcta acagtggaca aagttaccag tgccttaaac tctgttacac tttttggaag tgaaaacttt gtagtatgat aggttatttt gatgtaaaga tgttctggat accattatat gttccccctg tttcagaggc tcagattgta atatgtaaat ggtatgtcat tcgctactat gatttaattt gaaatatggt cttttggtta tgaatacttt gcagcacagc tgagaggctg tctgttgtat tcattgtggt catagcacct aacaacattg tagcctcaat cgagtgagac agactagaag ttcctagtga tggcttatga tagcaaatgg cctcatgtca aatatttaga tgtaattttg tgtaagaaat acagactgga tgtaccacca actactacct gtaatgacag gcctgtccaa cacatctccc ttttccatga ctgtggtagc cagcatcgga aagaacgctg atttaaagag gtcgcttggg aattttattg acacagtacc atttaatggg gaggacaaaa tggggcaggg gagggagaag tttctgtcgt taaaaacaga tttggaaaga ctggactcta aagtctgttg attaaagatg agctttgtct acttcaaaag tttgtttgct taccccttca gcctccaatt ttttaagtga aaatatagct aataacatgt gaaaagaata gaagctaagg tttagataaa tattgagcag atctatagga agattgaacc tgaatattgc cattatgctt gacatggttt ccaaaaaatg gtactccaca tatttcagtg agggtaagta ttttcctgtt gtcaagaata gcattgtaaa agcattttgt aataataaag aatagcttta atgatatgct tgtaactaaa ataattttgt aatgtatcaa atacatttaa aacattaaaa tataatctct ataataattt aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaa
Sound of CX26
Connexin 26 is a gene that when mutated, causes around 50% of pre lingual, recessive deafness. The gene lies in chromosome 13 and is 2,347 base pairs long. Utilising this gene, I wanted to form an object that visually and conceptually defined the disorder. I began by creating a piece of music. With the letters A,C and G, I was able to translate them as notes on the piano. Everytime ‘T’ appeared in the sequence, I left a gap creating a more dynamic waveform. With the entire 2,347 base pairs mapped as a melody, I began extracting 30 second excerpts to be visualised as their waveforms. Once all of the waveforms were collected, I used Adobe Illustrator to live trace them and convert them into brushes. The next step involved drawing a series of circles inside eachother. I then converted their strokes to the corresponding waveform brushes. I then added a gradual gradient getting lighter towards the edges. This gave me an interesting image which I then imported into Cinema 4D as a releif object. The releif object takes a greyscale image and raises anything that is white and sinks anything that is black. After increasing the subdivisions so that more deatil could be seen on each waveform, the model was then made spherical. This gave the basic form of the speaker and a HyperNurbs smoothed it all out. The speaker was printed using a 3D Touch printer from Bits from Bytes. The printer works by digitally splitting the 3D model into cross sections. An extruder then heats up and pushes out hot plastic in the layers of the model. I chose to print in ABS plastic due to its detail and durability. The printed model came out well, yet took lots of refining. I began working in the model by applying a layer of acetone. This melted the surface of the plastic very slighty giving a smoother and more glossy finish. There were still many imperfections that had been caused by the printer and so i began using a dremmel to sand and smooth the speaker further. I then marked out where i wanted the speaker to mount in the shell and delicately drilled a series of holes inside the section that was to be removed. I then used a cutting disc on the dremmel tool in order to remove the material. As I was using the 3D Touch printer, I didn’t need to add any wall thickness to the model. The printers software, Axon, cleverly calculates where the model mey have fragility or may need extra support. Therefore, on removing the material for the speaker to be inserted, i found that the software had printed a series of ‘fins’ inside in order to give the model more durability. I began removing these fins which didn’t effect the durability of the outer shell too much as the spikey geometry of the speaker provided much support. I then began painting the speaker with a filler primer in order to provide further smoothness. After around 10 coats of primer and sanding in between coats, i applied 5 coats of gloss white paint. I chose for the piece to be in this finish due to the medical, clinical look that was achieved. This relates to the content of the form and the overall project. Once painted, I added the speaker components which I made from a kit.
Image shows the results for immunohistochemical detection of connexin 26. A positive reaction is red.
gcttcttctccaagag tgggct acgg a c c a aag g g g t gct c g ga g g ca gc c ag c t ga c g g a g
ggcggttccgcggggcg ccgttg t t g tcc cgga g ctg g a ga agg g ct cta g aa c ga ca g gg
agggcgacgaaaaaggggaa c t g c t ggg ggg gtg a a ctg g a gg g cc cc c g tg g c gc g g tc
ctctaggaagtgcct ga gccaca g c tcac t agt ggt g a cag gct tcc g gc gt c gg a ac cg gc
Image detailing process - DNA to nucleotide sequence to piano to waveform to speaker form.
Image of waveforms used in the modelling of speaker.
Image of genetic waveform experiments
Image showing how peaks in speaker form can be read
153.2 mm
66 mm
146 mm
1:1 Scale Drawing
Sound of CX26 - Exploded Drawing
Different face plate experiments
Sound of CX26 Connexon 26 (CX26) is a gene which when mutated, causes around fifty per cent of pre lingual, recessive deafness. Using the genetic code of CX26, I was able to compose a piece of music. The waveforms from the piece of music were then used to create the overall form of the speaker.
In context render
ggtttcacca ccgcctgcct acacccggc
Urn
tgttggccag gctggcctcg aactcctgac ctcaggtgat cagcctccta aagtgctggg attacaggcg tgagccacc cccagatcc ctgtcttgag acataaccta caaggtgat agtg
Urn is a concept for a piece which uses a section of an individuals genome to form a highly personalised memorial to them after they have passed away. The process begins while the individual is still living. They will apply for a DNA cheek swab kit which once used will be sent to a specialised DNA sequencing laboratory. Scientists will then analyse the DNA through a series of duplication in order to get a higly accurate overview of the individuals genome. This process is already undertaken yet costs are currently around £5000. Once the genome has been isolated, scientists can begin to find anomolies, this is due to the fact that around 99% of everyones DNA is the same. Urn was created by mapping nucleotide sequences in a simple graph like format. Adenine (A) being a low peak and Thymine (T) being the highest. I used an extract of the Human Genome Project to create Urn from the individuals ‘X’ chromosome.
T
Using Cinema 4D, the graph (splines) can be wrapped into a circle. Using three of these different sized circular splines, the form of a traditional cremation urn can begin to be visualised. Next, I put the splines into a LoftNurbs. This creates a three dimensional form out of the splines, similar to draping a cloth over them. The next step was to smooth the form without loosing the detail of the genetic code. I did this by using a HyperNurbs with a subdivision of 1.
G
I decided that Urn would best lend itself to be formed by Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). SLS 3D printing or rapid prototyping uses a high powered laser to fuse a powdered polymer. The 3D model is divided into cross sections which the printer analyses and creates one by one, developing an exact physical 3D model of the inputted computer generated model. For the SLS printing process to be successful, I was required to add a wall thickness to the model which at the stage was a hollow or ‘paper thin’ mesh. This process proved to be difficult as the outer geometry was quite complex which meant the inner version of the mesh unwantedly protruded to the outside. After some time I found that by using the Offset Mesh command in Rhino added the required wall thickness without effecting the outer geometry. After this had been completed, I set about using various softwares such as Meshlab, Meshmixer and Netfabb Studio to check and repair the model.
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Image showing how graph is generated from genetic code
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Image showing how genetic code can be read from Urn form
185.6 mm
124.7mm
1:1 Scale Drawing
Image detailing wall thickness that was added to mesh in order for Urn to be SLS printed
In Loving Memory of John Smith 1935 - 2013
Beloved Husband and Father UniqueGenome:
ggtttcacca tgttggccag gctggcctcg aactcctgac ctcaggtgat ccgcctgcct cagcctccta aagtgctggg attacaggcg tgagccacc acacccggc cccagatcc ctgtcttgag acataaccta caaggtgat agtg
Urn Urn becomes a way of remembering a loved one after they have passed away. The form of the urn is defined by the loved one’s genetic code, creating a one off memorial to them. It can then be used to contain their ashes, with the form resembling an embodied interpretation of their unique human code.
Optional stand and placard
Render in context
gggtcgtcag ggcgacgaaa aaggggaagg ggtgctgggc ctggcgggca aactaaggct gcggaccgtt gggcggttcc gcggggcgtt gtccggagag ctgcgaggcc ggggttccca gggttcacgc cacactctag gaagtgcctg agctagtgag ctggccaacg agctccgcgg ctgggacca tgggctgctt cttctccaag agacggaagg ctgacaagga gtcgcggccc gagaacgagg aggagcggcc aaagcagtac agctgggatc agcgcgagaa ggttgatcca aaagactaca tgttcagtgg actgaaggat gaaacagtag gtcgcttacc tgggacggta gcaggacaac agtttctcat tcaagactgt gagaactgta acatctatat ttttgatcac tctgctacag ttaccattga tgactgtact aactgcataa tttttctggg acccgtgaaa ggcagcgtgt ttttccggaa ttgcagagat tgcaagtgca cattagcctg ccaacaattt cgtgtgcgag attgtagaaa gctggaagtc tttttgtgtt gtgccactca acccatcatt gagtcttcct caaatatcaa atttggatgt tttcaatggt actatcctga attagctttc tcatgacttt acacctgtgt caggagaact caactggagc cttcttccag aagatgctgt ggttcaggac tatgttccta tacctactac cgaagagctc aaagctgttc gtgtttccac agaagccaat agaagcattg ttccaatatc ccggggtcag agacagaaga gcagcgatga atcatgctgtggtattat ttgctggtga ttacactatt gcaaatgcca gaaaactaat tgatgagatg gttggtaaag gctttttcct agttcagaca aaggaagtgt ccatgaaagc tgaggatgct caaagggttt ttcgggaaaa agcacctgac ttccttcctc ttctgaacaa aggtcctgtt attgccttgg agtttaatgg ggatggtgct gtagaagtat gtcaacttat tgtaaacgag atattcaatg ggaccaagat gtttgtatct gaaagcaagg agacggcatc tggagatgta gacagcttct acaactttgc tgatatacag atgggaatat gaagtgcaat gtggaaccag gacttggtat taagcctttc ccaacttgtg aatatagaat ttgataatac acttttgtgt attagcaatg gtttttacta atgctaaaac ttttaaagtt tattttttaa taaattgttg agtattacat catttacttg aggttcaaaa ataattcatt ttaaattaag tagttttaat cagcttaaaa gctatttaac ccattttaat aagcttgcag ttttgtttct ctgcatatga tattcttatt agaaaacaga agtagctaaa agtttattat tttaatccta tttaaatgtt ctttcaaatc tctaataatt taaactttcc tcagtgctcc atgatacttt ttttgagact ccatatcatt gcttatttta cctttttcaa tttagaggga tttgttacta gtcgatcaat tagaatgaac ctatgcacat ttttatgtac acatatccag ttatataatt gcttcctagt tgcattatat ggcaaatgag attttgtaca tggagttgac ataatacttt gtaaattgaa ttttttaaag aaataggcat ttgataacca gcttggcaag taactctact aacagatgtt ggtatagcta tttaaagact acttcgtaag tagtatgatt atttgaataa attacacatt gtttagtttt ttaatacaac tgctatatga ctcttctgct tcctgataag aaaaggtata tgcaatgcta aaactgtaga agcccaatca ccagcagttt ttaaaaaggt gataactttt attagctctt gtgggctatc aagagaattg gaacaaaacc ttgtgacttt taggtaagaa ataggcatga tgataagcta tgcagattat taaaaagctt gatacatttg atttttcatt agatatgcca ttcatatcaa gtaatgttca agtatgataa aattattttg gttgctttaa agcactgttt cccaaatcta cctgatcata ataatttacc aggaagcaga ggagagctac ttgtttaaaa atccacattc ttggacccaa tcctcagatg cacggattca gtcttcaggg gaaactctgt tttaaggggt atgttgtaat ctaaagtaat tggttcagga ggtgtcaata ggttgaactt gtgagaaggc actgaatctg ccatccacat cacatatagc agctattatg aaatcagctt tcataggcct atttttaaaa ggaatctgaa atttaattct attttgataa aactaagact gaaaataacc acttgtaaac attcctatga ttgttactaa aatgtatttt catgtttaaa atgtttttgg atatttttgg gttaataact actacattga attgcatgtt aaggtgcaga aataatacat taaaagattt tcactttaaa ttaattagta atattgagcg
RP2 in Light
RP2 in Light is a project which uses the genetic sequence of a disease known as Retinitis Pigmentosa 2. The Retinitis Pigmentosa 2 gene encodes instructions for making a protein for normal vision. When this gene malfunctions, sufferers can experience tunnel vision, blurred vision and often blindness. By taking the nucleotide sequence of RP2 and translating it into a braille format, I have evolved a lighting product. The light expresses the disorder in both a visual textual form. This was the first nucleotide sequence that I decided I wanted to encode in a product. I knew that the product was going to be a light as it best fitted with the theme of vision and blindness. I began work on the light before I started to use Cinema 4D, I was at this stage using Google Sketchup and so my tools for creation were limited. I began by mapping the sequence in Adobe Illustrator in the form of a series of graph like circles The detail was very fine and i struggled to fit the entire sequence of 3,831 base pairs into the file. However I decided to attempt to laser cut the detail as a series of 6mm ply wood rings. I had developed the idea of a series of rings inside eachother during my research into RP2. I noticed that one of the symptons of the disorder was tunnel vision and so wanted to replicate this in my light. The laser cut rings, however, didn’t pick up the detail of the sequence as well as i had liked and so i set about re-designing my method of utilising the code. At this stage I was quite far along with my Sound of CX26 project and I liked the way that the code had been translated from its raw state into a more dynamic format (sequence to sound). I began looking for ways to translate the RP2 code into an applicable format that would conceptually relate to the disorder. This is when I decided to convert the alphabetic code into braille. This seemed a fitting format due it being a language read by an RP2 sufferer. I decided to further relate to the theme of sight by inputting the braille code into the shape of an eye. I then transferred this image into Cinema 4D where I extruded it into a solid form and wrapped it around a circle to create a more efficiant light. I decided that the braille should not be raised as it is normally and instead opted for it be cut out of the light. This meant the shadows of the code would be cast in a larger area than the light itself, giving healthy sighted people an emotive insight into the disorder. For the creation of the model, I attempted to 3D print it on a 3D Touch Rapid Prototyper. The printer however created far too much extra structure around my form due to its intricate detail. I attempted to remove the extra structure, however this jeapodised the light and so I decided to SLS print it instead. I decided not to add a light itself to the piece and instead opted to display it in its more natural form. I felt that by encorporating a light fitting into the piece it would threaten my ethos of allowing the genetic code to ‘design’ the piece for me. Image showing interior surface of eye from sufferer of RP2
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38 mm
250 mm
38 mm 1:! Scale drawing flattened and wrapped form
RP2 in Light detail
Image illustrating shadows cast by braille code
RP2 in Light The Retinitis Pigmentosa 2 gene encodes instructions for making a protein for normal vision. When this gene malfunctions, sufferers can experience tunnel vision, blurred vision and often blindness. By taking the nucleotide sequence of RP2 and translating it into a braille format, I have evolved a lighting product. The light expresses the disorder in both a visual textual form.