VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON Te Whare Wananga o te Upoko o te Ika a Maui
School of Design Te Kura Hoahoa
INDN 211: INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROJECT THREE: Composing with physical and mechanical Ideas and practices Due:
Part A Part B
9:30am Tuesday 3rd May 2011 9:30am Friday 13th May 2011
10% of Total Course 20% of Total Course
To minimize the arbitrariness of form in the built environment is to maximize its performance. To maximize performance is to accomplish objectives in the most effective manner while minimising the use of energy and materials resources. This is not necessarily to say that design objectives should be compromised in order to save natural resources, but it does suggest that design objectives should be performance orientated. One of the limitations of a “visual effects� approach to form is that it encourages a direction that is not particularly sensitive to performance-orientated solutions. Pearce, Peter and Susan, Experiments in Form, 1980
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INTRODUCTION This project explores the notion that physical and mechanical ideas and practices are fundamental to the realisation of design solutions. Our approach as always is inherently focused on design and how these particular fields relate to it. We will be exploring the necessary balance between creative/lateral and pragmatic/analytical thinking and the role they both play in effective design. The saying that “there are many ways to skin a cat” is the founding idea of this project. You are required to experiment with a range of creative and lateral ideas, schemes, plans, beliefs or hypothetical solutions to solve a given mechanical and structural problem You must explore as diverse a range of solutions as conceivable and then refine these into an effective physical and aesthetic design. Often the importance of the decision ‘which engineering principle to use, to achieve a design outcome’ is underestimated. This can result in a product that either performs poorly or that requires a large amount of material and engineering complexity to achieve its given function. It is also critical to comprehend that a failure of one part, material or process out of many can easily render the total product obsolete with both financial and environmental costs. For these reasons basic engineering principals and understanding are critical to the industrial design profession. The notions of elegance and economy are to be fundamental in your design approach to this project. This requires that the aesthetic and mechanical elements of your design will be heavily inter-related and will influence each other to create a design solution that simultaneously acknowledges and resolves both needs. Often a creative solution can be developed from the non-typical application of a given theory so don’t assume that you have to ‘re-design the wheel’ you might be more successful simply using the wheel in a new way.
DESIGN CHALLENGE You are to design a machine that is capable of holding and moving a given object through a series of precise movements. This year the object will be a 28mm long office pin that will be supplied to you with this brief. It can be held at either end. The free end must move in a controlled manner from an origin point to a final resting point. This movement will be exactly 100mm in the horizontal axis x, 20mm in the y axis and 4mm in the vertical z axis. Your machine must be placed on a planar material of your choice 300mm x 300mm. The movement of your pin including the initial force used to start the movement will be provided by a small electrical motor. (Max 6volt) Once the motor has been activated you are not permitted to touch the mechanism or the motor other than switching it off at the end of the cycle. Ideally it would come to rest automatically. N.B. You are required to go beyond simply performing the mechanical task to do it with style, precision, creativity and a clear overall design intention. As part of your final submission you are required to produce a 10 second video of the movement and thus consider the poetic and aesthetic qualities of the movement itself.
PROCEDURE Examine in detail the specifics of the task required of you and use this as inspiration to create possible solutions and a general design approach.
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Explore as many different physical principles as possible. These could include linear or plannar structures and engineering systems such as gears, levers, screw threads, chains, pulleys, conveyers, hydraulics or something as simple as silk thread. Consider the aesthetic ramifications and potential of these choices. To explore and develop your ideas use technical drawings (plans, side and front elevations), force diagrams, 2d card models and 3d prototypes and test rigs. This development process should evolve the design. Each model and drawing should be a development of the previous design. Overlaid technical drawings on draughting film can be an effective technique and starting point for the development of your design. These testing and development methods will give specific feedback to check the difference between imagined and actual performance. Continue to refine your design until you have fully resolved your design in all aspects, considering the efficient use of materials, their visual qualities and the aesthetic qualities of the movement. Explore the specific engineering qualities of your proposed materials and check this against their required function. This could include stiffness, friction, ability to be worked and general availability. (Refer to technical specification from material suppliers). Often a very small change in material selection will make a great deal of difference in a products longevity and performance. In exploring movement, be careful to address the functional principles of connections both in a static origin (a foundation) and in dynamic task connections (the rod). During this and all projects you should be intensely using the facilities of your design studio space, the technical workshop facilities, and other technologies within and outside of the school. This is critical to develop discussion and debate amongst your colleagues, to allow a productive class dynamic to evolve. E.G. get out of your bedrooms and get other peoples opinions about your designs as you are doing them! Talk to specific experts and collect relevant technical information to substantiate your design selections in material or mechanical principle choices. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS The minimum submission requirements for Project Three are: Part A 1) 2:1, 5:1 or 10:1 scale plan and elevations, either manual technical drawings or drawings generated using SolidWorks (3 different development principles). 2) Force diagrams and card models (overlaid on your technical drawings). 3) At least 1 full size test rig verifying that the main aspect of your mechanical principle will work. Part B 4) Development test rigs and detail resolution 5) One fully functional prototype (this must be aesthetically and mechanically resolved). 6) A 10 second video capturing the poetics of movement (no bigger than 5MB) ASSESSMENT CRITERIA course.
Part A 10 % of the course
and
Part B 20 % of the
In addition to the criteria listed in the overall Course Outline, you will be assessed in this project on the following: Part A 1. Creative and lateral approach to resolving the given problem. 2. Appropriateness of the tests and testing methods 3. Technical drawings, sketches and card models
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Part B 4. Mechanical performance. NB. This requires a well developed design and suitably crafted prototype / test rig. 5. Creative and lateral approach to resolving the given problem. 6. Elegance and economy of the design focusing on the refinement of the mechanical and aesthetic issues. 7. Poetic quality of the movement. SCHEDULE OF SESSIONS AND HAND-IN DATES P 2 P 3 14
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16 17 18
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Tue 5 April
VS 221
Fri 8 April
VS 303 TBA
Tue 12 April
VS 221 VS 303
Seminar/Lecture: Project 3 Composing with Physical and Mechanical Ideas and Practices Individual instruction: P2 final vac formings and photography Hand-in and class review of PROJECT 2 15% Seminar/Lecture: Composing with Physical and Mechanical Ideas and Practices 2 Individual instruction: Idea generation
Fri 15 April
VS 303
Individual instruction: Idea generation and test samples
Mon 18 April Mon 25 April Tue 3 May
Mid Trimester Break
VS 303
Hand-in and class review of PROJECT 3 Part A 10%
Fri 6 May
VS 303
Individual instruction: design development
Mid Trimester Break
Tue 10 May VS 221 VS 303
Seminar/Lecture: Composing with Physical and Mechanical Ideas and Practices 3 Individual instruction: design resolution
Fri 13 May
Hand-in and class review of PROJECT 3 Part B 20%
TBA
REFERENCE MATERIAL
The following additional references are all on Closed Reserve in the library to assist you with this project. NB: Refer also to the reference list handed out with the original Course Outline. Author
Title
Jodidio, Phillip
Santiago Calatrava
Call No. NA1313 C 143 J63 S
Pearce, Peter and Susan Experiments in Form
NK 1510 P359 E
Fuller, Buckminster Marks, Robert
The Dymaxion world of Buckminster Fuller
TA 140 F967 M346 D
Kellogg, Richard
Demonstrating structural behaviour
TA 638 K29 D
Vogel, Steven library)
Cats’ Paws and Catapults
Lost technology series number J 621.8 BRO
507 Mechanical Movements (ISBN 0-917914-25-2) Wellington Public library call
ISBN 0-14-027733-1 (Not at VUW
In addition; explore industrial, material, component, and engineering catalogues, many of which are downloadable from the internet.
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