Collaborative Design Project: Week 1

In my Algorithmic and Parametric Design Class, I'm working with a large team to "conceptualize, design and fabricate a full-scale prototype of a parametric furniture design. We will delegate tasks and roles, manage project timelines, and document the process and progress of this project, each from our own perspective, on our process blogs" (object.digital).

To fabricate these prototypes, we will be utilizing the large-format CNC router in the AUArts woodshop. Six to Eight four-foot by eight-foot 3/4-inch thick plywood sheets will be made available to my team.

Schedule:

Friday, March 11th: First meeting (20 minutes)

At the beginning of our meeting, we introduced ourselves because some of us were not familiar with each other. Our instructor, Bryan Cera, created our team (Team Two) based on our schedules and strengths. This is the first time we're working on a collaborative project. Although most of us are 2nd or 3rd year students, we haven't had many opportunities to socialize with each other due to the pandemic.

Since our first meeting was pretty short, we decided to quickly make a work schedule for the next week. I added all the members to a Microsoft Teams group chat and Chloe E. created a group Word doc where we could select the tasks we are open to doing.

Our team agreed that each member should upload inspiring images or concept sketches to the MS Teams group chat by the following Monday. We thought this could give us a better understanding of everyone's interests. Knowing everyone's interests will help us generate a concept that everyone is excited about making.

Monday, March 14th : Sharing sketches and moodboards to the group chat

On Monday, we all uploaded images and sketches of designs that interested us.

a) My Moodboard

I found a lot of my inspiration on Instagram, so I created a pdf file with my favourite posts. I included the posts from that pdf below. The designs are mostly parametric or can be recreated parametrically.

Feel free to click on the links to see more angles of the pieces or more work by each artist/designer!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu_988ulVg6/        https://www.instagram.com/p/BvSV0bGlt2H/        https://www.instagram.com/p/CYSlmx9lEu1/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqsZzuwFjve/       https://www.instagram.com/p/B09D_oAF9M1/       https://www.instagram.com/p/CWg0cqmry6B/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWRx-06pn84/       https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ5L1r0Jh49/       https://www.instagram.com/p/CWf57EIJwWb/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWG-VHgB-vT/       https://www.instagram.com/p/awWlybqa6G/       https://www.instagram.com/p/bXckExqa2e/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNZvatBAKAF/    https://www.instagram.com/p/CWoWE0yP8RV/   https://www.instagram.com/p/CLWaX5_jnCO/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZjU89cD_nf/       https://www.instagram.com/p/wUM_6oqa4U/       https://www.instagram.com/p/CWAy5XqDFYg/

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByowL8VJsJ-/       https://www.instagram.com/p/CDk9tSnJhxw/       https://www.instagram.com/p/tAZ_1PuwLb/

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As I looked through my moodboard, I noticed that I gravitated towards sculptural installations. Because this project encourages us to work in large scale, I was interesting in the idea of creating an impactful sculptural piece. I was envisioning a colourful piece that would stand out in the AUArts Main Mall.

b) My Teammates' Moodboards

It was also very interesting to see my team mates' moodboards! I downloaded all their files and put them together in a sort of collage. This will make it easier for us to compare similarities and differences among our moodboards.

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As soon as we'd uploaded our moodboards to the group chat, many of us began to chat about things that stood out to us.

On our group Word Doc, I made a table that organized team members based on their interests.

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As we messaged each other on the groupchat, we found that we resonated with Jess's idea of designing a piece for AUArts. We feel like there are some unused spaces which desperately need a glow up. I was on campus that day so I walked around and took photos of badly decorated and unused spaces.

c) AUArts Fifth Floor

    i) The Nest

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During my time as a student, I've never seen anyone use The Nest. The sign says it's a student space but a black couch blocking the entrance seems to think otherwise. Considering that there aren't many recreational spaces or lounges for students, it's a shame that this one is closed off.

As I was walking around the fifth floor, I was sending images to our group chat where we were discussing our thoughts.

Many of us were excited by the prospect of upgrading a student space on campus. 

ii) The area in front of The Nest

  

This is another student area, which is directly in front of The Nest. This one does get used occasionally by students.

After I sent this image to the group chat, a few people suggested that I walk past the printer and to the patio. I've been here for 2 years and I didn't even know we had a rooftop patio!

iii) The Rooftop Patio

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The team seemed excited about making something for the patio. A lot of people felt that it had potential to become a space that everyone would want to use.

We talked about how our structure would have to be very durable to withstand all weather conditions and frequent use.

We started to realize that this might be a big project because we'd have to consider what other furniture might eventually be in that space. We'd also have to ask permission from the school before we put anything in that space. It's uncertain whether the school administration is open minded to these type of initiatives.

If we don't end up creating something for the patio (for this project), it is still worthwhile to push for an upgrade. As students, we should have nice spaces to rest and socialize on campus.

Wednesday, March 16th: Second meeting (45 mins)

During this meeting, we tried to determine our concept based on our previous chat discussions and our moodboards. Some team members were in-person at the Thing Tank and others were attending from home.

After our group chat discussion from earlier that week, everyone seemed interesting in making a design that could stay in AUArts. Also, the majority of the team seemed interested in making furniture rather than a sculptural piece. So, we talked about the pros and cons of the different spaces we explored in the fifth floor. Based on the obstacles involved in making a durable outdoor piece, and the fact that we have 20 days to complete the project, we agreed that we would make an indoor piece.

At this point, it was a little challenging to determine the concept we wanted to go ahead with. Part of the reason is that we were talking vaguely about general things we were interested in. So, we decided that every member should prepare detailed sketches or preliminary Rhino/Grasshopper models for our next meeting. The drafts will allow us to determine what we do and don't want out of this project. Perhaps, we may be able to combine various concepts to make something that everyone likes.

My Preliminary Concepts:

a) COSMIC BENCH

This bench, inspired by planetary forms, offers 360 degree seating space. 

The ring isn't really a ring, but a large disk sandwiched between the two halves of the stacked sphere. This sandwiching method gives the seating space more stability and structure.

This version of the bench has supports. The supports don't have to have this form (I'm sure there's a better way to design them), this is just the first design I came up with.

The bench could probably be structurally sound without supports but it may require eliminating a few layers from the bottom of the sphere. If the bottom layer is greater in area, there's less chance that the bench will wobble. 

To make the bench lighter, some of the disk layers in the sphere can be turned into rings. 

This can also help reduce the amount of wood required for the design. We could potentially nest of the rings for the CNC to save wood.

b) COSMIC WORK SPACE

After I made the bench, I felt inspired and created a matching work space just for fun. 

It likely requires more wood than what we have available but I made it anyway because I didn't want to forget this concept. Maybe I could revisit this idea for a future project.

 

The idea behind this design was to create a work space/ sitting area that would give people the freedom to work/sit together or independently. 

I was inspired by Jess's suggestion of creating more work spaces for students. 

Due to it's scale, this design would have to be placed in an open public area with high ceilings. It would be ideal for a mall, theme park, science center, or large university/college.

I can increase the sitting space on the interior of the planet by making the walls less thick in the center. If the planet walls are thinned to be more like a shell, the interior would easily fit 5-7 people instead of 2.

With a design like this, I would consider incorporating outlets and LED lights into the structure. It could be a nice place to work casually and charge your device.

This design made me realize that it would be very challenging for our group to design a workspace for students. Because of the scale of workspaces, we would have to find a place to leave it on the kind-of-cramped campus. Workspaces wouldn't really fit in any of the spaces we looked at on the 5th floor. The best spot for a design like this would be the AUArts main mall. However, the university likes to keep the mall fairly minimalistic and I'm not sure if they'd approve having a design like this one for a longer period of time. 

During our meeting on Friday, I am going to ask the team to reconsider the pros and cons of making a work space.

 

c) WAVE BENCH

After noticing some potential challenges to making a work space, I designed something smaller that the university is more likely to approve.

This design has infinite colour options. Here are two of them!

Wave Bench in Seafoam

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Wave Bench in Canyon

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d) SCENIC SEATS

As I was making the Wave Bench, I thought of making landscapes with CNC milled layers of wood. That is when I thought of the concept for the Scenic Seats. The backrests would be made the same way as the backrest for the Wave Bench. For the sake of time, I just placed a 2D design on the backrests of the chairs. But if we were to make them, then they would be layered to create a relief pattern.

The colour possibilities are also ample for this design. I made two combinations: Noon and Twilight.

Scenic Seats in Noon

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Scenic Seats in Twilight

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Friday, March 18th: Third meeting / work period

This meeting hasn't happened yet, but we are planning to share our sketches and preliminary models with each other. Each person will give a short presentation in which they pitch their concepts to the rest of the group. After each presentation, the group members will provide their feedback. Once all the presentations are complete, we will try to determine our final concept and divide the tasks among the group members.