Final journal glen george 638042

MODULE 1 - IDEATION

SYSTEM-PANEL AND FOLD

Glen George 638042

INVESTIGATING SYSTEMS

PANEL AND FOLD

The fan looks at the panel and fold system. It is made up of paper, metal, plastic and fabric.

The fan acts around a single pin joint which holds each stick together and allows the sticks to pivot. An external force is requited to open and close the fan.

Dimensions: Closed- Height 255mm width 25mmOpen- Height 255mm width 45mm

PANEL AND FOLD - FAN

Down

Down

Up

Tention is applied when the fan is open spreading the membrane (fabric).

Sticks pivot around the central pin.

Pinjoint pushes sticks together to hold them in place.

2

Closed fan Open fan

2

1

1

Glen George 638042

PANEL AND FOLD - FAN

Plan

Front Side

Pinjoint section

Pull out

Pull out

Sticks pivot around pinjoint

Fabric tightens

External froce is required to open and close the fan.Scale of 1:3

Scale of 1:1

Glen George 638042

3D Fan Modeling

Rhino

This was my first time using the Rhino 5 software. The program is relatively straightforward but took quite a bit of time to get used to, still plenty of things I still need to work out to enhance and improve my models.

To the right is the technical out line of a fan, which displays the panel, and fold system that I will be exploring throughout this journal.

Glen George 638042

3D Fan Modeling

Rhino

I chose to use simple colours to render the fan, the light wood colour if used for the sticks while red is used for the paper to create an obvious contrast between the two major aspects of the fan.

The sticks are held together using the pivot joint at the base of the sticks allowing them to rotate. The paper is the folding aspect which restricts the point of movement that the fan can undergo.

The sticks are attached to the paper of the fan. The paper prevents the sticks from rotating to far around the pivot joint.

The Pivot joint is what hold the sticks of the fan together and allows them to rotate apart and back together opening and closing the fan.

The paper fold in and out allowing it to expand and contract as the fan opens and closes, these ripples created by the folds are very obvious when the fan is open giving them a distinguishable form.

Object Reconfiguration

Fan

I found it really difficult to come up with an object to make out of the fans components. In the end I decided on a boat as it incorporated aspects of volume as well using the system within the structure.

The sail of the boat uses the pinjoint system and cut up sections of the fan.

We were told to create a model using our object and or new materials to investigate our system and the ideas of volume. The fan was unassembled relatively easily. It was interesting to see how unstable and unsupported the fan became once the paper had been removed. The wooden sticks no longer had any form and bent variously. The fan could now rotate 360 degrees around the pivot joint but could not come together in a neat bundle as it did when attached to the paper.

Generation of ideas

Second Skin

This idea like most of mine looks heavily at incorporating the pin joint system in a manor that promotes and displays a means of protection from the invasion of personal space. I decided to use the elbow joint as the point of rotation at which the second skin can function and move. It would rotate on the movement of the forearm creating a defensive second skin when the arm in pulled up for protection.

The idea is a very loose representation of what I would want to create. It focuses predominately on function as appose to design, as that is the next step in the process.

Generation of ideas

Second Skin

Similar to the elbow design this one looks at the movement imposed by a joint in the body. Focussing on the shoulder this design aims to protect the head and upper body when the arm is down.

The design could move as the arm moves up and down so when the arm is up there is no need for the second skin to act and protect but when the arm drops the second skin activates creating a protective barrier.

Generation of ideas

Second Skin

The face is a very personal area of the body and if probably the easiest part of the body to be invaded in terms of personal space. In order to protect your face a mask would be an ideal second skin that protects not only physically but also mentally as the identity of the wearer is protected.

I would expect this design to rotate off a pin joint at the side of the head. The idea of the mask extends your ideology of where abouts your personal space boundary is, it s a variable space and one that can be altered by the second skin.

MODULE 2 - Design

Second skin, personal space

Glen George 638042

The idea of using defence, as a means to define personal space is a very surface based idea and doesn’t seem to dive deep enough into varied ideas of what personal space actually is.

The panel and fold system relies heavily on extension and retraction which if something that would be really good to include in the design. The wing idea used in a more literal sense means this extension is emphasised and a more intimate personal space can be explored.

Defensice skin

Embrasive skin

Encompassing the arm alone with a defensive mechanism is an idea that may be a little too straightforward.

I feel as thought the idea of embracing someone within your personal space is a more underrated and personal approach to the concept. By digging deeper into this idea of ‘Wrapping’ the subject within the second skin the definition and concept will become more powerful and meaningful.

Second Skin Design Exploration

This is the first of our rhino models that explores the idea of personal space, it involves the two fans wrapping around the body enclosing the head and upper body of the person inside.


These sketches look into various way that the body can be ‘wrapped.’ They aren’t exactly design ideas but rather conceptual visualisations of how the body can be enveloped by the second skin and ways in which the form of the second skin is influences and determined by the form and structure of the body.

To the right is our second exploration of rhino; this model looks at trying to include the use of paneling tools into the design.


Exploring the idea of the face being the most vulnerable section of the body leads to this mask idea. The concept behind it is that the face is hidden hiding identity, which is a bit aspect of personal space. Cracks are and gaps are shown in the mask where essentials expose such as speech and vision are allowed. The mask provides a sense of security, as your personal space is perceived differently.

The face can be revealed and the main portion of the second skin can retract when the wearer feels secure. The blank surface of the mask allows for panelling to be done on the surface in order to create a surface that is more reflective of the concept.


Precedents

Elisa Gilis, 2013, Paper Mask - Second Skin Contest, Behance, viewed 20 August 2013, <http://www.behance.net/gallery/Paper-Mask-Second-Skin-contest/9657563>

For my precedents I chose to look at a work by Elisa Gilis, a student from Belgium who’s designed the artwork specifically as a second skin for a school project. I felt that the artwork linked very strongly with our theme and ideas, which we wish to communicate through our second skin. The fact that this piece focuses on the head and creates a wrapping effect around head is very appealing; this is the type of effect we want to achieve with our design. When dealing with personal space the head seems to be the most personal and protected area of the body. Our design is looking to focus on the head and including another person within that personal space. The wrapping of materials that can be seen in this work is something that could be useful in using to wrap and include a second person into the second skin that we design. The use of cutting to create transparent patterns is also a very interesting idea both aesthetically and conceptually. By creating the second skin with some transparency in it would allow a less confined and restricted space that the second skin would form. The use of various colours within the materials is probably something we would look to avoid to a large extent as it defers away from the conceptual meaning of the piece. If we ended up going in a direction that prompted the use various coloured materials then it would be something that could look nice, its good to get a visual idea of how this would look before were thought of implementing it ourselves. One thing this piece diverts from which we want to include is the use of a system to show some form of movement. The attachment the second skin has with the body will be the vital aspect of the design, which will allow our design to have the space and mobility to move using our chosen system. In this artwork the second skin attaches in a way a hat attaches when worn, we will have to thing a little more complex and diverse then this too come up with a more practical attachment that would allow movement.


The idea of a mast along with the idea of wrapping can be combined together creating a facemask that wraps around the body as well as the head.

The main conceptual idea we had as a group was the idea of having a second skin that looks at interactive personal space, this means we wanted the second skin to have the function of wrapping someone else up inside wit you, this creates an intimate space that you only allow the closest of people that you feel comfortable with inside.


From this idea of social and interactive personal space we decided to further develop the concept in order to generate some sort of form. To do this we decided we would track the eye movement of people when they were in a close personal conversation with another person.

The two people sat opposite each other and engaged in conversation while a third person watched the eyes of the models and tracked on paper the directions they moved and the places they tended to look.

Above are the sketches of the eye movement. we found that each peson has a different way of engaging in conversation therefore our second skin would be personal and specific to the particular wearer. Despite different eye movements we found that there were a few places that the subjects tended to look while in conversation that related to both of the tested models. This was an interesting concept and one I felt necessary to explore.


I took the two sketch variations of the eye movement and created a loose and simplified version that looks at specific points that are exaggerated in both of the tests. It shoes the major direction that the eyes move relevant to both of the models, this was a good way to get a more general, broad and simplified map of the eye movement.


I created a rough sketch of a face and using the eye as the central reference point I drew the map of eye movement over the head to get a general shape.

Once I had the shape I gave it a more solid form that followed the same track but had some dimension to it. This first sketch however resembled hair a lot and so I thought it needed to be simplified again and a new pattern needed to be added. That leads us to the rough concept to the right.


The first idea of wrapping the head with a rigid structure is a bit to static for what we want out of the second skin. The ability of the skin to alter its shape and form and be dynamic, much like that fan is, is an appealing design quality we would like to explore.

This design uses the same concept and idea as the other, however it has dynamics and is able to adjust and move to suit different contexts. The blue points marked on the drawing are would be an example of how the mapped points of transparency would be projected onto the model.


Looking into some materiality I think cut card would be the most effective material to use to create this second skin. Solid shapes work well in reference to privacy but it can create quite an isolated experience.

Using translucent spaces within the solid shape is a way to open up the second skin to the outside world. This allowed privacy and external vision by creating a skin with both solid and transparent aspects.

The shape is quite a simple one that uses three basic folds, which create a three-dimensional structure. This is a the panel we will most likely use as it can be repeated and connected multiple times over a large distance.

Avove are the back and front views of the prototype


Images on page referenced from (Tomar, 2013)

MODULE 3- Fabrication


Glen George 638042

3D Modeling

Rhino

Birds eye and orthographic viewpoints

As a group we decided that the main conceptual idea we wanted to continue with was having a personal space that not only encompasses the second person but also has an interactive space. This means we wanted the space to be dynamic and change as the people inside changed their emotions and feelings. The original track mapped out on rhino shows the basic shape that the second skin would default too when not being altered and moved.

3D Modeling

Rhino

We went off on a slight tangent wit the design in making a rigid tract that would allow the model to better hold its shape. The issue with this was that the design lost its dynamic quality and became a more solid second skin, which is not what we really wanted from the design. The form that we design does have an important conceptual theme and idea behind it in terms of where your eye moves and how you view the other people within you personal space, however this is still a variable concept and no one person looks in the same places at the same time, all the time. Therefore having this shape, which can move and alter as the people within it do so became the most important theme to us.

3D Modeling

Rhino

These rhino models show the roughly mapped shape with the panels we chose mapped onto it. Although it is a very simple shape, when repeated the panels create quite a complex structure that is not only dynamic but also holds its shape quite well.

Fab Lab Modeling

Rhino

01 02 03

To the right is the template we sent into the fab lab. We man-aged to fit a reasonable amount on each sheet. The tabs were a late edition after we identified issues with the proto-type in terms of construction and flexibility without tabs.

Below are the steps in creating the models, cut the shapes, fold them and finally attached them together. We were ex-tremely pleased with flexibility and movement the model was capable of despite it holding shape due to the addition of the tabs.

Modeling Process

Production

These steps show a more detailed description of the construction of the model. The final step involved us cutting the holes out of the model at the points of transparency. We had decided on using a mixture of black and white to further emphasise our points of transparency. This turned out to be quite a weak resolve and unfortunately wasn’t our greatest decision, however I feel as though aesthetically it isn’t too bad and so we decide to follow through with the hole cutting and leave the contrast in the design.

Final Model

Rhino

These images show the diversity in the models shape. It can be spread out long, compressed into a tightly packed component and rolled up into a ball. We were most pleaded at how aesthetically the second skin looked in all of its various forms as well as the way it could be so dynamic but also hold itself in a rigid shape when requited.

Final Model

Properties

Model Analysis

Comparison

The final design does somewhat represent some of our original conceptual sketches as comparisons can be made between the two. The way the model can extend around the body and over the head of a single wearer is something we had hope we could achieve as well as the second skin encompassing the two people.

This image defines the similarities between our rhino model and the final model; the dynamic flexibility of the design comes through reasonably well between the model and the rhino model. The two match quite well with only a few minor differences. These differences were hard to factor for as it is very difficult to construct a dynamic model on a rhino program which shows a static representation, this would be one of the points we would need to work o more heavily in future assignments.

Model Analysis

Comparison

MODULE 4- REFLECTION


Glen George 638042

Relfection

Process Final model

Throughout the design process of the second skin there was a lot of obstacles and issues that needed resolution to over come. The lectures and case studies were very useful tool in encouraging us and spiking motivation to push through. It was easy to see the architectural images and get inspiration for my own work throughout the semester as well as brainstorm solution and design strengths about my work. Personally I found the reading more off topic and less relevant or inspiring. They often diverged down a path, which I did not feel quite necessary to pursue.

Working in a group was something new to me. I haven’t really had to rely on other before in order to complete my own work. I found this a very valuable learning experience, as I was lucky enough to have a good group that was motivated and eager to do what needed to be done when it needed to be done. There were issues such as which paths to take where opinions collided but these become easy to over come through compromise and discussion.

I feel as though the project itself was quite loosely defined with a few loose ends, which were hard to comprehend, but in the end I feel as though our final design somewhat fitted the design brief we were given. There are areas of the final second skin, which we designed, that are weaker then we had hoped such as the use of black and white card instead of the single colour, the length of the model and the effectiveness of the holes, which were to allow transparency. Despite these minor flaws we were happy and pleased with he way things turned out. It is and extremely satisfying feeling when finishing this subject as you feel as though you have really achieved something, even if it may be a new skill or idea which will help you through further years.

I found the hardest part of the course using the rhino software to create models, it was a difficult thing to wrap my head around but again it was a valuable learning curve. I find it intriguing to look back to where we started this semester and see how far we have come in achieving such a refined model. It was a good semester that has given me new skill and new things to work towards.

Bibliography

References

REFERENCES

All sketches: Own sketches, Glen George

Photographs: Combination of group, Simran Tomar, Alex Mackie and Glen George

Rhiono models: Combination of group, Simran Tomar, Alex Mackie and Glen George

Precedents image: Elisa Gilis, 2013, Paper Mask - Second Skin Contest, Behance, viewed 20 August 2013, <http://www.behance.net/gallery/Paper-Mask-Second-Skin-contest/9657563>

Inspiration readings:

Heatherwick, T (March 2011) Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral [Video file] retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_heatherwick.html

Sommer, R 1969, ‘ Spatial invasion’ in Sommer, R, Personal space : the behavioral basis of design, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J, pp. 26-38

Kolarevic, B, 2003 “Digital Production” in Architecture in the Digital Age - Design and Manufacturing , Spon Press, London, pp30-54

Documents

Final journal glen george 638042