Finalising design ideas and Overcoming problems

First day back after the holidays we began to finalise our design ideas. This was so we could move forwards from the design process and begin building.

Although we are keen to move forward to building, we also do not want to rush the design stage. Throughout this week we have been discussing a few different ideas that we could begin to experiment with. These began with:

·        A hexagonal dome structure (completely enclosed)

·        A double screen height spiral structure (completely enclosed)

·        A double screen height spiral structure (partially enclosed)

·        A single and double screen height spiral structure (partially enclosed)

·        A single screen height spiral structure (partially enclosed)

As you can see from the list above, we had a range of different ideas. We were keen to discuss some of these with our tutors as well as be able to gain more information from them about what the rooftop project committee are looking for, for their space.

Having discussed these with our tutors we discovered some potential problems. As I had already raised in one of my previous posts, I as well as the rest of my group have little knowledge of building a structure and making it structurally supportive. Earlier in the week we had visited the metal workshop to ask for some advice on how we would go about attaching the screens together. They were very helpful and offered to help construct our structure when we came round to it. However, our tutors were still had their concerns.

The main problem was regarding the safety of the public and the tenants of the building. In my practice, health and safety rarely restricts what I can do, which is something new I am learning this unit. The issue we have with safety is creating a double screen height structure as it could potentially collapse and injure someone if it's not secured well. From the advise we were given we decided to rule out the possibility of the hexagonal dome structure; with the risk of collapse, a dome structure seemed a very complicated idea with the time we had left and for students who had never constructed anything of this scale before. However, the possibility of choosing one of our ideas using a double height structure also appeared less favourable. We were told that if we could prove the double height worked with physical evidence in the next couple of days then we could go ahead, otherwise we would need to rethink our idea.

Proving the double height was structurally sound enough that it would be approved by the health and safety team was seeming more difficult that we first thought, and was becoming almost impossible with the time we had left. India, Katie and I were aware that we could not focus all our time on the structure; we needed to be more realistic about the amount of work we still had to do. We agreed to be more simple with the structure and keep it to all single screen height. This would give us time to focus of the other elements of our project. We drew out some design sketches that show what we are trying to create and the size we would want it to be.

At this point in the unit we are over half way through. Although I am confident our idea is well thought out and well research, I am finding that some members of the group seem to be less enthusiastic and are becoming more uncooperative the further we have gone through the project. I have noticed this more the past week, and have found it is making it difficult to push our ideas to where they need to be at this stage of the unit.

Brainstorming ideas over Easter

In the 2 weeks that I've been home for Easter, I have been very keen to continue the ideas process in order to bring back some inspiration that I can share with the rest of the group. Having such a strong manifesto with key ideas has made it easier for me to know what sort of things to look out for when doing my research.

The key ideas being: sustainability, site specific, and sensory, I began my research by exploring Pinterest for some initial inspiration. I made myself very aware that the ideas I found online would need to be developed to suit our original thoughts, and not just a direct copy.

I initially focused my research on the sensory element. Below are a couple of images I found inspiring and intend on bringing to the group discussions after the holidays.

I feel like light plays a major part in an overall sensory experience, which is what I was looking at in these images. We are trying to focus on creating an environment with a relaxing/calming atmosphere. So as well as light, I began to look into colour and how each colour makes you feel. This information will be very helpful in choosing the colours we intend on work with. From my research it was clear that colours such as orange, yellow, green, blue, and white would all be suitable for the experience we are trying to create. For example, orange is associated with happiness and creativity, and green has strong correspondence with safety, harmony and freshness.

Before this research, as a group we had quickly discussed the colours we had visualised in our heads. As we had chosen to work with the used print screens with colour already on them, we were thinking of using these as well as including the greens and blues to anything else we made. Realistically colour hasn't been the main priority in this research stage; however I felt that looking further into it at this stage would have us in a better mind set in the weeks to come. Also, in the past refining my colour palette has been something I have struggled with, so wanted to give myself time to think about it in the early stages of the project.

This unit I want to build on the things I learnt from the locating unit. One of my downfalls last term was not paying so much attention to the Learning Outcomes. This unit I want to make sure I understand each one fully in order to maximise my opportunity of increasing my grade.

Following my research into colour and light, I began to look into different structures that we could incorporate the screens into. Below are a couple of ideas I thought we could experiment with.

The only problem with these examples is that coming from a textile background I have no knowledge of how they would attach together and whether it would even be safe. This is an important question I will raise with the group when we next meet.

We had communicated once or twice at the beginning of the holidays to confirm the main ideas so that we were all on the same page with our research. We agreed we wanted to create a sensual enclosed structure. This was refined, but broad enough for us all to come back with a wide range of ideas to discuss.

Finally, as a way of following the sensory idea right through the design, I wanted to look into ways of creating this experience inside the structure too. Looking at my earlier research, this could be done using the lighting and colour ideas already discussed, as well as incorporating touch and smell.

Below is an example of the sort of thing I had visualised.

My initial thoughts with these are that they incorporate colour as well as touch (in that they are soft/comfy which would give a relaxing sensation). We could also look into experimenting with different smells, natural and artificial, combining them with the sorts of things you can see from the second image. I feel as though I would be quite relaxed in this sort of environment, which is something I have been keeping in mind throughout my research; “how would I feel in this environment?”