When designing the table, I didn’t include a retainer for the soil and rhizome. If I packed dirt into the leg itself, harvesting the table would result in a shortened leg (the space that the dirt occupies). Wanting to stick with the right angled aesthetic, I’ve been designing a planter for the straight leg of the table to fit snugly into. I avoided plastic because I thought it may crack from rhizome growth or the weight of it’s contents. Although wood may prove to be a poor choice as well, it’s easier to work with and will take the weight of the table.
Anticipating that the bamboo will not want to grow “down” at second leg of the table, I designed the planter with open sides, allowing for watering at multiple orientations. I chose Poplar (over Oak and Cedar) for it’s nice grains and ochre hue. I’m unsure if it will warp after watering the plant, so I will apply a few coats of Polyurethane to lessen the water damage.
My third design iteration is a half-size, scale model in clear acrylic. It is intended to be a coffee table mold for bamboo to grow through. This model proved to have good structural integrity, without needing cantilevering. Here are photos of the test assembly taped together, as well as my process of glueing sides together with Weld-On. I was so excited to to assemble it that I glued it together before I routed the bamboo shoots through it. This hindered my ability to properly insert my smaller bamboo (Fargesia Robusta) into it’s cavity. Lesson learned. Time to redesign the table to incorporate disassembly!
Frustrated with my thesis paper, I decided to empty my head. I’ve been researching conceptual projects and tree sculpting, but I couldn’t find the answers I sought. Maybe the answers are in the questions.
Would you still buy something if you knew it could be grown?
If you knew that you could grow it? What would you grow? A chair? A bicycle? A house? And how long would you wait for it to grow? Would you wait six months for a table? How about a year? Would you wait longer if it were to the proportions of your choosing? What is the relationship to that length of time and that which it would take you to earn the money to simply purchase it? Is there something you would wait for to grow, but never purchase?
Let’s take this a step further. What if you could design a product and have a machine grow it for you? Would you wait for it to grow if it required less attention? Would you buy such an apparatus? How much would you spend on such an apparatus? Would you buy multiple apparatuses to grow more at once? Would you buy items you were capable of growing in the interest of saving time? Would your items’ value be based on the length of time they took to grow? By how closely they resemble the initial plan? Would they lose value if your hand were visible in its shape?
How would you design your objects? Would you rather wield greater control or allow for innacuracies in your product? Do these inaccuracies affect its value?
Once your piece grew to its intended size, would you harvest it? Would you grow it inside or out? Would you worry someone would reap your product? Is there a specific piece you would keep alive? Would you take the time to maintain it? Would you let it grow to the ceiling? Would you let it grow thick with leaves and branches? Would you meticulously prune and primp?
If you were moving out, would you take the extra care to safely pack it? Would you give it away? Would you throw it out? Would you mulch it? Would you plant it into the ground? Would you take it to a forest? How much of your current furniture would you take with you if you had to move? Would you take more if you could change it’s dimensions? What if you could add or remove features?
Q: “This is all great, but I don’t know how to use a CAD (computer aided design) program .”
A: Fear not, the world is changing. Communities exist such as Thingiverse (www.thingiverse.com), where designers open source their two and three dimensional designs for others to use and repurpose.
Q: “But I don’t own any 3D CAD software”
A: With open source software Blender and Google Sketchup, 3D design is no longer a “pay to play” field of study.
Weary to waste acrylic, I had my first prototype laser cut out of foamcore. Not only is this material inexpensive, but it is 3/16″ thick, which gives me a better idea on how my pieces are fitting together (the plastic will be 1/4″ thick). Check out how the foam contracted from the heat of the laser. Reminds me of marshmallows. Mmm.
It was a good thing. I was so caught up learning how to properly merge and divide paths in illustrator, I made all edges homogeneous. Or maybe it was the lack of sleep.
You can judge by the photographs how far I could assemble the table with all of the mistakes that existed. The tops and bottoms were fine, but the side tabs were reversed. Doh!
Here’s a detail of one of the more troublesome pieces. All the notes made for a nice acrylic piece on my second iteration.
“Gravitropism (or geotropism) is a turning or growth movement by a plant or fungus in response to gravity. Charles Darwin was one of the first to scientifically document that roots show positive gravitropism and stems show negative gravitropism. That is, roots grow in the direction of gravitational pull (i.e., downward) and stems grow in the opposite direction (i.e., upwards). This behaviour can be easily demonstrated with a potted plant. When laid onto its side, the growing parts of the stem begin to display negative gravitropism, bending (biologists say, turning; see tropism) upwards.”
A good friend of mine and experienced carpenter, Matt Richard, helped to design and fabricate a rotating planter. I was fretting about engineering a three-axis apparatus for a weeks. Matt talked some sense into me, suggesting that I fabricate immediately, and settle for one-axis of rotation for a proof of concept. After we finished the design, we realized that we could rotate the plant inside the holder, making it a dual axis planter. Thanks Matt!
I have “before” picture on my phone. Soon to come.
In the meantime, check out the result after ~ 1 wk!
Grow it Yourself (or GIY) is the idea that one can grow an entire product. For my main focus, I am designing a jig for growing a table from bamboo. Case studies, such as attempting to grow a right angle, will serve as helpful data for later attempts at growing “parts” or whole objects. I believe that this could be augment future manufacturing practices. If combined with genetic modification, one could harvest designer building materials. By cultivating these super-materials, we will lessen deforestation.
I will also devise supplemental studies of how one can manipulate bamboo through various environmental stimuli that could aide in future development.
I am also developing a modular system for growing a complex shape by stacking or connecting modules. This may not be ready by the end of the semester, but it seems the next logical step in my design process.
This project will prove a challenge on many levels, as it’s harder to maintain plants in an urban environment. Also, I’m rather uninformed in cultivating flora.
Here are some sketches of table designs. The weave pattern is meant to be the table top. I am unsure how I would produce this complex pattern as a hollow container. I’m leaning toward a two part mold. Zach Smith suggested I thermoform the plastic, although that means I need a positive to form the plastic. This may not be the approach I want to take.
Sometimes when I ride the subway, I stand in the middle of the aisle with my knees bent and ride the train as if it were a less predictable ski-slope. It’s rather easy but it’s exciting when you catch an empty express train. The express trains reach higher speeds, so the feeling is much closer to riding downhill.
After a week or so of building and testing these boards indoors, Marko and I finally took ’em for a ride on the N train to Astoria at about 2 or 3 am. Here are some pictures of the ride.
Marko wrote a Jitter patch that takes accelerometer & gyroscope data from a WiiMote and jogs through video accordingly. The idea is to have the WiiMote attached to the deck while a friend is holding a pico (mini) projector that plays content based on your subway board skills. Marko came up with some nice animations to project (he’ll post soon). I’ve been clinging to the idea of giving the user an immersive experience like surfing pipeline.
The video would be a first person surfing experience, with the accelerometer dictating your placement on the wave. Leaning forward on the deck would increase your speed, while leaning backward would slow you down. Balancing directly on the center edge of the board would trigger some visual effects (maybe a virtual hand dragging across the wave).
Board tricks would ideally generate applause, but realistically I don’t think the system should include speakers. Maybe some campy effects like sea creatures appearing when a trick is landed. This might demand a force sensing resistor to determine if the user stays on the board after the trick is executed.
Creating an embedded monitoring system to for personal health.
User may customize balance/ratio of nutrients and system vitals to fit his or her needs. For example, a body builder may need specific protein levels and electrolytes, whereas the pregnant user may want to monitor toxins, anitbodies, potential illness, minerals, etc, for heathy fetal development.
Preggers: Vitamin B-9. Synthesize and repair DNA. Cell division and cell growth.
Microarray of repurposed bacterial designed for biological feedback. Each bacterial “pixel” corresponds to a metabolic condition and and visually represents its value through color saturation. Matrix snapshots are taken at a steady rate, enabling a system-wide report over time. This type of monitoring leads to a heightened awareness that would take part in everyday choices, including but not limited to: excercise, diet, sleep, supplements, habitat, etc.
A matrix approach would lend itself as a traditional data chart similar to a QR code.
Another visual option is to use the bacteria as logic to augment the appearance of a tattooed scene. The circuit is similar to that being developed by Philips. The art is personalized, while details are represented in accordance with metabolic readings. Users may assign specific chemical cues to have more dramatic alerts on their skin. For instance, a diabetic may correlate insulin levels to a highly reactive visualization, perhaps a large tattooed region turning red.
For confidential monitoring, one may embed wireless chip into skin and couple to personal device. The transmission would be encrypted en route to user and optionally to physician.
I am obsessed with hoodies. I probably have 15 of em. I’ve entertained the thought of starting a blog dedicated to them. I also love music. Sometimes I don’t want my commute to end until the album does the same. Half the time, I rock earbuds for their storing convenience. The other half I’m wearing a proper pair of headphones – a light-weight medium size, or when I’m listening to a mix or a favorite album, an over-sized pair of closed-ear cans. Hoodie + big headphones = compromise.
If I’m wearing medium to large headphones, I will have to either leave the hood down or deal with slightly muffled sound when placing them over the hood. If only my hoodies had headphones embedded into them, it’d be the best combination since peanut butter & chocolate or kittens with lasers.
So as to tackle one problem at a time, I will buy ready made headphones. I’m leaning towards headphones made for helmets, as they are low profile and usually come with an amp in-line (to overcome wind noise). The lining should be adjustable as different users means different ear position.
I would like to incorporate control commands for my iPod into the sweatshirt as well. There are quite a few commands to send a music player so I haven’t decided whether to try to incorporate them all throughout the shirt or to narrow down functionality. Play-Pause is the most fundamental. Volume and next/previous track are the other two I’m planning on designing into the circuit.
Once I start to experiment with materials the design, and limitations of features, will become apparent. Here are some very basic ideas.
Assignment: Create a material or design an object exploring materiality.
After waiting for several weeks for my silver nitrate (to mirror glass), it was time to cut my losses and come up with a new solution to meet the criteria of this assignment. Jorge Just had also been looking for inspiration with little time before the deadline. We decided to work together to hasten the creative process.
We ran the gamut of conductive materials: glue, paint, gack, cloth, paper, etc. Without a specific function in mind, they seem to fall under the recurring projects at ITP. Jorge was drawn to making something living. Originally, he suggested that we make a bracelet from fruit fly cultures. The bracelet would augment to the flies’ life cycle, as it would hatch eggs and produce new flies.
To give an example of our direction, one of my ideas was to cut glasses frames from raw onions to make masochistic fashion. At the time, we could not determine a method of making the structure rigid and maintain the airflow of the onions to the eyes.
We chose to play with the role of materiality in fashion. The original idea, an earthworm necklace, was far simpler than the finished product. Simply put, a necklace that challenges the fashionista’s comfort level. We would sew earthworms together, “head to toe,” to make up a link necklace. This design takes into account the worm’s regenerative properties.
Due to time constraints we were limited to mealworms. I sprinted from NYU to Union Square to Petco in the ten minutes before closing. Whew. Jorge purchased needles and thread and we returned with our materials. We realized mealworms are far more grotesque and pungent than earthworms. After the push-pin test (which we intentionally did not document), it became rather obvious that these worms had not the regenerative properties on which our design rested.
Replacing earthworms with mealworms essentially redirected the entire project. How one wear mealworms without having to physically link the insects together? We chose to display them in plastic. Luckily, Arturo Viddich, a fellow student who works at the Advanced Media Studio, confirmed there being no queue for the laser cutter, and scheduled us for a morning appointment.
Although there were many ways to design the bangle, we chose a sandwiching approach, to ensure alignment and stability. Also, glues for plastic give off toxic fumes, so we wanted to avoid using glue thereby safely displaying our new pets.
The problem with receiving laser-cut materials the day of your presentation is that slight inaccuracies in the cuts prove to be more serious. In our case, the .125″ diameter (1/8th) ended up looking more like .112″, which meant we were filing all of the holes or finding new bolts. Adam Lassy hooked us up with some 4-40 screws about a third the length we designed for, but enough to room for a single middle layer (one cavity layer for the worms). Here are some pics of the product we displayed in class.
Over the break Jorge and I went back for the little buggers with some longer bolts and a Canon G9.
After disassembling the first bracelet, we laid out all of the pieces. Notice the thinner rings. They make up the inner and outer walls for the hollow (middle) sections.
Once we had the gipper ready to load, well, that we did. Bring on the worms dawg.
[flickr-gallery mode=”tag” tags=”add worms” tag_mode=”all” sort=”date-taken-asc”]
We convinced the lovely Angela Chen to wear our “worm bracelet.” Upon first examination, she questioned the label we offered with: “why ‘worm’ it should be more modular…AAAAH!!” I probably got a kick out of putting worms on a girl’s wrist at the age of five as well. Ah, takes me back. Good work Ang!
Finally, what would a product be without some hot lightbox shots? Nothing. The worms look like they’re sitting behind some baller tints in some of these. “You talkin’ to me Holmes?!?”
The design constraint is to make something modular. The most rewarding feature of modular design is rearranging and experimenting with its form. We considered how this characteristic could suit the function of an object.
My instinct was to create a piece of origami that had circuitry printed on it with conductive ink. As you folded it to different configurations, the piece of origami would also change function in addition to its form. As a novice folder, I felt that this might be too complicated of an approach for an initial design.
Lara and I started experimenting with different existing fold patterns. It is not our intention to reinvent the wheel, but to adopt a system conducive to shaping an object of our liking. Here are some of our original studies with fold patterns and module types. As you can see, they were not very suitable for a user to readily swap in/out pieces.
We had already seen some videos on Youtube featuring a nifty 3D origami fold pattern. This pattern results in a module that looks similar to a fortune cookie. We revisited this style because of its 1:1 characteristic, where as the other styles took 4+ pieces to make a single module. Here are some photos of a simple base built with this the modular 3D origami.
Now that we have settled on the the modular 3D origami, we are keeping with the idea of a paper circuit to create a modular desk lamp. As these modules are attached or removed from the lamp, the intensity and color or light will change. I’ll speak more on the lights later. The beauty of these little paper fortune cookies is how easily they are connected together, a crucial factor in the interaction of the lamp.
How do the lights change?
The lights, RGB LEDs, are lights that have discreet connectors for their Red, Green and Blue values, where the average LED is one color, with a power and ground connection. If some of the lamp’s modules are conductive, power can be run through these conductive pieces, to the top of the lamp where the LEDs sit. The more modules between the LED and the power source, the more resistance, the dimmer the affected color.
Here’s a chart of how the colors mix.
This all works in theory, but how do you properly make these modules?
Right. This is where more research kicks in. First we have to figure out what kind of power our lights want. How high the voltage, current and range of resistance because we don’t want to burn out our little gippers.
Here are some photos of the Graffbot a day or two before it’s appearance at the ITP Winter Show. I have so much documentation I don’t know where to start! More to come. Note that this LightBox plugin may not work in Firefox.
Here’s some coverage of the Winter Show by Adafruit. Checkout the Graffbot at 1:45.
The goal for this week was to design for humanity. The original framework was along the lines of designing for a developing country or the disabled. There are whole classes devoted to designing for specific disability, as well as Solar Design and Design for Unicef. Due to the one week time constraint, I found it more appealing to find a demographic that is accessible to American culture.
Martha Nussbaum’s Sex & Social Justice establishes a framework for universal freedom. I do not care to summarize all of her key issues, but my inspiration stems from her inclusion of emotional freedom. Her definition includes “not having one’s emotional develop[ment] blighted by fear or anxiety.” This conjures images of Darfur and Myanmar, but it exists in places where physical violence and oppression are not prevalent.
I chose to design for those in verbally abusive relationships. I think we’ve all experienced a verbal assault. In many cases, the assailant rationalizes his or her own experience as the victim. (Selective) Hearing is a conceptual device that could break the cycle.
If angry rants were automatically tuned out of your hearing, your aggressor would have no choice but to speak to you calmly and respectfully for you to actually hear them. The device itself serves as an objective evaluation on the verbal exchange, so the victim is not blamed for not listening to the aggressor.
How would it work?
The ideal design is a discreet device placed in the ear. Others would not notice, and your privacy is protected. For my diagrams I use a larger, hearing aid design, just to get my point across.
When dialog is detected by the microphones, the audio is fed to a speech analyzer that runs a series of checks on the content. The user would be able to configure the settings with on-board software (ideally from a blue tooth connected cell phone). These settings could detect inflections and tone as well as derogatory statements, racial slurs, etc. Parts of the speech that do not pass filter tests are replaced with selected sound effects (woodpecker, birds tweeting, squeeky shoes, etc). As an added feature, the user may toggle an ambient mode, where ocean sounds or soothing music is played in ear until the recognized voice has finished speaking.
Technical Considerations
To run the analysis of speech content, there will most likely be transduction of speech to text for analysis. This will cause a delay to process, so the earphones will inverse phase of the microphone to properly noise cancel the speech until it is approved by the earpiece. For practicality, there should be selectable modes (Bypass, Alert, Argument) so as not to delay wanted information.
While cruising through chemistry experiments on youtube for inspiration, I came across a recipe for mirroring glass. Peter Esveld and are drawn to this chemical reaction (of silver nitrate and sodium hydroxide) because it produces something permanent and beautiful in a relatively short period of time.
Here are two informative videos:
Mirrored glass is an expensive material due to its production process but there certainly is no shortage of glass objects. As exciting as mirroring a flask or jar may be to the chemist, they’re rather boring objects to be mirrored. We have all the solvents needed and we’re waiting on the silver nitrate from a chemical supplier.
In the meantime we’re searching for a cathode ray tube type television. The glass screen will be separated from the neck of the CRT. The glass will be masked with a graphic pattern laser cut from an adhesive sheet. We still have to test what adhesive material will not dissolve or unstick while in the silvering bath.
Here are some illustrations to recapitulate how we’ll mirror the television.
For our first assignment, we were to revisit science fair projects. Most of the projects I remember to be pretty lame, so I started scouring chemistry videos on MIT open course ware and youtube.
Some of my more interesting finds were mirroring glass with silver nitrate, making glow-stick chemicals and making sodium metal from lye and magnesium. The time constraints meant I wouldn’t have time to order the chemicals online. I remembered the videos of non-newtonian fluids that I’d seen.
Pete Esveld and I found some cornstarch at the grocery store and mixed up a batch of the curious fluid to play around with. Result = lots of fun.
During our first class, we were asked to criticize ourselves in the realm of a designer. My answer was reduction. I have a tendency to complicate my design process by interjecting new ideas. Instead of working on perfecting the one feature, I move on to develop new features.
My challenge was to design something simple.
I designed a cup holder for the subway. Not as a permanent addition. As a small, carried item. I left them attached to poles for the duration of my commute to school. No one utilized one. It was 2 PM, so the number of carried beverages were significantly less. My new goal is to document strangers using the cupholders.
I originally sketched the design for a subway cup. Said design included a telescoping body to flatten into concentric rings. It also included a collapsable rail clip. I realized that it was not a simple object. It was simple in use but not in design.
I reinterpreted simple to apply to the ease at which it could be reproduced by another.
After speaking with Digital Noah & Angela Chen about my design, they both mentioned a similar project called “pop-up lunch.”
Brooklyn Heights is one of the highest ticketed districts in New York and therefor in the nation. I’ve had a car in the neighborhood for a little more than three months and have already accrued over $300 in parking tickets. In most cases my car was ticketed within 15 minutes of the parking law going into effect. Scarcity of parking space means drivers are forced to park in zones designated for daily street cleaning (ie – no parking 8-9am), though the cleaning is a weekly event.
Hey All. I was just researching urban projection and I stumbled upon a website. I posted my two faves below. The first one is the facade Hamburg Kunsthalle. The second is projected on a building, I believe in Sydney. Beforehand, the artists filmed acrobatics on a replica of the building (their projection surface). Pretty amazing stuff.
