Isaac Xavier Mercado 636535

‘THE FIRST DATE’

Virtual Environments Semester 2 - 2013 Group 1

ideationMODULE 1

INFLATABLE SYSTEMMODULE 1: IDEATION

The inflatable wings, are initially a flat and contoured and a small circular hole is placed for armsThe design contains dual air chambers in each arm band to help, each with non-return safety valves.

Understanding the processes and construction of an inflatable system like the floatie helped break down the systems systematically placed parts. Each chamber and valve had a purpose and without all the elements working together, the system would instantanously fail. As the success of an inflatable relies heavily on the soundness of its connection, I found that from the beginning the sealing process would be paramount in creating a successful infatble system.

When considering the measuring methods, I firstly used photography as a starting point in helping simplify the basic geometric shapes with which the device is structured upon.

Photography helps provide the ‘feeling’ of the design (p.9)- Jensen: 300 Years of Industrial Design

Using basic ruled measurements of the photographs taken, I drew the plan, elevation and sectional.

Symmetry was major element that was evident within the design. The main basic geometric shapes used were triangles and rectangles, which I extensively used in to help create accurate drawings. Through splitting the device into these basic symmetrical shapes, I was able to gain a better understanding of the devices form.

I also analysed how the device was inflated. The following diagram shows that a slit within the chamber could be opened through squeezing the base and thus air can be blown in or pushed out through the hole at the top of the chamber.

ZOGGS INFLATABLE FLOAT-WINGS:

VALVE:

RHINO MODEL REPRESENTATION:

PERSONAL SPACEMODULE 1: IDEATION

Personally, I found that my immediate personal space was greatly influenced by the setting and people that I surrounded myself with.

As a man, I felt that the most I ever felt vulnerable was when my back was turned and thus my blind spots became much more vulnerable.

However, when contemplating the personal space of a femalels body we found that it was much more dynamic and really focued on a females most sensitive areas.

With our concept of a ‘First Date’ we felt that it was able to encompass not only the physically sensitive areas but also focusing on the head which, represents the emotional side toward what a first date would feel like.

Thus, the large protrusion coming from the back of the head resembles the fear, anxiety, glee and relief that one may encounter on a first date.

Before contemplating what personal space was, the ‘Spatial Invasion reading by Sommer really helped me understand what personal space really meant. The following quote allowed me to really examine how I wanted to precieve my and others personal space.

‘The violation of individual distance is the violation of society’s expectations; the invasion of personal space is an intrusion into a persons self-boundaries’ (p27) - Spatial Invasion by Sommer

PRECEDENCEMODULE 1: IDEATION

Our second precedence was the rose. As our theme was ‘The First Date’ we only felt it fitting that on a date the partner would bring a rose.

We felt that a rose helps emphasise the beauty and elegance of a woman and this allowed us to create a system that helped encompassed this concept.

The thorns of the rose worked well with our Puffer Fish precedence and helped display the elements that we wanted within our design. While the petals contrasted these sharp and dangerous elements. We felt that the petals really resembled the smooth and elegant side toward a woman. Primarily through their shape we felt that we could really replicate this theme and idea well.

The puffer fish can be seen as a natural inflatable that is dynamic. Though it is a closed system, it has the ability to control when it blows up and inflates. We took this idea of being able to inflate and deflate into our idea of a second skin.

The spikes that would appear when inflated were a way of drawing a barrier or a boundary of a person’s own changing personal space.

A puffer fish inflates when it feels threatened, which usually occurs when they feel insecure about their surrounding environment. In a first date, there may be times, especially in the beginning where vulnerability is felt, and this lead to our development of having regions of our “second skin” inflating at the thought of threat.

“the best way to learn the location of invisible boundaries is to keep walking until somebody complains”- Sommer 2008, pg 26

‘In order to open up to someone, we must first get to know them step by step and overcome each little thorn. By climbing up to the top, our personal space is reduced as we become more comfortable around that person, or situation’- Michelle Xu

Fig 1 Fig 2 Fig 3

designMODULE 2

MODULE 2: DESIGNGENERATION OF IDEAS

This design, I wanted to exemplify the claustrophobic nature of darkness and how the lack of sight for me has a direct correlation with my level of fear for what could be around.

I found that through the lack of sight I would compensate through an increase in my sense of touch. The three protrusions from the back of my head would slowly inflate to act as extensions or limbs, which heightens the sense of touch. They also help exemplify the extension of my personal space as that area is well within my blind spots.

With our second design, Afifah originally sketched a few designs that really emphasiesd the female body. She wanted to create a system that was quite feminine and highlighted the major areas that she felt were much more vulnerable on a womans body.

Within this design as a group we were quite intrigued as to how we could emphasise an inflatable system with this simple concept. It also provided us with a direction to head toward.

Fig 5

MODULE 2: DESIGN3D REPRESENTATION OF IDEAS

With this 3D model, I felt that I was able to capture the diverse and dynamic nature of my initial desing. Using the 2 sweep tool, I was able to create these completely obscure shapes but still retain that symmetry that i needed for fabrication.

We felt that the inflatable system we created here helped capture the femininity that we were after. As our theme was ‘The First Date’ we felt this encompassed much more than our first idea.

Fig 6

MODULE 2: DESIGNDEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS

We were so intrigued by both designs and didn’t want to split from either. So we decided to combine the two and see how it would look. We felt that it had a sharp contrast with the chaos that was the head and the systematic patterns of the body and skirt.

We then built on from this as feedback helped hone in and simplify our design. Simplifying the design for us didn’t necessarily mean taking away the meaning of all the elements.

We felt that with this new design we could really establish a much more coherent system.

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MODULE 2: DESIGNPROTOTYPING CONCEPTS

As part of the component section we tried to focus on how to create the larger elements of our design. These needed to be strong as they would act as large air chamgbers for the smaller pieces.

The protrusions within at the back of the head would represent our movement. We experiemented with how each protrusion could be inflated at various times. This proved to be extremely difficult to achieve.

Volume was quite easy to achieve with inflatable system. They naturally create volumes from 2D shapes. Thus we tried to experiement with different shapes and the forms that they produced when inflated.

Component | Movement | VolumeMODEL MAKING

To create the skirt prototype, we first created a 300mm by 450mm template. We traced out 34 halves of a petal. We then paired a pink and white half and using a burner we soldered them together. After all 17 petals were ready, we alighned them on the main tube accordingly. We chose to flip some of the petals to really bring out the pink. However, i feel that we might need to change this later on. We then created the slits in the tube and placed the opening of the petals in its specific slit. We struggled to connect them so we went with heavy duty tape. After all the petals were in place, we sealed the longer edge of the tube and left the 2 ends open. Using a hair dryer, we were able to inflate the system effectively.

When prototyping we really tried to implement the Point – Line – Surface – Volume steps that were presented in the week 2 Lecture.

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MODULE 2: DESIGNREDEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN

Our initial design involved creating a dress-like design that helped emphasise the areas that we were focusing on. With the flexibility of an inflatable system we experimented with contrasting shapes and colours.

One of our major issues with our initial design was that there was a lack of coherence and fluidity that we felt that we needed. The design felt jarring and disjointed and this affected our aim.

After making our first skirt prototype we felt that we could really expand on this section of our design. So we decided to simplify our initial design but enhance and exemplify the elements within this section.

We went back to our initial concept of personal space and using the diagram we created a system that displayed the fluidity that we were seeking.

Our new system, involved having a series of different sized petals that would wrap around the body. Each petal would be placed accordingly to exemplify the sensitivity of that specific part of the body.

REDEVELOPMENT SKETCHES

fabricationMODULE 3

MODULE 3: FABRICATION3D REPRESENTATION OF DESIGN

The 3D models helped us visualise how the different petals would interaction with one another. We were also able to scale them according to our model and examplify the extravegance we were after.

FRONT

SIDE

TOP

PERSPECTIVE

BOTTOM

One of the major concepts from the Scheurer and Stehling (2011) reading was the use of redundancies but still ensure that each piece had a purpose. We felt that with our new design, we were able to cut out all the unnecessary elements that ultimately would be a ‘waste of time’ (p4).

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MODULE 3: FABRICATIONEXPLODED AXOMETRIC VIEW

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MODULE 3: FABRICATIONPROTOTYPING PETALS

During our prototyping phase we experimented with various shapes to ensure that the petals would provide the effect that we wanted. We settled with the longer petals as they provided us with the ability to be much more extravagant but also they were much easier to inflate.

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MODULE 3: FABRICATIONASSEMBLING LINE

1. Stencil the different sized petals. 6X - 5cm by 6cm 16X - 15cm by 10cm 12 X - 30cm by 20cm 7X - 60cm by 15cm 3X - 80cm by 30cm2. we then cut out the appropriate amount3. layering 1 red and one white we soldered them together using the burner 4. we did this for all the petals5. we then cut out a long tubing, wrapped it around Michelle and marked out where petals will be placed. 6. We then aligned the petals up accordingly, ensuring that the larger petals have smallers ones layered underneath - we made sure that all the petals were facing the appropriate direction. 7. to bind the opening of the petals and slits in the tube we used heavy duty clear tape. - we found we needed really strong layers of tape as the white plastic was quite resistant to the tape. 8. As the main tube had 2 openings, we created an extension secondary tube that would fork out into the two ends. This is where the air would be inflated from.

Fig 16

MODULE 3: FABRICATION

Fig 17

THE FRUITION OF AN IDEA

reflectionMODULE 4

MODULE 4: REFLECTIONJOURNEY THROUGH TIME

Upon reflection of the semester and the tasks and challenges faced, I can truly appreciation the importance of the design process. Its role in helping guide my group and I through the semester to produce our final was paramount to our success. During module one, the ability to break down the elements of an inflatable system helped greatly in providing me with the basic systematic combinations found within an inflatable. I found that an inflatable’s natural symmetry allowed our future design to be much more extravagant and dynamic. One of the major issues that I struggled to visualise was the binding technique specifically when two inflatable’s would join at obscure angles. However, after some prototyping, I found that there were some more unconventional ways of achieving this.

Understanding how an inflatable system works was one thing but having to actually make an inflatable proved to be a new challenge. The reading by Portmann et. al. (2007) really helped us understand that we could utilise basic, mathematical and geometric shapes to create a much more dynamic and obscure outcome. We found that we were constantly working with volume and three-dimensional shapes, therefore, through the simple breakdown of the design to basic systematic shapes, it helped us gain a clearer understanding of the symmetry involved within an inflatable device.Another major issue raised was the precision needed to ensure that no holes were present, as even the most miniscule hole will compromise the whole system.

After fully grasping the elements found within an inflatable system, I felt that it provided me with some clear guidelines as to where my design could take me. For my design, I really tried to emphasise the shapes and curvatures that I found whilst mapping out my personal space. I felt that through all this understanding of the system and personal space, it really helped me create boundaries when generating ideas. In previous projects, I found that I would get stuck and go on tangents due to the broad nature of the project however, I felt that this projects guidelines really helped me hone into areas and aspects that I thought could potentially go somewhere.

I felt that the group work throughout the semester worked greatly in our favour. Michelle and Pipa were amazing to work with and we all got along so well and it was great to see our design come to fruition. I felt that the group work helped me see the designs from multiple vantage points and provided extra eyes to question where we could improve.

I found that as a group we were able to find the most efficient ways of creating the inflatable’s so this allowed us to really test out and create multiple prototypes that helped us greatly. By soldering our inflatable’s together, we felt that we were able to create a stronger connection and thus a much sturdier overall system. Understanding the best combination of shapes was important for us as it helped emphasise our precedence and thus our overall final design.

We found that our initial design was too conventional and didn’t quite emphasise the areas and shapes that we originally intended. The design lacked coherence and fluidity thus making it feel a bit jarring and disjointed. Prototyping really helped us find ways that we felt could rectify these issues.

I found that by revisiting our previous steps, we were really able to refocus on what we felt was important and how we could alter our existing design to help rectify the issue raised before us.

References:Pottmann H., Asperl A., Hofer M., Kilian A. (2007), Surfaces that can be built from paper, in (eds) Architectural Geometry, Bentley Institute Press, p534-561Scheurer F. and Stehling H. (2011), Lost in Parameter Space?, Architectural Design, Wiley, pp. 70-79Sommer R. (1969), Personal space : the behavioral basis of design, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1969Heath A., Heath D., & Jensen A. (2000), 300 years of industrial design : function, form, technique, Aage Lund Jensen New York : Watson-Guptill, pp. 1700-2000

Figures:Figure 1: The Puffer Fish, Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4FGnh3WIdTE/Th7-yF2W8QI/AAAAAAAAARM/2ZR1zx6WWe4/s1600/Puffer+Fish.jpg (2013)Figure 2: Rose Petails, Source: http://www.briderose.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/rose-petals-1.jpg (2013)Figure 3: Rose & Throns, Source: http://amritham99.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/roses-thorns5b15d.jpg (2013)Figure 5: Drawn by Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (2013)Figure 6: Created by Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (2013)Figure 7: Created by Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (2013)Figure 8: Created by Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (2013)Figure 9: Made by Isaac Mercado, Michelle Xu & Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (Images Courtesy of Michelle Xu) (2013)Figure 10: Made by Isaac Mercado, Michelle Xu & Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (Images Courtesy of Michelle Xu) (2013)Figure 11: Created by Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (2013)Figure 12: Created by Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (2013)Figure 13: Created by Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (2013)Figure 14: Made by Isaac Mercado, Michelle Xu & Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (Images Courtesy of Michelle Xu) (2013)Figure 15: Made by Isaac Mercado, Michelle Xu & Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (Images Courtesy of Michelle Xu) (2013)Figure 16: Made by Isaac Mercado, Michelle Xu & Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (Images Courtesy of Michelle Xu) (2013)Figure 17: Made by Isaac Mercado, Michelle Xu & Afifah Ahmad Shamsudin (Images Courtesy of Michelle Xu) (2013)

* all other images/drawings/models are produced by author (Isaac Mercado)