V I R T U A L E N V I R O N M E N T S

S A M H O R W O O D 6 3 7 5 3 3S E C O N D S K I N

Sam Horwood 637533

D I S C O V E R I N g T H E S y S T E MM O D U L E O N E

The sysTem ThaT i chose To work wiTh was profile and secTion a sysTem ThaT works of The concepT of joining 2d elemenTs in such a way as To creaTe a unique 3d form. every child in our world Today has probably come across This sysTem once in Their lives as iT is used in many childrens Toys, however, This

sysTem of making has sTarTed To be used for much more Than jusT dinosaurs and planes. because of The amazing inherenT sTrengTh creaTed when using The Technique and The amazing possibiliTies of form one

can make wiTh iT, iT is no suprise ThaT The world of archiTecTure has caughT on.

01 - jürgen mayer h.'s meTropol parasol is The mosT known example of This profile and secTion or ‘waffle’ archiTecTure. builT in 2012 iT was meT wiTh a large amounT of conTroversy, however, iT shows how This concepT and sysTem can be used ery effecTively. due To The rigidiTy of The sysTem large amounTs of area can be spanned wiTh only a few supporTs.

01

Sam Horwood 637533

D I S C O V E R I N g T H E S y S T E MM O D U L E O N E

i also goT To play aound wiTh differenT noTch sizes boTh widThs and lengThs. i learnT ThaT having a noTch ThaT is smaller in widTh Than The maTerial you are using makes for a much sTronger hold

and The same goes for The lengTh of The noTch more lengTh means more hold.

This was The firsT aTTempT i made using The profile and secTion pieces. i wanTed To creaTe a spiked exTerior so i didn’T use The

‘waffle’ Technique raTher i used a cenTral spine piece and connecTed secondary pieces using noTches. This helped me To discover whaT The limiTaTions of The sysTem were, in ThaT having

only one poinT on conTacT, i.e. The noTch, produced an exTremely flimsy model. being ThaT we were making a second skin

a flimsy model was someThing i jusT couldn’T have.

Sam Horwood 637533

D E F I N I N g P E R S O N A L S PA C E

we looked inTo 3 main ideas, how big is your personal space? whaT happens when someone evades ThaT space? and is There a Time when ThaT is or has To be ok? we wanTed To look inTo

noT only The emoTional and social reacTions buT The acTual physical reacTions you can geT from someone inTerfearing wiTh your personal space. looking inTo The fighT or flighT mechanism we saw ThaT There are physical reacTions To inTimidaTion such as, raise in blood

pressure, goosebumps and muscle TighTening.

WHAT IS OK

M O D U L E T W O

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01 - looking inTo how far your personal space reaches, where do you leT differenT people in and if your siTuaTion changes do These mesurmenTs change wiTh iT

02 - whaT are The physical reacTions To someone envading your own personal space? we wanTed To look aT how we could make These physical reacTions an acTual physical piece ThaT you could wear and show To people.

03 - This image was somewhaT a mesh of The Two previous ones in ThaT iT shows The disTances of personal space and whaT happens when someone invades ThaT. iT’s puT simply, ‘noT ok’ and i Think ThaT’s how many people feel when There space is invaded.

Sam Horwood 637533

D E S I g N B E g I N SM O D U L E T W O

0301 02

we had our definiTion of personal space now we needed our siTuaTion To TesT iT wiThin, our umberella sTory. we wanTed To see how personal space changes depending on whaT siTuaTion you were in.

This is when we came up wiTh our sTory, a siTuaTion where your personal space is comprimised and is no longer available To you. we ThoughT ThaT a packed Tram signified This and was a good represenTaTion of whaT we wanTed To show.

in a packed Tram you do noT have any physical personal space, you are Trapped in a ‘cage’ of people you don’T know and don’T neccessarily wanT To be nexT To (01).

whaT happens nexT is ThaT your prefered amounT of personal space kicks in. you wanT To have The amounT of personal space ThaT you are used To in everyday life, a diameTer of free air and breaThing space (02).

so whaT happens when you can’T have This, well discovered ThaT The only free air is upwards and ouT. in order for you To feel fresh and free you need breaThe The air above you which is your only escape (03).

04 - This was our firsT design aTTempT, The lower parT of The suiT we used The spikes To represenT The unconforTable feeling ThaT comes from a packed environmenT. whaT was wrong wiTh This aTTempT was ThaT iT wasn’T clear exacTly how This represenTed whaT we wanTed, iT needed To be clearer, simpler.

04

Sam Horwood 637533

S U R FA C E / F O R M D E V E L O P M E N TM O D U L E T W O

we needed To go back To our umberella sTory and creaTe a surface ThaT represenTed whaT iT was we wanTed To creaTe. using rhino we developed our original sceTches inTo 3d models ThaT we could work wiTh. These 3d models played an imporTanT sTep in discovering our form and whaT we could do wiTh iT.

This form resulTed in a series of sceTches and The design idea ThaT we would use for our final piece of second skin.

we developed whaT we coined ‘The cage’, a lower body piece ThaT creaTed The physical realiTy of being Trapped, profile and secTion pieces being rigid allowed liTTle movemenT for The wearer creaTing ThaT unconforTable feeling.

Then using The inflaTe sysTem we could creaTe a bubble and bursT of fresh air above The uses head To creaTe ThaT sense of freedom.

01 0201 - ones realiTy of personal space when Trapped on a packed Tram wiTh no-where To go.

02 - The comprimise we make of personal space so we have room To breaThe.

03 04

03,04 - This was our firsT non-compuTer proToType for The cage sysTem, a rough idea of how The concepT could work in creaTing a visually sTriking represenTaTion of our idea of personal space.

however, This design did noT incorperaTe an inTergraTion of boTh sysTems working TogeTher To creaTe one. This is whaT we needed To work on nexT creaTing one seemless sysTem ThaT used The besT of boTh.

Sam Horwood 637533

S U R FA C E / F O R M D E V E L O P M E N TM O D U L E T W O

we needed To refine The form so ThaT The design was clean and simple and mosT imporTanTly made sense in represenTing whaT we wanTed To creaTe. we ThoughT long and hard abouT iT and decided ThaT we ThoughT The spine was an imporTanT parT of our design idea, so we decided To use This To make a design ThaT was more simple and made more sense.

01, 02 - This was The refined design we came up wiTh a Triangular form ThaT saT on The wearer’s back cascading down The spine housing The inflaTe elemenT ThaT bursT ouT The Top over The head.

so we had This form buT how could we use The profile and secTion To enhance This. we came up wiTh This really inTeresTing weave ThaT we could almosT pannel This form wiTh (03). The weave allowed us To make a flaT sheeT of profile and secTion yeT creaTed This really bumpy looking facade ThaT we sTill wanTed. we didn’T wanT iT To be smooTh we sTill wanTed iT To be jaggared To represenT The annoyences of being on a packed Tram.

04 - i developed The profile and secTion mesh in rhino and in form firsT, Then unrolled iT senT iT To The fab labd Then using eTches cuT by The fab lab compiled The pieces TogeTher.

05 - This was my fisT fab lab aTTempT and i learnT a loT on how iT should be used wiTh care. The piece ended up Turning ouT very well, however, There was a design problem They were sTill working as seperaTe sysTems noT one sysTem working TogeTher.

we needed To come up wiTh a design ThaT could be molded wiTh The inflaTe sysTem.

0201 03

0504

Sam Horwood 637533

FA B R I C AT I O NM O D U L E T H R E E

we were sTuck. The profile and secTion pieces were so sTiff and rigid in The way we were using Them ThaT we jusT couldn’T see how we could use The inflaTe sysTem To conTrol iT in any way. we pulled aparT The Triangular picece and jusT sTarTed playing wiTh iT seeing whaT we could do and This is when we made a major breakThough in our design.

we discovered ThaT if you were To filp The pieces in The oTher direcTion The once flaT sheeT became exTremely mallable(01-02). This was a greaT discovery for us in ThaT iT meanT we could design a profile and secTion sysTem ThaT could be manipulaTed wiTh and inflaTe, exacTly whaT we needed.

we were able To develope a form ThaT we could work wiTh very easily. and more imporTanTly To our design sTory we could work wiTh someThing so mallable ThaT we could re-incorperaTe The cage feaTure.

03,04 - our new design

04030201

Sam Horwood 637533

FA B R I C AT I O NM O D U L E T H R E E

The profile and secTion works by using a series of eTches and noTches. The eTching creaTes The folds neccessary To make The weave paTTern. as you can see in The nesTing only every second line is eTched using The fab lab, unforTuneaTley due To The laser cuTTer only able To cuT one side all of The oTher eTch lines required had To be manually eTched inTo The box board. This used a loT of Time and efforT To do and creaTed a real hassle To deal wiTh, however, using The fab lab cuT The Time iT would have Taken more Than 10 fold.

afTer The pieces were propperly eTched and folded each piece had To be placed TogeTher. as The pieces were designed in rhino in form iT made iT very sTraighT forward To place The seperaTe pieces TogeTher in a relaTively shorT Time span (01).

01

Sam Horwood 637533

FA B R I C AT I O NM O D U L E T H R E E

The seperaTe pieces were designed To fiT very snug TogeTher To creaTe an emTremely rigid form. The Thickness of The box board was 1.8mm, however The widTh of The noTch was 2.01mm. The reason i had To make The noTches acTually larger Than The maTerials widTh was because The were sTuck TogeTher aT a 45 degree angle To each oTher.

as These connecTions weren’T aT 90 degrees as mosT profile and secTions would work mine were noT, Thus The surface area of maTerial ThaT had To fiT in each noTch grew. wiThouT The larger noTches They would simply have been Too TighT and noT fiT aT all. This is a reason iT was so imporTanT To build The model physically in rhino firsT and creaTe The noTches whilsT sTill in form as This Told me how wide They needed To be.

our nexT problem was The lengTh of The noTches. unforTuneaTely as The design was only conecTing in The x axis There was a Tendency for The noTches To spliT due To The facT There was noT a loT of fricTion holding iT in place. To fix This problem we needed To creaTe more surface area of each piece Touching one anoTher, This meanT much deeper noTches. i increased The noTches lengTh by 3mm and This change dramaTically made The backing sTronger by almosT 10 fold, There was no longer an issue of falling aparT.

01 - original backing 02 - backing wiTh 3mm deeper noTches 03 - exploded view of profile and secTion

01 02 03

Sam Horwood 637533

FA B R I C AT I O NM O D U L E T H R E E

fronT mesh piece

backboard

inflaTe

backing mesh

The design works in a few ways firsTly, The Two profile and secTion pieces creaTe The form of The design as well as housTing The inflaTe boTh deflaTed and inflaTed. The fronT mesh forms The cage design housing The wearer inside unable To move. when The inflaTe sTarTs To grow iT pushes and bends The backing mesh symbolising The frusTraTion wiTh The cramp area and being unable To move. afTer This The gianT ball of fresh air bursTs from The Top flooding The audiences eyes wiTh a brighT blue fresh colour and creaTing The effecT ThaT we wanTed To show

Sam Horwood 637533

FA B R I C AT I O NM O D U L E T H R E E

Our final presentation went resonabily well, i would have loved to have made the full suit with the depper notches unfortuneatley due to time and money constrainsts we were unable to make this happen, the front piece of mesh remains

fragile today.

I will not say that this project was a piece of cake because it simply wasn’t. It was extremely challenging and at somepoints along the way I didn’t think that we would be able to make it work. In the end i was happy with what we were able to

acomplish and copuled with the rhino knowledge i have now as apposed to the start of the sememster I am really pleased with how far we’ve come. If anything I really do beilieve that this project has shown me the limitations of certain materials in that you

cannot just hope and wish the material will do what it is you want it to do.

These are not easy lessons to learn and when you’ve put so much time and effort into one thing it becomes hard to be told it’s wrong. I think this subject has made me a smarter designer. I think that I may have made this harder than it was intended to be in some points and I think I’ve learnt that the simpler option may not be as ‘uncompleted’ or the ‘easy way out’ as i once thought. This subject was hard, stressful and sometimes painful at moments, however, looking in hidsight I think it was worth it.

Sam Horwood 637533

B I B L I O g R A P H y

jürgen mayer h., 2012 <http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2011/05/10/waffle-urbanism.html> Accessed: 28.10.2013

Almost Savvy, 2013 <http://almostsavvy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/personal-space.jpg> Accessed: 15.10.2013

Ethincal Behaviour Boy, 2012 <http://www.ethicalbehaviorboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/personal-space.gif> Accessed: 15.10.2013

Smart Family System, 2011 <http://smartfamilysystem.com/img/fight_or_flight.jpg> Accessed: 15.10.2013