preparations

This Wednesday starts the Summer Show 2015 for first and second year students. It will be my opportunity to show my bin’s project, so I have developed some stuff in order to prepare my exhibition. To attract the public attention, I have printed an A1 board that will be used as a background for my space. There are hold the different shapes that I had designed at the beginning because I want to give a big importance to that step which was essential for the meaning of my project. The 1:6 scaled prototypes will be set in the center of the space, on a high surface. I printed some cards related with the pebbles project that also provides my personal information. All the stuff which is behind the development of the project is projected by a bound document.

My exhibition space still has to be improved in order to get a complete, professional and real result.

The colour appear!

First of all, I had to spray a layer of primer to get an homogeneous white colour, not only inside each part but also outside so I would be able to add colour on the plastic body. Secondly I had to cover the outside carefully in order to be able to spray the inner face with a dark grey. I had to use a little brush to paint the white holes after spraying.

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Once the inside is ready, I had to prepare every detail to spray the outer face. I covered the main holes of each body from the inner face by tape. I had to be very careful once I sticked both parts not to remove the tape, otherwise would be really difficult to get the holes covered again.

I stuck both parts with a hard glue by using the tabs, the problem was that I had already painted the plastic surface so the chloroform didn’t work. To fill the gaps between the parts I used mastic, and once it became dry and hard I sanded the whole container to get a soft surface. Afterwards, I had to spray every body with several layers of primer in order to get the same finishing in the whole body.

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Finally, after mixing a lot of colours, I found the chromatic range that I wanted. I applied a base spray layer using each colour for each determined body, and after it dried I changed the pressure of the tool in order to get a plastic texture.

experience reflection

The challenge is not to create polished, finished solutions but to provoke people to think differently.  

The consumer society is triggering the destruction of our planet. The amount of waste generated by the humans is being the main cause of this destruction. People are not aware about how they affect the world pollution with their actions. As an agent for change we have to find the best way to change the behaviors of the people in order to get a healthy world where eco-conscious dominates.

Jeremy and Caroline are the owner couple of the Eco Camping Wales. The campsite is situated in the heart of the stunning Geo Park in the west of the Brecon Beacons National Park (Wales). The foundation of their camping resides on the ecology and the sustainable actions, carrying through a kind of specific life based on the natural human habits avoiding any type of technology.

From a primary and secondary research, we used the design-thinking method to achieve a wide range of ideas in order to start thinking in different potential changes and solutions in a creative and ambitious way.

On that basis, we create ECOmmunity. The main goal of our project is to restructure the campsite providing them a common area where campers could learn and develop eco-friendly behaviors and also promote a community-like environment while doing daily activities. It is addressed to nomad people (walkers and hikers…), groups (schools, families, societies…) and also to non-campers.

During the whole design process the clients gave us feedback in order to improve as much as possible our proposals. The development process was very useful to discover and practice different design methods, such as using paper prototyping and drawings to explain the main idea in one minute. Real size reproduction was also helpful to understand how the idea could work and discover its viability, durability and desirability.

Five values to define our project:

COMMUNITY, RESPECT, INFLUENCING CHANGE, PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT and CHALLENGE.

After weeks of working deeply in Ecommunity project, the ultimate idea was finally presented in front of our clients. They were very interested in our purpose because they find it viable and desirable. The use of recycled pallets as a main material was an interesting solution for them. They hadn’t thought about this option before, and it is actually a cheap and easy way to restructure the campsite. They really agreed in the fact that the communal area could work and they supported our idea. On the other side, they found the idea too much rigid and inelastic to be developed in the real context. So they aimed to develop different areas as we thought but separately in an organic disposition, taking advantage of the land shape. We also benefited them the possibility to get logo templates. Using this method they could reproduce the signage and develop little objects as merchandising, that makes campers remind of their experiences in the campsite after leaving it. We were very proud of our result and of the clients’ feedback.  

Following steps

Once I had the different halves, I prepared them to be able to be sticked in a future. By using chloroform, I melted the plastic to fix several tabs around the perimeter. After spraying the inner sides, I will be able to fix both halves to get a whole closed body.

VACUUM PROCESS

I have chosen the vacuum process to create my final prototypes. I want to show the containers as empty bodies, in order to visually understand how they will work (even if they are scaled 1:6). I thought this process would be the best way to achieve the organic skins, incorporate the inner hole and also simulate the round details produced by the real process, which will be rotational moulding.

Before using the vacuum machine, I had to develop each half container by the CNC machine. Secondly, leaving the model stuck on the wood basis support, used in the CNC, I cut the perimeter in order to leave a distance for an allowable error. After  that, I did several holes, that crossed the whole model and the wood basis, with a drill to let the compressed air escape when using the vacuum.

After doing the vacuum process ( shown on the following pictures), I had to remove the CNC models from the hard plastic sheet. To make this work easier, first of all I cut the spare plastic of the hole to avoid the compression into the plastic model. Then, by using two screws for each model I could fix them on a vice to remove them from the sheet.

1. Place the CNC models separately

2. Fix the HIPS plastic sheet.

3. Close the machine and apply heat.

4. Once the sheet is soft enough, turn on the vacuum.

5. Remove the sheet form the machine.

6. Separate the CNC models.

Six models

7. By using an horizontal saw, cut the final piece from the spare part.

8. Cut accurately the internal hole by a craft knife.

testing different roads

Once the internal parts where developed by a 3d program in order to define the bin functionality, I tried to make them be real objects. By using a 3D Printer I printed the 4 pieces that conform the product to taste them by touching. I could also be able to ensure the functional process and the different steps the employee will have to follow.

Due to the machine, the material wasn’t applied in a properly way. So that, the final pieces were deformed and poorly built (as can be seen in the pictures).

After this test, other ways to conform will have to be consider in order to get the internal system as real pieces.

The system

1,2,3…

After getting the feedback from our lecturers, I decided to deeply analyse the pebble shape I had developed as a bin container. I realised it had several functional disadvantages, so it was time to face them!

First of all, the triangle section of the body provided a big useless space between the external halls and the inner bag container. Furthermore, the window designed to take the waste bag out and replace it is not big enough and could make employee’s work become a difficulty when they had to raise the full heavy bag.

Considering the general dimensions already fixed, some different volumes have been developed by 3D program. After prototyping them in 1:6 scale by CNC machine, I could modify them by hand and accurate the shape. So I chose some of them in order to create a system by following the same style. The system is formed by three different shapes to use each one for a specific kind of waste.

Front view

Right view

Managing the waste in the park.

This form will help me to specify the users range related to my context. I also need the users assessment in order to prove if my concept is on the right way.

Here is the link with the form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1apr-WnpOAnqyfmAM6Qpf8-VcRHLt8gK-Lv6212rYWSc/viewform?usp=send_form

Thank you for you help!

Breaking schemes

Huy Bui, Plant-in City.Since 2011.

Huy Bui is an entrepreneur, artist and designer working in New York. Fascinated with nature and the adaptability of plant life, during the lasts three years, Bui has developed the project called Plant-in City. It relates smart design, technological innovation, and a deep appreciation for the natural world. It is mainly composed by stackable wooden structures made to sustain plant life in urban settings. So, Plant-in City installations serve as a reminder that science and art can coexist beautifully.

Plant-in City is architecture for sustaining plant life. Living in a city like New York, you’re always going to be dealing with space constraints. Apartments are stacked to save space, so I thought, why can’t we stack plants? We have to go vertical. That’s the baseline idea.

Huy Bui

See Freunde Von Freunden interview: http://www.freundevonfreunden.com/interviews/huy-bui/

He and his team explore new technologies in order to take care of the plants, for example, watering them by using an IPhone or providing them the sun requirements by LED light.

He broke the traditional way to grow herbs, creating a new solution for indoor herbs. Plant-in City is an innovative project based on implementing natural life within a city lifestyle, considering and leading to a solution for the usual constrains of nowadays’ life. Therefore, this project can be a good referent while creating my artifact in order to find a design thought to develop a new growing method, far from the typical ones.

Plant-in City website: http://plantincity.com

MINI II Steel Terrarium

MINI City Block

Installation