Module 4

Marta Elefterijadis

Student No. 640888Semester 2/2013Group 9

MODULE 1 IDEATION

Definition of Personal Space:Personal space is defined by a user’s observable space, in other words the reality that is visible within the viewer’s visual range.As well as this, personal space is defined by the area around an individual which evokes a feeling of discomfort or threat when intruded, which can be protected not just physically, but also visually by means of intimidation.

I D E A T I O N

Measured Drawing -

Umbrella

Subject - Umbrella

Material System - Skin and Bone

Materials - Metal, plastic, nylon

Dimentions - Height (78.3cm) - Diameter (94cm) - Length of curve of canopy (109cm)

Measured drawing drawn to 1:10 scale

I D E A T I O N

Legend:

1. rotating pin joint2. rotating pin joint3. rotating pin joint4. rotating pin joint5. rotating pin joint6. spring7. arm supporting nylon canopy8. 90 ° arm supporting arm 79. angled wire arm supporting arm 8

Analytical drawing drawn to 1:2.5 scale

All joints are rotating pin joints, with the exception of the tip of the umbrella above the canopy and the handle, both of which are fixed joints.

The mechanism of the umbrella works as a spring loaded one, in that the spring once released from the clip below, pushes the arms

upwards until they are in the position depicted in the drawing above.

The only thing stopping the pin joints from rotating too far is the 6cm stopper positioned on the rod, just under the centre of the canopy.

The umbrella analysed has 8 long metal arms that support the canopy, each itself supporten by two additional arms underneath. The canopy stretched above acts as the “skin” and the arms and the mechanism under it act as the “bones” of this system.

I D E A T I O N

Measured Drawing -

Compact Umbrella

Subject - Umbrella

Material System - Skin and Bone

Materials - Metal, plastic, nylon

Dimentions - Height (78.3cm) - Diameter (94cm) - Length of curve of canopy (109cm)

Measured drawing drawn to 1:10 scale

This type of umbrella was analysed in addition to the one depicted on the previous page.

It comprises of 8 arms, though each with four sections as opposed to two. Much of it is mechanised through the use of rotating pin joints connected to wires that stiffen the sections and restrict movement. This is done to negate over-rotation.

This umbrella was the basis of understanding of the Skin and Bone system, later becoming one of the two systems used in the making of the final second skin model.

MODULE 2 DESIGN

D E S I G NP R E C E D E N T S

HALF UMBRELLA

Half umbrellas such as the one to the left gave a clear idea of how to go about positioning the claw on the spine in order to minimise rotation of arms during opening and closing, as well as how to support the claw in a type of cantelever fashion.

CAPRIOLEBY Iris Van Herpen

This particular collection gave many ideas on the aesthetic design in particular, of the second skin. Spikes were a dominant feature of the collection, as well as black outfits prompting the choice to add an element of spikes to the skin of the claw as well as the harness.

It was also decided that there should be a dominance of black throughout the design, to add to the intimidating effect.

SPIDER DRESSBY Anouk Wipprecht AND Daniel Schatzmayr

Another contributor predominantly to the aesthetic design of the umbrella in particular, was the mechanised Spider Dress.From this it was decided to create a claw-like and movable spider as the umbrella, incorporating spikes in the skin.

SAVAGE BEAUTY COLLECTIONBY Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen’s ‘Savage Beauty’ collection was the main inspiration for not only the aesthetic design of the second skin, but also for the spine and ribs that the claw is supported by.

As can be seen in the picture above, McQueen designed a type of exoskeleton in the form of ribs and a spine, which was then redesigned to fit and fasten to the user’s body, as well as support the claw on top.

D E S I G NSome initial (seperate) ideas were a rain jacket with an extendable cap section, using the mechanism of a compact umbrella (as shown in the measured and analytical drawing in previous pages).

Continuing on the theme of a hood, the idea for a claw-like extension, resembling a hood was also an idea, which utilised a stiff harness rather than a soft garment as its support.

As an addition to that, a backpack rain cover was designed using roughly the same mechanism as the cap from the rain jacket. This bag cover would strap onto the user’s back as a backpack would, acting as half an umbrella.

D E S I G NAs both my partner and I had come from different groups, this was a module that had to be re-done. As a result, the first combined design focused on the idea of a movable harness as well as a movable,

claw-like hood.

Wings were also a feature (as can be seen from the sketches below). The structure was designed to rest on the user’s back on a kind of railing.

D E S I G N

Prototypes of the first design idea, as can be seen here made out of balsa wood and pin joints.

While the prototype to the left yielded positive results and ideas towards the final products, the prototype to the right was not as successful.

This idea of a folding harness supporting a movable claw was much too complicated aas well as beeing seemingly flimsy.

The process of redeuction as described by Scheurer & Stehling (2011) became an important one particularly for this stage of design. It was necessary to eliminate the weaker elements of the design and keep those which would benefit the eventual second skin.

D E S I G N

Our initial attempt at creating a Rhino model resulted in the images seen on the right. The idea was to abandon the rail, and instead create a harness on which the umbrella claw would sit.

The triangle part as is seen, was to be made of PVC pipe with wire mesh triangles sitting on either side, all mounted on yet more wire mesh harness.

This was the second idea for the second skin project although again, it wasn’t well suited to what was wanting to be achieved in terms of effects and in relation to the definition of personal space (as defined previously).

D E S I G N

The third design incorporated an exoskeleton-like harness, with the claw-like umbrella, ultimately forming both an intimidating and a practical device.

As can be seen from the rendered image to the right, the harness consists of six ribs, each of which help to in a way clamp the spine down onto the user’s body, thus creating a stable point for the claw resting on the very top.

As well as this, the spine itself is designed in a waffle style in order to help with the sorting of wires coming from the claw, which formed the mechanism for the opening and closing of that structure.

This design came to be the basis for the final model of the second skin, though changes were still made to the claw at the top as well as its mechanism.

D E S I G N

Pictured above are details of the prototype that was made in relation to the third idea of how to open and close the claw-like umbrella section on top of the spine and ribs harness.This prototype was based on the tendons that run through a human hand, in lookin gat the precedent of the most basic definition of a skin and bone system.

Here one can see a prototype of possible coverings for the spine and ribs harness as described previously.Made out of thick card, these prototypes were inspired again by the Capriole collection by Iris Van Herpen.Despite this, it was decided not to cover the harness and leave it bare.

MODULE 3 FABRICATION

FA B R I C AT I O NC L AW

Two sheets were sent to the laser cutter and card cutter respectively for the claw; the arms as can be seen on the top left, made out of 3mm black perspex; and the initial skin as can be seen on the top right, made from ivory card.

Unfortunately, the arms had to be sent in twice as the first sheet was not cut properly and so the individual pieces were not able to be detached from the sheet.

As well as this, the ivory card proved too thick for the skin despite earlier testing and prototyping in smaller sections. Due to this, the material was changed to translucent tracing paper.

FA B R I C AT I O NC L AW

As a result, the final claw came out as seen in the photo below, as well as in the rendered representation to the right.

Between each arm, in the corners of the joints and just above where the pin joint rests, wires were added in a similar fashion to an earlier prototype

from module two, whereby two small “arms” are positioned as described in order to both restrict movement so that that arms do not over-rotate, and also to secure and hold the arms in place once they are either opened or closed.

The skin as mentioned previously, is made out of translucent tracing paper that has been folded to match an exact space between each arm.

To add to the intimidating effect, the skin has been cut in places and tapered at the ends to produce spikes.

FA B R I C AT I O NR I B S A N D

S P I N EAgain, two sheets were sent to the laser cutter for the job of the ribs and spine harness, as can be seen above, made out of 3mm black perspex.In both cases, each strip of perspex was held together using specially designed circles with notches in them, allowing the strips to slot into place which each half of a circle locks the strips together.For this harness a Section and Profile technique was used.

FA B R I C AT I O NR I B S A N D

S P I N E

Resulting from this, the spine and ribs harness was put together using the locking system as described previously, and as can be seen from the picture of the ribs shown above.

The harness was left bare to show off the waffle structure, as well as the mechanics of the ribs in terms of how they open and close.

The addition of two straps just above the ribs was made, in order to hold the harness in places during wear.

FA B R I C AT I O NORTHOGRAPHIC

DRAWINGS

FA B R I C AT I O NF I N A L

M O D E L

Closed ribs with open claw

Open ribs with closed claw

MODULE 4 REFLECTION

R E F L E C T I O N

Throughout this semester it has been quite a difficult challenge in the undertaking of this second skin project. It was some time before I finally had my bearings and was able to efficiently work towards producing the type of second skin that was suited to not just my system but also my ideas. As I began working in a different group to the one I was in at the end, the second skin design and ideas that shaped it changed quite a bit during the transition from one group to the other. Despite this, I believe that I, along with my partner have done a great job in realizing our final design according to our definition of personal space.

While designing our second skin, two-dimensional fabrication as described in Architecture in the Digital Age (2003) was particularly important for us in our design, as we intended to create part of it using a foldable, developable surface. This fabrication process uses either laser cutters or water jet cutters to cut through various materials in the desired patterns or shapes. This affects our design as we had to find a material that was thin enough for the laser cutter, as well as still being sturdy and able to withstand tensional forces from the addition of the skin and claw.

It was crucial too that our design would put forth the effect that we wanted it to have,

and that is intimidation. Thomas Heatherwick (2011) in his TED talk discussed the representation of a certain object and its ability to bring about an altered environment both inside and outside, through both touch and sight. His examples included an opening foot-bridge whose ends meet once fully open, and a “seed cathedral” made of optical fibers surrounding the structure. Such examples were excellent sources of thought for us in terms of how we could then go about instilling the ability into our second skin, of bringing about a sense of intimidation towards those around its user.

It must be said that without the use of 3D modeling software such as Rhino, ideas such as ours would not as easily be realized. After reading The Third Industrial Revolution (2011), I firmly believe that the digitization of much of the processes involved in creating and producing architectural models and the like, is in fact very much a good thing to have come about in this field of practice. It not only enables people to portray their ideas on screen, but it also allows them to then create a physical copy of that idea through the use of laser and card cutters, CNC routers and 3D printers. If not for Rhino, we would not have been able to draw out and accurately portray the various iterations of our second skin in such a small time frame of one semester.

The building and designing of this second skin has proved challenging indeed, yet I am still very pleased with the results. Of course, there were times when we came across difficulties, particularly when creating the digital models, but nevertheless the work was efficient. I am very glad that I now have a much wider understanding of how a digital model can be created and realized using various techniques.

R E F E R E N C E SIMAGES

HALF UMBRELLA Greathouse, (2013), Half Wall Umbrella [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www. greathouse.com/Images/Item/772ab59%20(383x500).jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

CAPRIOLE Sami Daan, (2012), Capriole [ONLINE]. Available at: http://contourmagazine. com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Capriole-Iris-Van-Herpen-04.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

SPIDER DRESS Mojmir Bures, (2013), Spider Dress [ONLINE]. Available at: http://icdn6. digitaltrends.com/image/spider-dress-650x0.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

SAVAGE BEAUTY Metropolitan Museum of Art, (2012), Skeleton Corset [ONLINE]. Available at: http://meetsobsession.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/alexander-mcqueen- savage-beauty-exhibition-meets-obsession-002.jpg [Accessed 02 November 13].

READINGS

Heatherwick, T (March 2011) Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral [Video file] retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_heatherwick.html

Kolarevic, B, 2003 “Digital Production” in Architecture in the Digital Age - Design and Manufacturing , Spon Press, London, pp30-54

Rifkin, J 2011 “Distributed Capitalism’ in The third Industrial Revolution Palgrave Macmillan, New York pp107-126

Scheurer, F, Stehling, H 2011, “Lost in Parameter Space?” AD: Architectural Design, vol 81 pp. 70-79