Project C – Taking Play Seriously

Play is a sacred act that provides an escape from the realized world. It immerses the user and acts as a form of release. This act is unquantifiable and is irrational. It evokes emotions and brings an overall sense of rapture. The senses are heightened and curiosity sets in. The act of play is new however the ritual is familiar.

The simple act of “play” is a ritual, necessary to the achievement of euphoria. This is a pure notion, a way to break away from the monotony of daily life. To achieve this ecstasy, the space challenges all of the assumptions internalized thus far. It provides places to explore and reinterpret everyday material. As one journeys through the sight, their story is recorded by the sensation of touch.  download PDF presentation

Project C – Pixelscape

How do you engage people to walk, jump, interact, and play?  download PDF presentation

Project C — The Greenhouse

Play (verb): to exercise or employ oneself in diversion, amusement, or recreation. At the root of the concept of “play” there is the need for humans to explore, to create, and to move. Starting at this basic concept, we developed a design that incorporates all of these activities with simple objects and structures that engage people from the street and keep them interacting with the space.

We designed a set of cubes that can be used as large building blocks. This addresses the human need to build and to create, and subsequently feel a sense of accomplishment and fun. By having variations in the number of faces between each cube, the possibilites are endless for constructing displays for art shows, tables to each lunch, spaces to hide in, structures to climb on, stages to build for events, and games to play. Materiality-wise, we specified an additive to recycled molded plastic that strengthens it, increases it’s durability, and enhances environmentally-resistance and wear-resistance. The additive also adds the color and texture to the blocks; they have green exteriors and white interiors with a slightly rough texture to add grip. They are strong enough to support people climbing and light enough to carry. From an ergonomic standpoint, there are 15” cubes and 30” cubes, which are ideal for sitting and table usage.

Enclosing the lot at the front and back sides are multi-level concrete structures that house pivoting panels. The panels are the same material and colors as the blocks with a recycled steel skeleton. With green on one side and white on the other, there is much potential for games and graphics. People in the structure are able to pivot the panels safely. The multi-level structure has paths to explore and provides viewing for shows and areas to inhabit. The structure at the back of the lot doubles as a backdrop for shows once a stage is constructed from the blocks. It engages the street and provides a face for our design.

Essentially what we have designed is an area that accomodates the human need to construct, to transform, to create, and to explore. The idea is extended to accommodating community events, family events, and individual visits, and it is appealing to people of all ages by tapping into basic human instincts. It is sustainable in its materials and innovative in its creativity simplicity. It is Greenhouse.

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Project C – Urban Oasis

An unexpected sensory experience in an urban environment

• Urban Oasis

full presentation

Project C – reaction

The question “what is play?” addresses an experience that is universal – anyone can play. For some, play is a means of escape from everyday life; for others, it is a form of creative expression and a way of exploring and learning about the world around us. Whatever form it takes, play, at its most basic level involves interaction with objects, people, or spaces.

In an urban context, open space is a highly valued resource. Play often occurs in the streets, on sidewalks, and in vacant lots, urban parks, and plazas. Providing an open space where city dwellers can get out and enjoy the outdoors while engaging in a playful experience was a motivation for our design.

Children are the most apt to play. Most children easily engage the landscape and discover ways to play in their surroundings. Adults, on the other hand, are less willing to let go of social constraints and explore the world around them in a playful and lighthearted manner. Our design seeks to invite all users who come into contact with the site and allow them to engage with the structure to whatever level they are comfortable with.
The framework was designed around two repeated elements, units we refer to as “blocks” and “skins”, embedded in a physical structure created from three sizes of plastic cylinders. When clustered together, the cylinders produce a winding structure that serves as walls, floors, and canopies filled with play opportunities. The ribbon-like design – inspired by Richard Serra’s steel sculptures in The Matter of Time collection – seem to penetrate the nearby facades as it weaves back and forth in the space.

To spark interaction, we focused on ways users could manipulate “blocks” and “skins” in terms of dualities such as pushing and pulling or closing and opening. Blocks of textural and chromatic variation act as permanent installments in the structure, while some blocks can be extracted for use outside the ribbon structure. The skin concept, achieved by stretching material over the cylinder openings, can be explored depending upon the physical characteristics of each textile found throughout the site.

reaction presentation

TAKE A POSITION + ADVANCE

The first two days of this last project were great. There was research for a new project, excitement about what “could be” and no pressure! Things sounded great but you had no idea what form it would take. At this stage it didn’t matter, it was about idealism and no idea was a bad idea. Then you woke up on day 3 with a hang over from drinking too much of the blue sky cool aid and panic set in.

Yesterday became an intervention of sorts. Some groups had the ideas in them but just needed to find a way to draw them out, quickly and literally. This is a 4 day project so you can’t just take a couple days to “let it come to you”. They did some exercises to check themselves back to the core question of “What am I really trying to do?”. Realizing there is not one solution that is going to do everything, they let the research performed from their unique perspectives lead them and inform the position or attitude they are going to take. Execute that one, clear idea really well and it will make for an authentic design and experience.

Everyone dug deep and pushed through that “period of disillusionment” in a collaborative effort. I think everyone is on to a unique, solid idea. Hopefully they learned something from this effort and will eventually view this as the best part of the project. Here’s a look into the process.

Oh, one more thing –

Daniel Choi turned me on to this site.  I had never heard of it, but it is apparently a VT initiative aimed at using design to teach middle school kids basic physics concepts (but it looks a lot like play to me).  Check out the “Developing Concepts” under the “Portfolio” section.  http://www.phoebesfield.org/

Yours, – Josh

In recent semesters, I have been frustrated by bouts of “designer’s block” – that insidious (but relatively unknown) cousin to the unfortunate condition “writer’s block.” At times, finding the next step in a project has proved so frustrating that I have questioned my decision to enter this course of study.
I have now spent nearly a week working with incredibly talented designers from across the design spectrum. Though each project has brought its own challenges, today was particularly tough. The scope of possibilities for our current project seems to have challenged the whole studio in new ways. Frustrations have been high, and I think it may well be a long night in studio; but many of us are upper-classmen, and we have come to know that long nights come with the territory. I have seen the talent in this studio first-hand, and Brad has been great at guiding the groups through brainstorming exercises, which have helped to clarify concepts and creative ideas; so I have no doubt the presentations tomorrow will be something special – It’s just nice to know that during those times when the poet’s pen is unable to capture “the forms of things known,” I’m not alone.

PROJECT C – Play – 4 Day Design Challenge

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i thought you guys might enjoy this artist: http://www.varini.org/

PROJECT B – Salvation Army – Mobile Boutique – 2 Day Design Challenge

Can we make people feel better about themselves… make them feel cool… important… can we create a game changing experience through design geared towards the end user?  Project B explores these questions through a Mobile Boutique for the Salvation Army.  A Mobile Boutique which is either a shipping container or a solution that fits on a flat bed trailer that will be randomly dropped in site specific locations in urban areas (think Chicago or New York City).  By being mobile the solution can be anything and go anywhere.

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Project B — Salvation Army Mobile Boutique

In our vision of the Salvation Army, the community comes together to breathe life into the old, used, and discarded. We redesigned the Salvation Army to reflect this ideal, starting with our site. Our site makes use of derelict spaces within the urban landscape, primarily alleyways and abandoned spaces between buildings. Stacked and combined shipping containers comprise our structure: a 4-floor store, community center, and cafe.

From the street, passersby see the Salvation Army shield sandblasted on windows that span the second and third floors. On the ground floor, our cafe space is visible. There, coffee profits support the Salvation Army, and people can relax upon refurnished home goods. These pieces of furniture still feature untouched portions as reveals of the pieces’ former aesthetic; these portions show the transformations of the old objects, and the potential for customizing other old objects. Individuals can learn how to harness that potential in our community center events.

Behind the cafe on the ground floor, the community center provides a space for do-it-yourself workshops and other community events. The space accommodates speakers, performances, and more—it embodies our core concept behind community, and is thus branded as the “Heart” of Salvation Army.

All the upper levels of our design comprise the store portion. Four categories exist: women, men, kids, and home goods. Our walls include life-size figures that act as large paper dolls with wall decal clothing for children to play with. While the children interact with the dolls, they learn at an early age how to reuse clothing. A shield pattern covers the dolls as an extension of the Salvation Army brand.

Similarly patterned mannequins stand around the space. These mannequins feature clips and small hanger racks that customers can use to see how potential purchases look on a form without going to the fitting rooms. Those who do want fitting rooms can head towards the back of the floors, where they can use angled mirrors to view their clothing or sit in refurnished chairs for those waiting. Customers can also use an interactive element in which they can photograph themselves and potentially save those photos for display around the store. These photo displays serve as a way for the visitors to see the faces of those in the Salvation Army.

The checkout space again emphasizes the faces of the our “army” with a display behind the counter featuring a pattern of faces and the shield brand.

We hope this transformation makes the space more appealing, especially to those with ideas on different ways to use the space. For example, we envision our structure as another potential residential space, or totally converted to a community center. This once again speaks to the Salvation Army’s tendency to reuse and repurpose.

download PDF presentation here

Rethinking the store as an installation on an urban scale

The Salvation Army will be transformed by creating color coded store installations creating an interactive experience and embracing the hunt for the stores and the hunt for the perfect clothes within the stores. The store installations are in close proximity to each other within the cityscape of New York to encourage finding and using all stores. They also encourage inter-borough interactions by centering around a transition area such as a bridge.  The stores are manipulated within the same gesture of unfolding in order to respond to the site and create sculptural elements but at the same time stand out because of the bold color. The bold color pulls people in and enhances the unfolding approach as the urban fabric reveals the installations. Each store has a different feel and spatial quality through its manipulation. Having the clothes organized by color redefines shopping. It breaks down preconceived barriers of what is men’s clothing, what is women’s clothing, what is business wear and shifts the focus to the specific qualities of the clothing such as texture, pattern, and cut. By limiting the color palette the other senses of clothing are heightened. This sensory environment creates an experience and destination which is added to by shopping along side different genders, ages, and cultures. The store installations are easily set up on site creating a quick impact that stays for a couple of weeks and then moves on. The full process of donation and selling clothes is incorporated in the structure through the donation wall. Users sort clothes by color on to shelving outside the building creating an interactive graphic and mini installation. It also brings donators and users together.SAfinal

Project B – Salvation Avenue

Salvation Avenue is our team’s creation of a mobile boutique for The Salvation Army. Our “big idea” consists of taking the standard 10′ and 20′ shipping containers and rotating them so they stand vertically. This 90 degree rotation opens up the ceiling, thus giving the illusion of more space. A mixture of 10′ and 20′ containers throughout gives the shopper a sense of compression and release.

When containers are stacked next to each other, the “middle” walls of each need to be taken out. These extra walls, or “flaps” are placed outside the main retail space, and create nooks all around the boutique. These nooks can be used for seating, extra clothes display, or they can display how the Salvation Army is using customer donations to provide help throughout the world.

The external graphics of the boutique are bold, with the shipping containers painted a bright red, with white words indicating what’s inside each container. When the containers are placed horizontally (aka, when in transit), the words are horizontal. But when the containers are placed vertically, the words also become vertical, creating an interesting effect. The interior graphics are also bold, with color-coded sections for mens, womens, and kids sections.

The fittings (hangers, lights, etc.) are industrial in feeling, to play off the industrial nature of the shipping container. There are also two movable clothes racks (similar to dry cleaner racks) that rotate when someone pushes a button.

Overall, The Salvation Avenue is bold, mobile, and fun, and makes passers-by stop and take notice.

Project A- Salvation Army Pavilion

The stance that our group took was that the Salvation Army needed to bring an awareness of the organization to the public front. By creating a mobile pavilion, it generates an excitement for the cause. By appealing to the spectacle aspect of our society, curiosity is heightened. The pavilion is constructed from the frame of shipping containers and has recycled panel infill. The containers are stacked and two simple moves of sliding and rotating allow the pavilion to be adaptable to almost any site.

Project B — A Mobile Arts Initiative

The Salvation Army Mobile Arts Initiative grew out of a realization of two possibilities. First, the Salvation Army collects a large number of goods that are never sold; we realized we had an opportunity to prevent these donated goods from being sent to the landfill. Second, the small scale and mobile nature of a boutique of the type we were asked to create offered an opportunity to enrich the community experience in the cities it visited. To those ends, we created the SAMAI to be a mobile Object d’Art. It provides a place for members of the community to gather in ad hoc groups, to build from one-another’s creativity, and benefit the Salvation Army in the process. Those things (toys, electronics, damaged clothes, etc.) that the Salvation Army has been unable to sell are offered for sale here, to be used to create “Found Art.” Once the materials are purchased, the tools and space needed to create the artwork are offered free of charge. Nearly every surface of the SAMAI is devoted to artistic display. Old blackboards and corkboards have been reclaimed and given new life as “free-speech walls” and community message boards. Glass-covered nooks found along many of the walls provide places for display of Found Art objects, and the remaining exterior walls of the structure are left as a place for graffiti expression.

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PROJECT A – Kampgrounds of America (KOA) – 4 Hour Quickfire Design Challenge

Well the 2010 Virginia Tech Workshop is underway.  After a brief intro we broke them into 5 groups of 5 (each group having a student from Architecture, Interior Design, Industrial Design, Landscape Architecture and Visual Communication) and gave them the task of creating game changing communities and experiences in the campsite and common areas for KOA in 5 hours… to be presented in Pecha Kucha style, 20 slides, 20 seconds each.

For reference, a game changing design will stand out, create a new category, will be talked about and people will flock to it to experience it… This whole workshop will be about collaborating to create game changing experiences!

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Team A: Reinventing the KOA Experience

The quickfire exercise challenged us to design a new experience for KOA. Our team started out with revamping the organization’s logo, then concentrated on redesigning the layout of the campgrounds. We wanted to give campers a healthy dose of nature by using landscaping to hide the buildings from view, putting campsites far from the lodgers, and placing the parking lots out of sight from campers. However, we also presented opportunities for people to meet each other, and engage in social activities. For example, we agreed that there should be strategically located communal bathrooms, and wifi only at the main building to promote human interaction. We decided to also make the main office building like a communal hub, where there will be a lounge, small store, and game equipment rentals. The back of the main building leads to an amphitheater where local musicians and entertainers can perform. The amphitheater also serves as a community meeting place.

We like the idea of bringing in the local community to work together with KOA to make it a more lively and fun experience. For example, we envisioned community-oriented activities such as having park rangers come and give wilderness classes, summer concerts and animal handlers.

For the more private person, the outskirts of the campgrounds provide the perfect place to pitch a tent. With fun picnic tables that can reassemble to include a firepit, it is a nice secluded area to enjoy with the family.

Here are some of our designs:

Team B_ A new approach to the traditional way of camping

As a group, we decided to take a very traditional approach to the project and think of camping back in its original basic form – the idea of escaping ones usual fast-pace life and slow down to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors.  In this way, we saw our KOA campground as a destination that was placed in a natural setting that had to be reached by foot. One would park their cars and reach the site though a trail; however, instead of backpacking in its usual form, we thought of people and their unwillingness to carry the necessary camping supplies on the hike. We would design a system that would provide these necessities at the destination.

The next approach to the design was to break down the basic necessities of a campground: community gathering around a fire and a shelter. When thinking about the gathering around the fire, we wanted to redefine what it meant to do this and give ourselves the opportunity to design a better modern solution.  We took the typical idea of sitting around a fire in a circle and thought of other ways to improve this form. Proximity to the fire and surrounding the fire for social interaction was important  but changing the shape from the circle to another form allowed various comfort levels to be reached. The next step in the process looked at redefining how one sits around a fire. Instead of giving campers only one position, we wanted to give them a variety: to be able to lay, sit, climb, or hang around the fire. We also thought it was important for our system to be able to be placed in different landscape typologies and conform naturally the different terrains.  We looked at different tensile structures including the Olympic Stadium in Munich designed by Gunther Behnisch and a student designed project I found on Archinect.com that represented some of our initial thoughts. (http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=92648_0_23_0_M) We developed our own system that would act as a demarcation of the landscape in which it was placed and conform to some of our initial ideas. A system of supports would allow a canvas mesh to conform to the shape we created in response to the activities taking place and the landscape in which it was located. The canvas would allow campers to create their own way to sit around a fire while also providing a shelter underneath for the necessary facilities of a campground.

Our systems of shelters spawned from the community idea of canvas that could be manipulated by providing a simple structure that supported a canvas that could be released and then adapted by the user to meet his or her needs while camping.

Our team’s solution focuses mainly on putting “green” back into the camping experience and looks at ways to reuse and recycle materials that would normally go to waste. The entire campground from the entrance to the dwellings are designed to reduce the footprint left on the earth—figuratively and literally.

Once the camper arrives, they will be escorted by electric car with all their belongings to their appropriate shelter. All cars will be left in the parking lot. They will also have the option for planting a tree or flowers to give back to the environment. For a more unique camping experience, we developed a series of tree-house structures (img 2) complete with a retractable canopy for the option of sleeping under the stars. They are positioned at varying elevations to fit the needs and wants of the camper. Each campground will also have a grill and small fire pit.

The community areas (img 3) are more “do-it-yourself” type places in order to spark creativity while allowing freedom to do virtually anything. Large grass fields are available for recreation, hammock areas are set up for relaxation, and a huge community bonfire is set ablaze every night for socializing.

Team D – KOA

We approached the design process as a way to change the traditional image of the family camping experience.  The campsite becomes something more than just a patch of grass to pitch a tent, but instead something that can engage everyone simultaneously.  Our idea was to equate the camping experience to that of a playground for all ages, but still able to accommodate those who want to relax and have an escape from the everyday.  We wanted to take the experiences of the playground, coffee shop atmospheres, and tailgating parties and combine them to create a unique place for any person to enjoy.

For our concept, we used the idea of a ribbon to convey the feeling of the design.  The intervention becomes a statement that can be a continuous gesture in the landscape, responding to the context of any given site.  This gesture has multiple uses and also can be used to create functional elements within the site, like tables, chairs and elements of play.

Team E- the Kube

The KOA is dynamically transformed my implementing a grid system of poles as the foundation for the modular Kube shelters, while maintaining the traditional cores of camping; food, shelter, and fire. The uniform 8 foot poles emphasize the character and topography of the site. They also address the structural, electrical, and lighting needs for the Kubes. Panels of varying colors and opacities allow users to impact their environment including floors, ceilings, walls, and exterior spaces. This modern pitching of a tent provides a consistent organization for all KAO sites, while highlighting different regional conditions, personal creativity, and levels of separation and community through the varied forms the Kube can take. All KOA sites are organized around two diverse nodes, the camp fire and wifi indoor community space. The franchise owner can pick and choose components from the KAO kit though.    The adaptable design broadens the current users of KOA facilities by engaging individual families, multiple families, millennials, and travelers.  Further, online profiles of campsites’ local attractions and tools for planning road trips create a cross country network of stops with the necessary amenities.

Medici What?

I’m a fourth year interior’s kid, but I’ve never felt much at-home in this industry – maybe it’s ‘cause I grew up as one of those gamer techie-wannabe types, or maybe it’s ‘cause I live with three mechanical engineers.  At any rate, I have always been frustrated at how the physical separation of majors within the College of Arch + Design has limited student interaction.  Don’t get me wrong, my classmates in Interiors are some fabulously creative people, but there have been times when I would have given my right arm (OK, maybe not my right arm) to have had an engineer or a landscape architect on hand in a pinch to bounce an idea off of.

The benefits of the interdisciplinary studio became apparent Monday, as each group member brought their unique skills to bear – (I hope the administration was taking notes).  However, in the spirit of Medici, we should not limit our capacity for creative collaboration to the College of Arch + Design.  My friends the engineers (Lord love ‘em) will give you 100 reasons why an idea will never work, but when they plug into their passion for a given project, they are some amazingly creative people – and those techie-gamer-CS guys are among some of the most interesting people I know.  And students of philosophy and theology have a lot to say about the human condition; their insights could be invaluable in a people-centered field like ours.

Check out this TED video given to me by a friend of mine (a mining engineer, as it happens) – the whole thing is great, but the part that is most relevant to this post is the last section, “deep blue.”  It touches on the necessity of trust and cross disciplinary collaboration (designers and engineers) in developing a successful idea: http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_bangle_says_great_cars_are_art.html

Yours,  – Josh

SEE DIFFERENT

One of the most productive exercises we can do to broaden how we think is to consciously look at circumstances from different perspectives. To that end, we ask that you a do couple of things as homework to establish a foundation for what we will be talking about and doing over the course of the workshop.

READ: Chapters 1-3 of “The Medici Effect” – This link is to a downloadable pdf excerpt from the book . Don’t worry, they are short chapters. This book is about the exact subject of this project – the power of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Think Different

Get ready to Think Different.  See you soon.  Cheers, KEM STUDIO