Sense of place - Rock Chair

Rationale

The area chosen is Empress park, Hurstville. This park is conviniently located in housing area and is just about 10 minutes walk from main business area. The park includes playground, bbq pit, basketball court and soccer field. Although it has strategic location and can provide various activites, it was observed that many do not stay in the park for long. From observations and interviews, the park goers can be divided into 2 groups, the morning and afternoon goers. The morning goers are mainly the older group of people (60 and above) who accompany their grandchilds (4 and below). The afternoon goers are mainly yound adults or teenagers who play sports there. While the bbq pit is rarely used.

When I interviewed the grandparents why they did not stay for long in the park. Most of them said it was because they were tired of standing and were bored. This is probably because there are very few chairs in the park and these chairs are located far from the playground so they will not be able to keep a good watch of their grandchildrens playing in the playground. Thus, the rocking chair will be built closer to the playground which will enable them to relax while at the same time being able to watch their grandchilds. The rocking chair is also popular, especially amongst the older generation and this can encourage more people to come to the park or stay longer there. This is further supported by statistic which shows that the area has large proportion of older group of people (20% are 60 and above, compared to national average, 16.7%). The soothing and comfortable nature of rocking chair may encourage people to stay around longer and thus this provides more opportunities for them to intereact with one another.

The reason why the younger group does not stay there for long is quite similar too. Most of them said it was because the place is boring. The organic and modern design of the chair will likely interest them to stay around. There will be also a number of these chairs so they can enjoy relaxing and interacting with their friends after their sporting activities. These may also encourage more to have bbq in the area as more seats will be available and the rocking chair will make it more fun and comfortable to hang around.

This rocking chair has the potential to bring not only this park alive but other parks as well. This is because the rocking chair is enjoyed across different cultures and age groups.

Bio-inspired storage system final : Spine Bookshelves

Compressed

Expanded

Rationale
This design is inspired from the vertebral body of human. I found human vertebral bones as a good inspiration for designing shelves. Spinal column allows you to stand upright, bend and twist. It is flexible; it allows movement in several places. It is very interesting as they are very rigid, solid and structured but at the same time it also have liquid-like properties that resulted from the S-shape of the whole structure.

The back of the shelves that holds the structure together shows a strong resemblance to the human spinal cord while the ‘leaves’ of the shelves resemble the vertebral bones. It is flat at the back as it is mounted against the wall and from the side view we can see the contours.

The shelves shows some resemblance with human vertebral body, for instance the color, which is white like bones, and the shape and the structure. The interlocking features of the shelves also inspired from the way spine body constructing and interlocking with each other, mimicking the 4 facet joints in each vertebrae body and how muscles, membranes and correct posture maintaining the structure. They are interlocking not only vertically but also horizontally, that what makes them so strong and balance eventhough it is flexible. The bottom part of the shelves shows bigger sizes in resemblance of the lumbar spine area at human spinal column for their weight bearing function.

This shelves is perfect for high density living space. It is mounted on the wall to save floor spaces and it can be dropped down when we are ready to use it. With the interlocking features in this shelves, these shelves can be compressed together and only take a very little space on your wall; in fact it only take around 51cm when it is compressed and when it is expanded it can reach about 103 cm. When you want to use it you can slide the button that connect each shelves through the maze on the 'spine' back and it is ready to used. The height of the shelves also adjustable so it meets many needs.

Technical drawings

Honeycomb Inspired Designs

Ampersand Wallpockets by Tim Karoleff 

MDF Honeycomb Wall, Germany

The Accordion Cabinet by Elisa Strozyk and Sebastian Neeb

ciao!

Further Research

These are some of the research I did a few weeks ago before I set my choice to the 3 final concepts. Hope these can help some of you who might need it :)

Save-spacing furniture

Save-spacing furniture

'Cocoon' by Mans Salomonsen

Anti-Gravity by Florian Gross for Konnex

Cocoon couches

Mangrove tree inspired building

Foldable chair - 'Grand' by Sanna Lindstrom and Sigrid Stromgren

The Mini Warp Bookshelf by Onur Müştak 

The Un-Deux-Trois Table by Vito Selma - inspired by spider's web

ciao!

Group11 Project1 Presentation

Bio-inspired storage concepts

Concept 1 – Bookshelf inspired by human vertebral body

This concept is inspired from the vertebral body of human. I found human vertebral bones very interesting as they are very rigid, solid and structured but at the same time it also have liquid-like properties that possibly resulted from the S-shape of the whole structure. 

The core of the shelves that holds the structure together (the tall cylinder in the middle) shows a strong resemblance to the human spinal cord while the ‘leaves’ of the shelves resemble the vertebral bones. It is flat at the back as it is placed against the wall and from the side view we can see that the shelf have contours that is almost shaped like number ‘3’ or ‘S’ (rising at the top, then goes thinner in the middle and then goes bigger to the end). 

The shelf is designed to store books as it is placed against the wall but it is not necessarily limited to books, it may extend to other objects. But despite of the physical function of this shelf, the other aim of this concept is to evoke emotions to the users, to have the same feeling we have when we see human bone structures; the feeling of strength and power.


Concept 2 – Shelves inspired by termite’s nest

For this concept I got the inspiration from the complex structure of termite’s nest. The nest consists of many horizontal layers which are connected by spiral staircases. Termite’s nests are punctuated by a maze of tunnel-like galleries that effectively provide air conditioning as well as allow the termites to move through the nest. There are several entrance to their nest and they are well protected. 

Like the actual nest, this shelves consist of many horizontal layers that are stacked together, creating space to store objects from books, DVDs, or it can be used to store shoes and sandals as well. Mimicking the spiral staircases of termite’s nest, the structure of this shelves are well supported by stacks of layers (possibly using MDF sheet) that support each other balance.

Concept 3 – Spice rack inspired by honeycomb

Honeycomb has been an inspiration in many design process, I believe because a hexagonal structure uses the least material to create a lattice of cells within a given volume. What I’m trying is to apply this geometric efficiency as a solution in designing storage for small spaces. 

This spice rack is made from fabric or some kind of material that is elastic (I’m still keeping my options open). It can be flat-packed when it’s not used and while we are using it, it only needs to be hooked. It also has the flexibility to store more or less as required.


Which one is your fave?
Feedbacks are welcome!

ciao!

Feathery

Pheasant Place Mats designed by the famous event designer Preston Bailey.

And oh btw, it's all handmade so each feather is individually attached, how awesome!

"When you see these place mats, you immediately want to touch them, which is exactly how I want guests to feel every time they approach a table I've designed."

-Preston Bailey

ciao!