epic failure

as the topic surgest this is an epic failure. i tried to make my mockup out xenita board as i had never used it in large scale before. when i removed the top cut out the outer card wanted to bend which made my whole model collapse. bother! but i see everything as a learning opotunity so here is what i learnt.
-removing material from the seat pan is a very bad idea
-using a heat gun helps removing the top vaners
-locking systems should be in line with the ground and should use the persons weight to keep parts together-
-radiuses are easier to make avoid chamfers when possible
-less curves are better
-using gravity and the spring of the material to hold everything together is a very bad idea.

i started to play around with the geometry whilst still trying to keep the same locking mechanisim. i chose the top left design and decided to make a mock up of it.

based on my chosen concept i started to break it down and work out how it would fold and lock. from these schematics i not only thought i had a good locking system but i also had some refinements on my overall design. i decided to look into one of them (3rd down, right hand side) because i liked the overall shape and i also liked the locking system.

this is my final chosen concept. it has four parts (two front pannels, and two interlocking x's) the front pannels hide the locking system.

front pannel

the next thing i looked at was how the front pannels locked into the seat. i looked at slots, i looked at saw tooth joints and i looked at tabs but i felt that these pannels would fallout too easily and i chose not to use them. if i was to use a decal pannel then it would slide into one of my triangular shapes.

modular bench seating

these are my concept for modular bench seating. my idea started with an earlier design (top left) and grew from there. these designs are stand alone seats that can be locked together to form a bench seat. in the end i chose an interlocking x shaped seatand from there i chose to put a front pannel on it as a decal.

seclected concepts

these benches are my initial three concepts. they are all bench seats because i have found that the seating in exhibitions are bench seats not individual seating. each bench has internal locking mechanisims but i soon realised that they were too big and would require atleats 4 sheets of xenita board to construct. so i went back to the drawing boards and started to design seating that could be locked together to form a long bench (a modular bench seat)

these are some of my initial concepts. these are looking at different shapes as well as different types of seats (e.g. stools, highbacked chairs, benches etc.)

inspirational sketches and chair sizes

these are sketches of actual furniture pieces. these include pieces from the NGV as well as a local furniture retailer on high st. i used these peces as inspiration as well as getting a sence of scale. the chairs with the dimensions i have used to get the dimensions chairs should be. in the end i have used a cube 450x450x450 as the basis of all my designs.

Esquisse 3.1

based on the outcomes for the third esquise it was decided that we should revisit itand try to put more emphasis on the fibinaci sequence and the golden ratio. to achieve this it was surgested to me that i should measure the seed and map it out as a flat pattern. these sketches are what i came up with.

Esquisse three ideas

these are my ideas for a cardboard representation. i have looked at the wings of the pod as my inspiration and have tried to replicate the spinning effect when falling. the first idea (which is the idea i went with) replicates the falling effect very well while the second idea was just a shape or a form study.

Esquisse three

this is my sketches of my seed pod. out of intrest i have documented the seed on day one as well as on day five just to see what the difference was. the only change i saw was that the seed on day five was dehydrated slightly and the wings had become brittle.

Esquisse three

these are the articles from nature i have chosen to replicate. they are different types of seed pods that have intrested me. in the end i have chosen the pod with the wings because i am intrested in the areofoil shapes of the wings as well as the spining motion it creates when it falls.