Part 1: Documentation of the Walk
Notes:
Images:
Investigation Methods of My Walk
The walk I took was not completely spontaneous, as I knew exactly where I wanted to go – a place that can instantly change my mood and calm me down. The Manhattan Bridge.
My goal for this walk was to capture the exact feelings I get every time I visit this location. I wanted to portray and represent that feeling through a physical object.
When I first got there, I wrote down a list of items/trash that were left behind in the area. In comparison to the streets of NYC, this location is particularly clean (limited trash), and so, I was able to capture all the noticeable ones. The next step I did was capturing the details of the location. Those include the objects I formally wrote about, the marks written/drawn on the columns and sitting areas, and the details of the architectural design. I also made sure to photograph the materials used for construction that were used for both decorative, and functional purposes.
After documenting the physical objects at the location, I walked around observing the space. I wrote down exactly how I felt and the weather’s impact of it. The busyness of Chinatown contrasted the serenity of the location drastically; but despite its near distance, it made no impact in distressing the peacefulness from where I stood.
I chose to document my methods of investigation in this fashion because I thought it is the best way to ‘conserve’ the experience and remember not only the physical sight, but also my emotions. This way, I can look back at my notes and remember exactly how I felt, with the additional photographs to back up the physical words.
From the walk, I was first surprised to see the larger objects that were left behind; one of which included a mattress. This got me wandering about the person’s purpose for leaving it there. As I continued to analyze my experience, I realized that this place too, must have been a special space for other people as it is for me – a sacred place that someone can simply escape from in the city. The messages written along the architecture were mostly directed at someone, in which it must have been a way writer(s) used, to express their unfinished emotions to that particular person.
Another factor that surprised me from the walk was the small amount of damaged done at the location. In comparison to the rest of NYC, it looks almost as if it was untouched, even with those messages.
Map of my Walk:
Part 2: Prototype
For the second part of the assignment, I wanted to create a product that could capture my experience. I wanted to make a product that has a similar function to a virtual reality. But instead of using an iPhone to project the image (of stars — because it makes me feel at peace) , I wanted to mirror a printed image in a geodesic dome. But after some sketches and calculations, there were no ways I could mirror one image all around as the wearer’s face would be blocking the mirror – preventing the reflections.
Sketches:
After drawing out some of my ideas, I decided to stick with my initial idea, which is the geodesic dome, but instead of mirroring the image, I will laser cut the stars out, using the lights from the outside for effect.
This is my first time laser cutting — so it would be a new set of skill that I will be learning in this project.
Experimentations:
Before jumping right into making my product, I decided to first experiment with the smaller paper domes. I found templates online, in which I proceeded to cut them out and glue the sides together. I wanted to make sure that the final laser cut piece would construct efficiently.
These are the two templates I experimented with. I decided to use the latter one because the flat design constructs to become half a sphere, instead of a quarter (as shown for the first template).
For the final product, I decided to use the ‘letramax illustration’ board.
As this was my first time laser cutting, I was unsure on how to increase the power of the machine, so I had to cut it twice for it to go through, but fortunately, it came out like I had expected it to.
Process construction photos:
After laser cutting the piece, I hot-glued all the sides together. Unfortunately as I have never used this material before, it would split in half. This although, was not problematic enough for me to restart so I just had to secure it more with glue.
The glue made the piece looked more messy so I glued the scraps over where the hot-glue bled over.
When it was time for me to cut the glasses, I realized that the piece was not dark enough for the stars (holes) to stand out. I initially wanted to use glasses that distort eyesight. I tried drawing shapes over the lens and bought several funky glasses to experiment with, but after some experimentations, I realized that having the lens left clear is the most affective.
Examples of glasses I bought:
So to darken the inside of the piece, I decided to glue the rest of the scraps around the headpiece. I first stuck them together with tape to see if this method would be affective.
After making sure that the pieces all fit together, I proceeded to hot-glue them on. This too caused the product to look messy, so I stuck black paper over the glue on both outside and inside the piece.
My last step was to glue the glasses inside the headpiece. Because there was a little tear on the pair, I also glued black paper that to cover it up. Additionally, for the glasses to fit perfectly in the piece, I cut the fold (the place where I would be attaching the the glasses to the helmet) according to the interior of the piece.
Final Product:
