Saturday, 16 June 2012

Evaluation of my final major project


I cannot believe I have come this far, seems as though I only stepped through thoose doors about a week ago! And looking longingly at past final projects and wondered how I was ever going to get to that point! Over the past four months, I have been designing and producing work towards my final major project. It all started with me thinking about two different ideas, one of which was an idea about occupying a space of an area of the workshop, one idea I had for this was to use cubes made out of either foam or wood and stack them or hang them in a way in which a large area would be filled. My second and preferred project that I decided to go with was to design an interior for an industrial business such as google from an existing structure which already has measurements and parameters for me to work from which could be any object like a lamp, a sink, a tyre etc. I decided to work with office drawers, which I found in the college skip! I thought why not recycle an object which was no longer of any use. After a discussion with my class and my college tutors I decided to go for the interior project after I began thinking of more ideas for this project and also as interior design is a subject I am very keen to pursue.
   
    I began researching eccentric artists like Cornelia Parker and the exploding garden shed to look at interesting structures I could use in my interior. It also gave me an understanding of not just using an object for its original purpose and that sometimes it can be manipulated or changed to be more interesting as a structure. I also began researching imagery of interiors like ‘Banq’ restaurant, which inspired me to have a more open approach to designing my interior. I also researched by looking around my house and outside to see if I could find any objects for which I could design an interior for, I looked at my bike in the shed and thought about how I could use the metal wire and design an interior around these. I found by looking at certain structures I could get an understanding of how to manipulate them, and how to work around the object and produce an interior. I chose to research using objects further as I thought an interior designer usually has a space to work with before designing. One image I looked at was a wall of water, I thought about using a wall for an interior to be inside although I did not have the facilities necessary for this.

    After finding office drawers in the college skip, I needed to find a way to manipulate them. Firstly I tried stacking them. I then decided to tuck each drawer into one another, these drawers quickly became their own structure, and this test worked better than the stacking of the drawers. I then began to think about how I could produce an interior inside the structure, I thought about just using the drawers how they were, although my interior needed to be more in depth and I didn’t have enough space. After thinking about how this would work, I resolved this by deciding to cast the inside of the drawers using wood but attach them as its own structure. This part of the process was a complicated stage, although through drawings and thinking I resolved these problems. I made blocks of wood for the middle of the floors so each floor could be joined together, I then had to make blocks of wood for each end of the floor, so therefore the structure would be secure. Most of these blocks needed to be cut at angles, which meant I had to adapt and cut out new pieces if I made a mistake. After a few discussions about how I would join this together, using clamps and wood glue and each floor at a time, I joined the structure together over approximately four weeks. I encountered a numerous amount of problems during the adhesive process, therefore some of the model had to be glued more than once.
      
      My original idea was to make one model, although since the proposal, my development and research has resulted in it becoming three models. I began thinking about working with Perspex as this was a new material that I had not used before. To test how the interior would work, I took measurements of my wooden model and created a foam board model, which would be the same as the Perspex structure to assess what structural changes to the model I would need to make. I found by making this model I could adapt the size of the stairs as the stairs and some of the interior which did not work as well as I had hoped. After looking at the sample model I began to make the Perspex model. The measurements I used were one and a half times bigger than the original concept, this would mean the viewer could focus more on the interior in a clearer perspective. Working with Perspex at first was a challenge, but the outcome after sanding and buffing was worth the challenge, after working with the material and using different sanding methods, the outcome is that I understand how to work with Perspex and how to get the best possible outcome from the material.

    Originally I had the idea of making just one structure for the final major project. Although after development and new approaches I have three models for the project, one of which is my original office drawers. I found during the project by constructing one model, it would lead me on to the other, which ensures my project worked as a whole. By producing an action plan this allowed me assess my own progress throughout the project, and has allowed me to make decisions to see what actions I need to take in my project. If I had more time to produce more work, I would make another model out of Perspex although on a larger scale, I would also make more floors to ensure it resembled my wooden model. Overall, over the past four months I have allowed myself to work with new materials and use new methods of drawing, and 3D modelling. My technical skills have become more advanced, and my knowledge about Perspex and wood have also progressed my skills. I have encountered problems such as glueing the wooden model together and using the correct force to do so, but by being patient and having the right approach these problems have been overcome.

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