Burr and Burton Academy
Student Portfolio:
Jonathan Saunders
Activity 1: The Marshmallow Challenge!
WHAT WERE THE DIFFICULTIES YOU ENCOUNTERED?
We started off strong, but we couldn't agree on anything after the base. Also early on, two strings of spaghetti broke, but we didn't end up using all of them and so this was a minor issue. The biggest hurdle, however, was, once we put the marshmallow on the top, the whole thing tipped over and snapped. :(
WAS THERE GOOD COMMUNICATION IN YOUR GROUP?
No. In the beginning, we quickly came up with a solution (regular pyramid shape) but after that, we couldn't decide on what to do. I ended up just going ahead and doing what I wanted and my team was respectful enough not to impede anything.
WHAT WERE THE PERSONAL DYNAMICS OF YOUR GROUP - DID ONE OR MORE PEOPLE EMERGE AS GROUP LEADERS?
We started off on equal footing but since we couldn't decide on anything, I went ahead and tried to put my plan into action. You could say I was a leader, but now when I look back on it I didn't do too well, I acted more like a boss.
DID EVERYONE GET TO PARTICIPATE?
Yes, even if some people had more ideas than others, we had one person getting pieces of tape, one person making the triangles, etc. Everyone contributed a part to the process.
WAS YOUR GROUP ULTIMATELY SUCCESSFUL IN COMPLETING THE CHALLENGE - WHY OR WHY NOT?
No, we weren't. We had bad communication and ended up going with an ambitious strategy. It was *so close* to being the tallest, but in the last ten seconds it buckled under the weight of the marshmallow, a leg was broken and the tower fell into shambles on the tabletop.
DID YOU FIND THIS CHALLENGE FUN?
It was OK. It was great to go through the whole process and create something that you're proud of, however ours fell over and did not make any of us proud of what we built. After putting fifteen minutes into having it ultimately fall over, the challenge ended with disappointment. If our tower stood and especially, if it won, I would've enjoyed it a lot more!
HOW WOULD YOU DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY IF YOU WERE TO DO THIS CHALLENGE AGAIN?
Our tower just ended up being too tall and flimsy for its own good. A regular (equilateral) triangle would have been optimal, but ours were not perfect. This might have been the reason that it fell over in that one direction. It also would have helped to simplify the design and make it a bit shorter; I think it still would have won. But ours, in its brief tallest form was only about 31 inches. I don't know how someone could get 39 or beyond! (as the TEDx guy in the video said)
picture: http://i.imgur.com/K0Jrrf4.jpg
picture: http://i.imgur.com/sZO6XSi.jpg
Activity 2: Design and Ice Storage
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jSIouLxbNL8maIsG3G3Iwqa8Sn9ehTs9hByZP5gEZUg/edit#slide=id.gc7713493a_2_11
Activity 3: Chair Design
picture: http://i.imgur.com/3mv3egL.jpg
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BUILD YOUR CHAIRS USING THE DESIGN PRINCIPLES YOU IDENTIFIED? Our character, that we were designing a chair for, was Maggie Simpson, who of course is a 1 year old baby. There wasn't really anything innovative in our design because our problem was solved by designers in the past and it really wasn't a unique problem. That problem being, to create a chair for a baby that doesn't like to sit still. We went with a circular platform with a hole in the middle and wheels on the sides. We called it, "the Donut". However, the circular shapes and wheels complicated our prototyping process. We did not fully complete any of our prototypes from any of the materials.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO CREATE DIFFERENT ITERATIONS OF YOUR DESIGN? It was interesting to see how different the range of materials was. There are three designs on the picture, one made from clay, one made from cardboard, and one made from pipe cleaners. My team was not very successful with either of them. With the cardboard, it was hard to make the wheels and cut out a center hole. With pipe cleaners, we made the circle but it could not stand up. Clay should have been the easiest, but since we started with a near-solid block it took a while to make it pliable and into a form we liked.
WHAT DID YOU CHANGE ALONG THE WAY? WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM YOUR PROTOTYPE? Well, as I mentioned my team was somewhat distracted and not entirely on task, and so this coupled with the difficulty of our design did not make building easy. We did not complete either of our three prototypes from any of the materials, even thought we got close. So, it was hard to come up with any modifications and lessons and then implement them in later models. Additionally, our design was not original and similar designs have been proven to work.
DID ANYONE GET STUCK AT ANY POINT? WHAT WAS THAT LIKE? WHAT DID YOU DO TO GET UNSTUCK? We didn't ever get really stuck, we just experienced slow progress. We recognized the problem and agreed on a solution right off the bat, but we were a bit distracted from that point on. We knew what we were doing but it was taking us a while. The closest time we came to getting stuck was when we were trying to cut the inner hole in the cardboard (it was very tough cardboard) but we accomplished this too.
WHICH MATERIAL DID YOU ENJOY WORKING WITH THE MOST? WHY? The material that I liked the best was pipe cleaners. They were fast and easy and we got the most progress with that material, even if we did not have time to fix the falling-down issue. They also offered the most possibilities of the three types of materials, since they could be bent and rebent in any way. Cardboard required cutting and clay requiring shaping and such.
WHICH MATERIAL DID YOU LIKE THE LEAST? WHY? I disliked clay the most out of the three materials. I had high hopes for it, but the clay we got was really solid and not pliable. It took considerable time to just beat it on the table and create a cylindrical shape to make the bulk structure out of. We were running out of time for the wheels and just ripped off three chunks and used those. I really don't like the way the (un-)finished product came out.
WHICH MATERIAL BEST EXPRESSES THE ESSENCE OF THE CHAIR YOU DREW? It's down to the pipe cleaners and cardboard as to which prototype looked the most like our design, but I am going to choose the pipe cleaners as the best resemblance. The reason being is that the cardboard did not have wheels, it is just a disc. The pipe cleaners were closer to that dream, but their downsides was that they couldn't stand up and there was an area covered in the center.
Final Project, link
Unit Reflection
In this Unit, we completed three basic design activities and reflected upon them. These activities were the marshmallow challenge, the Ice presentation, and the character chair design. All were unique and interesting in their own respects, but all were based upon the ideals of the design process. That is, when a problem is identified, the user comes up with ideas, makes plans, prototypes, builds upon experience and finally delivers a complete product (an artifact) that is a perfect solution to the gap!
The goals of the marshmallow challenge and the chair design project were stated clearly. In the marshmallow challenge, the task was to design and build the tallest uncooked-spaghetti tower that could hold a marshmallow at the top. In the chair design, we were required to design and make prototypes for a perfect chair to a character in The Simpsons. Following the steps of the design process in both, we started off with ideas, then plans, then prototypes. In the chair challenge, we were not given instructions or accommodations for building a final, even though were prepared to,; and in the marshmallow challenge our artifact was built but it did not function. With some more time, we could have smoothed out the issues.
The Ice presentation was a little different. Rather than following the process to design something of our own, we researched the process that ancient architects used to solve one of the most challenging problems of their day: how could ice be made in the middle of the desert?
Ultimately, the design process is evident in all of these projects, it will be in everything we'll be doing in this class, and it is even true to every challenging situation in life. The process of design is a guide to identifying and solving a problem, something that anyone, anywhere, can benefit from. That realization is the importance of this Unit 1 at BBA Architecture!