I haven't updated my blog in a while. I am planning on continuing using it however the labels in relation to my previous project NPD China - the Park Bench, will be left to NPD China.
So what have i been up to? I've been in Melbourne! A fantastic city when it comes to design. You really can see how much it is valued by the amount of designer stores you come across and in particular the hub of the city - federation square. I'll post up more details on what i got up to there soon.
Before Melbourne and during part of my trip there! i was working on a best award entry with my classmate Lena. Highly stressful and busy times but we got it done with a special thanks to Joel Fletcher for his help.
That's all for now. Come back soon!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Finalisation of Details
From research, insights and findings the park bench details are..:
2 Benches: one 4m long and another one 1.8m long
Will be cast with Reconstituted stone with steel rod reinforcing through it due to the long overhang.
The smaller bench will be anchored to the ground through M12 bolts being cast with it.
Will incorporate Xie He's Guhua Pinlu - 6 Principles for critquing art and the magic of Wu Daozi's paintings that come to life during the night.
They form represents a calligraphic form based on 3 sections - similar to the basis of cnostructing Chinese Characters.
It will be "a brushstroke" in the park, in the city, beautifying the transitional space. >> As alot of art from the tang dynasty onwards was calligraphic and landscape based >> emulate that onto the product.
They will have brushstroke details. >> Will be cast with giant brush marks along the sides of it to further convey a brushstroke on the landscape feel.
Will have a slight curvature into the top surface to let water drain towards the plant/tree.
It will be an amalgamate of a Chinese Aesthetic with a Comtemporary European feel. With more of the latter.
It will be great to look at!
2 Benches: one 4m long and another one 1.8m long
Will be cast with Reconstituted stone with steel rod reinforcing through it due to the long overhang.
The smaller bench will be anchored to the ground through M12 bolts being cast with it.
Will incorporate Xie He's Guhua Pinlu - 6 Principles for critquing art and the magic of Wu Daozi's paintings that come to life during the night.
They form represents a calligraphic form based on 3 sections - similar to the basis of cnostructing Chinese Characters.
It will be "a brushstroke" in the park, in the city, beautifying the transitional space. >> As alot of art from the tang dynasty onwards was calligraphic and landscape based >> emulate that onto the product.
They will have brushstroke details. >> Will be cast with giant brush marks along the sides of it to further convey a brushstroke on the landscape feel.
Will have a slight curvature into the top surface to let water drain towards the plant/tree.
It will be an amalgamate of a Chinese Aesthetic with a Comtemporary European feel. With more of the latter.
It will be great to look at!
Public Furniture Designer Feedback
I sent an e-mail to a friend and Unitec Graduate who is currently a Public Furniture Designer: here's the great advice/help/tips he gave in regards to my design.
Material- Stone sounds good, although I havent worked with stone to be truthful, I would imagine it would need some kind of reinforcement structure especially with the cut out in your model, also you would need to consider transport- expensive to shift heavy items & there would usually be more than one at a time to install..
If you went with timber, probably something like treated & laminated Macrocarpa (treated meaning with a wax coat which also serves as a graffiti deterrent) as denser woods would cost too much with the volume of your seat, also denser woods you generally buy in lengths not blocks.
Any stainless steel going near seawater should be 316 grade to prevent corrosion, 302 grade for general purposes, or if its Mild Steel it should be galvanised regardless and either powder coated or wet painted (powder coated is cheaper and personally looks nicer)
Anchorage- would certainly have to be fixed to the ground, either buy bolting it down somehow with fairly large bolts M12 or M16?This would allow it to be removable for refurbishing in the future. but then you would need some steel structure to boolt through. Either that or make it permanently fixed or "plant mounted" where you use an anchor to concrete it in on site-could just be some bent steel rods going into a concrete pad or the base of the seat concreted in.
Also you may want to consider skateboard deterrents, as it will prevent damage to the seats, these can just be litle brass or steel knobs sticking out every 1000mm or so on the seat edge.
Anyway I hope this doesnt overwhealm you, its just the basic guidelines our company manufactures by, you can surely just specify alot of this stuff in your final presentation rather than use it to base your design around.
Material- Stone sounds good, although I havent worked with stone to be truthful, I would imagine it would need some kind of reinforcement structure especially with the cut out in your model, also you would need to consider transport- expensive to shift heavy items & there would usually be more than one at a time to install..
If you went with timber, probably something like treated & laminated Macrocarpa (treated meaning with a wax coat which also serves as a graffiti deterrent) as denser woods would cost too much with the volume of your seat, also denser woods you generally buy in lengths not blocks.
Any stainless steel going near seawater should be 316 grade to prevent corrosion, 302 grade for general purposes, or if its Mild Steel it should be galvanised regardless and either powder coated or wet painted (powder coated is cheaper and personally looks nicer)
Anchorage- would certainly have to be fixed to the ground, either buy bolting it down somehow with fairly large bolts M12 or M16?This would allow it to be removable for refurbishing in the future. but then you would need some steel structure to boolt through. Either that or make it permanently fixed or "plant mounted" where you use an anchor to concrete it in on site-could just be some bent steel rods going into a concrete pad or the base of the seat concreted in.
Also you may want to consider skateboard deterrents, as it will prevent damage to the seats, these can just be litle brass or steel knobs sticking out every 1000mm or so on the seat edge.
Anyway I hope this doesnt overwhealm you, its just the basic guidelines our company manufactures by, you can surely just specify alot of this stuff in your final presentation rather than use it to base your design around.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Model
My first model of the bench made out of plaster with grass used as the plant feature.
Full scale side elevation drawing of the bench with Rob on the side to show scale.
This was one of the later model developments. It is wider all around with enough space for people to sit comfortably back-to-back.
Five models. All variants of the base idea. Compositional form studies.
I shrunk Rob and sat him on the model haha jokes! Photoshop job of Rob sitting on my bench.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Development
Developmental sketches.
Now that i have a more focused idea to work with i played around with the elements of it >> the tree and the form.
Here i was doing thumbnail drawings as compositional studies as well as looking into how it will be placed/elevated from the ground.
Park Benches in China
Examples of park benches found in China. Pictures were collected with thanks to my friend Jessie in Shanghai.
Examples of benches found on the net that are manufactured in China.Nearly all of the benches have none of the design values as seen in european furniture nor do they have a Chinese feel about them.
Parks and the Outdoors
Photos of the outdoors and parks of China. From the constructed parks to the enchanting natural geographical features. My bench will go in these places also.
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