Joy Sim | Naomi Koh | Wong Yi Ting –
P R O C E S S
Using a template found on the internet, we traced this printed template onto our transparency. We then cut the transparency using a pair of scissors and formed the module by using scotch tape and scoring with a pen knife.
Using UHU glue, we use halved cotton buds to form a triangular pyramids. These triangular pyramids were then attached to connect the different modules together, forming a space truss. We also used these triangular pyramids to form our highway.
Additionally, cotton buds were used to form a lattice structure of the hub. Black coloured glue stains were then layered over this lattice structure to emphasise on the atmosphere and provide a stark contrast to the white and transparent habitat.
It is a design technique that deals with designing a structure with numerous smaller parts that are usually known as ‘modules’ or ‘skids’. These modules allow the structure to be malleable and flexible in ways that normal structure can’t, for one, they are able to be reused, rearranged, replaced rather easily while still retaining its functionality. This becomes cost-efficient and increases the efficiency for improvement, edits or even removal.
Here are some examples of modular design and structures:
FURNITURE
Re-arrangeable shelves, seats, tables, etc.
Wine Shelf
NATURE
Honeycombs
ARCHITECTURE
Urban Rural in Istanbul
Izola social housing in Slovenia
COMPOSING SHORT TUNES
To start things off, we were grouped to create 2 different tunes with the instruments provided – I was grouped with Joy and Naomi! We picked the Resonating tone bars, Rhythm sticks, Finger cymbals and Wooden egg shaker and came up with the tunes.
The instruments we used for both our tunes.
AUDIO A:
Dominant: Resonating Tone Bars (RTB) (Deng deng deng deng….) Sub-dominant: Rhythm sticks (Clack! Clack!) Subordinate: Finger Cymbals (Ding!……Ding!) This tune is slower, smoother and feels kind of spiritual, as if you were in some sort of temple chanting away. The RTBacts as the melody, the constant beat throughout. The Rhythm sticksclack away constantly in a 2-beat interval. The Finger cymbals come in at the end of every ‘set’ of 4 RTB beats, creating a high ding!
AUDIO B:
Dominant: Wooden egg shakers (Shhschshhchshh…) Sub-dominant: Rhythm sticks (Clack! Clackclack!) Subordinate: Resonating Tone Bars (Deng……) This tune is slightly fast-paced, excited but with a abrupt sense of calmness. The Wooden egg shakers acts as the background sound, it’s swishing making a nice base.The Rhythm sticks is the loudest and fastest, creating the feeling of energy in bursts without stopping. The RTB is the pop of serenity in this busy tune, resounding and fading at the end.
INDIVIDUAL MOODBOX
I selected AUDIO A–the slower, spiritual one; to interpret into a moodbox.
DOMINANT: Black thread (Resonating tone bars) SUB-DOMINANT: Wooden planks (Rhythm sticks) SUBORDINATE: Ball of coiled wire (Finger cymbals)
The tranquility and calmness was the main aspect that I wanted to depict in the moodbox; as it brought feelings of serenity, divinity and also clarity.
As the Resonating tone bars(RTB)continuously went on as the melody and beat, it feels like it’s climbing higher with the finger cymbals clinking in high pitch. So I chose to depict that by letting it flow fluidly upwards. The melody created was soft yet solid, thus the use of black thread – its strong black colour suggesting solidity while the flexibility shows the softness.
The Rhythm sticksstood out from the tune as distinct clacks, sharp and loudly. Wooden planks were used to imitate that rigid, sudden prominent sound as it contrasts and stands out against the monochromatic scheme of the moodbox.
With everything rooted to the base, the Ball of coiled wirehangs high above the rest of the parts as the Finger cymbals give a satisfying resounding Ding! at the end of each 4-beat set, making the tune feel less down and a pop of lightness and divinity.
When Nicholas and I got paired for this project, we didn’t know what direction to take at first. However, after planning it out with a few mind maps, our fashion accessories started to take shape.
So, firstly, we had to think of what constitutes the good and bad memories. For mine, the good memory was the smell of copic markers, while the bad memories were the smell of surgical gloves. For Nicholas, it was the smell of alcohol that gave him bad memories, whereas the smell of cigarettes was good. Through mind mapping, we realized two of our smells had something in common. The smell of copic markers and the smell of alcohol. Because copic markers are alcohol-based.
We settled on making a pendant and a bracelet, thinking it was most suitable for incorporating the characteristics and imagery of the scents and memories.
Firstly, the pendant. The pendant represents the smell of alcohol. The idea is that the smell of alcohol lingers around with the person drinking, therefore, we wanted it to be hanging around the neck, mirroring the scent. Also, we used curved and broken planes in order to construct this pendant. This inside spinning shell and the rigid outer layer cause an almost dizzying effect on anyone who looks at it; like the state of intoxication. Furthermore, the inner piece seems to be “floating” in the centre, thus adding on to the lingering smell that alcohol has when one goes to drink.
The pendant also looks heavy, and the outer layer seems to make it look very metallic and inorganic to many. This corresponds with the idea that alcohol smell is actually very strong and is weighty. Moreover, if you notice, the inside piece is painted with a glow-in-the-dark paint. This is supposed to signify the hidden element of the pendant. Because alcohol lasts to stink the drinker even after the drinking is done, the glow in the dark paint only appears when the light is turned off. In comparison, the paint is always there but people only can see it when the light is off. Thus, this pendant is a representation of both the smell of alcohol and the bad memories it gives.
Now, the bracelet. The bracelet represents the smell of copic markers, and is a good memory for me. Why we wanted to do a bracelet is because the smell of copic markers are very light, and usually bracelets are light as they are worn on the hand day in and out. Also, the material used in both pieces are the same. This is because we wanted to show the similarities of both with the alcohol component. However, because one is a good memory whereas the other one is bad, we added an extra component into the bracelet.
The curved plane that seems to be swiftly sticking out in a curved motion represents the fast and light effect that the copic marker’s smell has on the person. That, and the plastic broken planes which break away in a separate direction, only emphasises this sudden whiff of copic marker. And, the transparency of the plastic contrasts the dark opaque wire used to make the effect stand out even more.
MNEMOSYNE: Greek Goddess of Memory, name stemming from the word mnemonic.
SCENTS
Our sense of smell derives from the olfactory system, which consists of organs and parts that are also part of our chemosensory system. Important parts are the nose, nasal cavity, olfactory epithelium and the limbic system of the brain.
First you inhale through your nose, taking in the aromatic substances. The molecules will then pass through, the nasal cavity filtering the substances.
At the back of the nasal cavity is the olfactory epithelium where it holds olfactory receptor cells that are special neurons that sense smell. The molecules get stuck in the mucus and bond with the receptor cells, sending signals via the olfactory duct and to the brain.
The signals get sent directly to the amygdala, thalamus and then neocortex – this is the limbic system, the part that specialises in memory, learning, emotions.
As smell affects the body in numerous ways, the body then reacts according to the emotion or memory triggered by the scent, for example: the need to fight-or-flight.
Important to note! Our sense of smell is intimately related to memories as we end up connecting new scents with older ones – either with familiarity or contrasts. Such memories come along with different sets of emotions, which in turns affects how the smell feels to someone.
P R O C E S S P L A N A R M O D E L S RED: Dominant BLUE: Sub-dominant GREEN: Subordinate
For the 1st sketch model, most of the mass stays close to the base. I did some tapering to the dominant, to make it look like its ‘fading’ away into the distance from an angle. The subordinate contrasts with the other two planes as it’s a simple short flat plane with no curvature or bends. The sub-dominant also brings forth a spike of motion, a point of visual interest as it looks as if it’s piercing upwards energetically.
As for the 2nd sketch model, it has more verticality compared to the 1st one. There is also more twisted places, creating more spirals. The dominant here twists in a big spiral, resulting in a spacious void right in the middle of the profile view. The sub-dominant contrasts by being drastically thinner and longer as it stretches high and pierces itself into the dominant. The subordinate is added two-thirds on the sub-dominant for bonus visual interest.
B O T T L E S C U L P T U R E
We had to base our sculpture off 2 personally significant scents – 1 attached to a pleasant memory, 1 attached to an unpleasant memory. After some consideration, I decided on these scents: Copic Markers as a pleasant memory and Surgical Gloves as an unpleasant memory.
IKEBANA I’ve seen flower arrangements like this before but I just never knew what they were called until now!
But anyway, what exactly is Ikebana?
IKEBANA is a form of Japanese art dealing with arranging flora with specific techniques to create a harmony between nature and humanity.
The Ikebana is made to be able to be viewed in 360°, each ‘side’ having its own look. This particular way of arrangement shows unity of its elements and really shows the harmony of nature and humanity. Unlike the typical flower bouquet and arrangements we mostly see, Ikebana deals with expressiveness through the usage of positioning, impliedlines, directions, voids and asymmetry.
Any sort of plant material can be used to construct an Ikebana arrangement – examples such as sprouts, leaves, branches, flowers, etc. That does not limit the materials used to just natural ones. Usually in modernised styles, man-made or non-living materials can be used as well, like stone.
Ikebana bridges the life of nature into the comforts of our human living spaces, linking yet again, nature to man. Spirituality of the Ikebana practice is significant, the sole act of creating has to be meticulous, silence preferred as one puts their entire ‘soul’ into their work, absorbing every moment.
Principles of Ikebana There is a set of principles that Ikebana follows, each of them pretty self-explanatory and adhering to these principles allows the best immersion to the craft.
Silence: Relax, be at peace, enjoy the process Minimalism: ‘Less is more’ Shape & Line: Minimal but effective expression Form: Discover different forms from different experimentations Humanity: Expressing human emotions Aesthetics: Japanese culture Structure: Basic structure usually a triangle, each point representing Heaven, Earth & Humanity
Moribana (Piled up Flowers) http://www.ikebana-de.com/pics2011/IC-AnnB-101911.jpg
Just some interesting styles the plants and all can incorporate!
TASTE & FOOD Here’s a short cartoon clip I found that talks about how the tongue works and also it’s relation with taste!
TASTE: Senses that occur on the tongue region, or areas with taste buds including the soft palate. FLAVOUR: The combination of the received taste and aroma received from the sense of smell.
Just fun biological facts:
Our tongue goes through a few stages of processing before it actually determines that taste and flavour.
ANTICIPATION happens when your brain is awaiting and ready to get the taste. Past memories might be triggered, the brain predicting the coming sensation.
SENSORY OVERTURE is the different senses reacting with the approaching food. This includes when you see the colours, shape and texture of the food; the smell that reaches your nose, when the food reacts with the tongue and its taste buds, garnering sensations.
SOUND means when you start chewing, the sounds emanating giving you more information. Your mouth also ‘feels’ the food, is it soft? Hard? Dry? These all contributes.
FLAVOUR CREATION is the fusion of everything that occurs throughout. The brain analyses and goes through all these steps to produce a sense of ‘flavour’.
Let’s briefly breakdown how the different tastes can be perceived as.
SWEET: Pleasant, energising, innocent, rewarding SOUR: Rancid, strong, salivating, unwanted BITTER: Medicinal (so in a sense healing?), upsetting, avoidance, uncomfortable SALTY: Bad if excessive, great if adequate amount, flexible depending on amount UMAMI: Savoury, enjoyable, enhancing
Depending on what kind of emotion the dish is supposed to evoke, the tastes can be combinedandbalanced in countless ways to achieve the aspired flavours.
Aside from the taste and flavour of the food, the looksandaesthetics of it has to match the concept or feeling the food has to optimise the charm and attractiveness so people wish to at least try it! However for our Food X Ikebana project, the end product might not exactly be meant for consumption but more of visual appreciation, so our compositions have more freedom, well….kind of!
SUMMER IDEATION Once again we drew our seasonal themes randomly, and I got ‘SUMMER‘.
It’s 24/7 summer in Singapore so it was a little challenging trying to portray the ‘speciality’ of summer.
I chose to show the tropical beach life of summer for the final model. Usually when it’s summer time, it’s vacation! What do people do? Go to the beach to relax, bask in the sun, go for a swim, enjoy cooling cocktails at the bars. Even though in summer we get baked from the unrelenting sun, the cold treat of desserts can make us relax in comfort. It’s a pleasant season. Well if Singapore actually had more than 1 season, that is.
2D ANALYSIS (SKETCH MODELS)
RED: Dominant BLUE: Sub-Dominant GREEN: Subordiante RED DOTTED: Expand GREY DOTTED: Rule of Thirds
SKETCH MODEL 1
For this particular model, I decided to use a small SO sphere as the base, a D cone wedged precariously into the sphere, looking like it’s defying gravity. The SD flat cylinder is wedged similarly into about two-thirds along the length of the cone. Each shape is independent. I did not choose this model as the composition doesn’t match the lively, energetic feeling I wanted to portray in the final.
SKETCH MODEL 2
The base for this is a large D sphere, with a small SO cone wedged into the sphere. A long SD cylinder that’s wedged in the cone shows some sense of direction in this model. After consulting, ideally the sphere should be about 2.5 times bigger to really show its presence as a Dominant. The cone is dependent on both the sphere and cylinder.However I didn’t choose this as the final because it was a little lackluster in composition.
SKETCH MODEL 3
A flatter SD cylinder is used here as a supporting base, tilted at an angle. A D long cone has about one-third of it propping against the cylinder base. It points in the opposite direction of the cylinder, creating a zig-zag motion. Then, there’s a SO small sphere wedged into the circular surface of the cone. As a whole, the cone and sphere looks a little like it’s levitating off the base while being only supported by that cylinder base. I chose this model to finalise as I like how it has a zig-zag sense of direction and also how it moves upwards, making the composition feel more ‘alive’.
FINAL
Here’s the final model!
First I’ll list out the things used:
Dominant: The ‘cocktail’ and branch Sub-dominant: Pineapple Subordinate: Cherry tomato
The colour scheme of yellows, blues and pops of red are bright, saturated and excitable, just like the hot days of summer.
Sadly I could not find a suitable palm tree branch to use so I used this random slightly curved branch I found. It imitates the curve of a palm tree on the beach, sheltering over the people on their mats below. The ‘cocktail‘ is made of blue jello and tropical jelly beans were added in it to make it pop more. The blue represents the vast ocean.
Taste wise, everything edible here is mostly on the sweeter side, with the occasional sour tang of the pineapple and cherry tomato. As how summer is, sweetness depicts the lively energy and the decent amount of sourness is not too much, portraying how after exerting so much energy during summer activities, you get that exhaustion but it’s worth it.
Actually before presenting this during class, the model has festival buntings added as I hoped to further enhance the feeling of festivities (natsu matsuri) and fun times. However it made it feel like there was a bit too much going on, which brought it away from the minimalistic feel of Ikebana. So, I removed the buntings and broke off a part of the branch that was extending away from the curve of the entire length. It helped with the aesthetics and it looks less chaotic from before.
Contrast occurs when various aspects are obviously differentfrom each other, causing juxtaposition.
We were assigned to implement our theme – in my case, Contrast, into our models. What I planned to achieve was to show the difference between each rectilinear form, with good positioning and materials.
PROCESS & DEVELOPMENT
Here’s the 1st sketch model. For this model, I used an XL box as a Dominant, a Msized Sub-dominant and an XS Subordinate. By doing so, I wanted to show that with the differing masses, you can see the contrast. The SD is flatter, but with a larger surface area and is taller; whereas the SO has a more relative form, and is thicker than the SD but despite that the SD still remains ‘bigger’. Wedging was used to make the 3 separate parts look more like one, fused model.
Materials wise, the D was planned to be transparent, acrylic. SD would be mirror-material, reflective. SO would be a solid black block, dense. With the transparent XL D, even though it’s so big, since it’s transparent it’ll remove it’s own presence and display and bring focus more on the SD and SO. Something very reflective vs something very blackanddark; that’s contrast.
However, I didn’t choose this model in the end as I felt that it did not feel interesting enough.
The second sketch model. I wanted to show a bit of cantilever and rule of thirds as a bonus in this particular model. So each part was positioned in the way of the rule of thirds, making the whole thing look pleasing. The D, SD and SO were wedged and pierced into each other to create a feeling of unity with the aim of proving that in a single unit, contrast is still possible and it’ll remain as one whole.
As this was the sketch model I’ve chosen to finalise, I’ll go into detail with the materials later on.
Materials wise, the D would be constructed out of metal mesh that’s dense and fades off to the top, SD would be a translucent box with sand, SO would be a light, thin wood. The selected materials further enhance and complete the overall look and theme, Contrast. The metal is to show that it’s very strong and concentrated, as it fades upwards into the SD that’s a translucent box with black sand. The box will show the sand as it moves around with motion, building contrast as the black colour make it seems dense but it actuality sand is softer, moremalleable. It ends at the top with the SO being a very light balsa wood strip, something that’s a block and seemingly heavy, but in truth it’s very lightweight.
As a whole, it also shows the contrast of something ‘man-made’ vs ‘nature’
APPLICATIONS
It’ll work as a large high rise building, with the illusion that it’s fading to the skies, accompanied by a indoor greenhouse-garden extending at its side.
A table lamp and digital clock combination, the translucent part being the light and the wood protrusion as small light button. The clock face can be on the main body.
What exactly is Contrast? It happens when various aspects are obviously differentfrom each other, causing juxtaposition a.k.a contrast.
With that in mind, I attempted to construct sketch models, each consisting of 3 different boxes that varied in size and lengths. I also tried to make sure every view would be different and still work with the theme Contrast.
WK 1 SKETCH MODEL 1
As shown are 3 different views that show different ways the boxes are laid out.
The drawn-on boxes are categorised this way: BLACK: The bridge or the connector, in a way RED&BLUE: The Contrasting parts of the model
— D:Dominant SD:Sub-dominant SO:Subordinate
As you can see, each view has it’s own unique sense of how the boxes are balanced together, however still retaining the sense of Contrast. For example, in the 2nd View, the Blue box is laid horizontally and is stockier while the Red is upright and slimmer; showing the juxtaposition in its elements. This reflects on the other views too, with the Black box being the one that joins both as a singular model.
A mistake on my part, I forgot to apply the principle of Dominant, Sub-dominant, Subordinate while making these 2 sketch models. As you can see from each photo, each box does not have a stable, assigned role of being either Dominant, Sub-dominant or Subordinate. I’ll be rearranging and editing the models after attempting to implement this principle.
WK 1 SKETCH MODEL 2 The colour legends here is the same as above!
The maindifference between Model 1 and 2 is that Model 2 over here, has a smaller, thinner Black box acting as the connector of the 2 contrasting parts, and 2 different boxes switch between being a connector and contrasting part.
With a constant bridge, the contrasting parts become less subtle, bringing out the difference. Like in the 2nd View, the Redbox is way larger compared to the Blue which extends horizontally out from the main body. Thus, contrast is made with the difference in size and also alignment.
Similarly to Model 1, the principle of Dominant, etc, isn’t fully applied here. I’ll be editing this model as well.
WK 2 SKETCH MODEL 1
After consultation and thinking, I decided to make the green box even smaller and thinner by using foam, to enhance the contrast in sizes between the boxes. It becomes the subordinate, being the smallest.
Materials wise, maybe the Maki-san box could be translucent and made of acrylic? While the smallest box could be wood and the biggest box could be something of a darker colour, plain texture, to bring out more attention to the 2 smaller boxes so there’ll be more interest in the contrast.
WK 2 SKETCH MODEL 2
For this model, I remade the pocky box into a much slimmer and shorter foam block, so it’ll look more like a sub-dominant as it’s supposed to be.
For materials, the transparent box could remain transparent. The pocky box could be made of something metallic, and the cookie box could be wood? I’m not too sure yet.
FOAM MODEL TECHNIQUES
Wedging ideas
It was a little tough deciding between cradling, wedging and piercing or just simply glueing surface to surface for the models. But I’d like to try mostly wedging the boxes together, hoping to create a more ‘fit together‘ look but still retaining the ‘Contrast‘ aspect showing. Anyway, I did some quick sketches of the wedging idea I had in mind to try for the next model.
For our class activity, I chose a portable hand sanitiser to present as an interesting 3D Object and learnt important 3D fundamentals just from analysing it!
3 interesting views:
Side View
Top View
Bottom View
Let’s start off talking about the colours. The dominant colour is a bright shade of green, a visual cue that we usually relate to hygiene/health products and that is what the hand sanitiser is for: to clean and kill bacteria. Sub-dominantly, it has a translucent, colourless cap that contrasts the main body of green, to bring alternative focus upon it. Lastly, it has a splash of pinks and white on the print itself that brings attention to itself, which makes that a subordinate feature.
From first glance, the hand sanitiser might seem like a fairly simple small-sized object until you try to dissect it mentally into even simpler parts and pieces. As we’ve learnt, everything’s constructed by shapes, be it similar or differing shapes.
Shape Breakdown
The cap is a cylinder. The bottle’s a trapezoidal prism. The strap is made up of a triangle and an elongated cylinder with spherical bumps running along its length.
The hand sanitiser is actually both symmetrical and asymmetrical. The outlying factor causing asymmetry being the strap and the varying widths of the trapezoidal prism, both affecting the symmetry on the same plane.
Side X-axis: With the strap stretched tautly, it’s symmetrical
Side Y-axis: Asymmetrical ends
Top Y-axis: Symmetrical
The overall shape is pretty much static, the only exception being the strap extending from the main (heaviest volume) body of the hand sanitiser. The oddly shaped extension becomes the dynamic aspect that ‘pops out’ of the regular shape.
As for proportion,it’s made up of a cluster of contrasting volumes. The main bottle being around the L sized, the cap’s about S sized, the strap would be M sized and finally the small bulges along the strap will each be XS sized.
