Site Redesign Study for Next Vista for Learning

Above is an image of a site redesign study I am working on with the education non-profit, Next Vista for Learning.  As this non-profit expands its library of student created videos, contests, and collaborations with other non-profits, we have an opportunity to revisit how the site is presented to the public. We are envisioning reorganizing the visual so that the key components of the videos, speaking engagements and contests are most prominent.

We are hoping to launch the new site design the evening of March 4th during the Annual Awards Night for Next Vista for Learning. This event will be hosted by the Krause Center for Innovation and will recognize student contributors of educational video content to the Next Vista for Learning online video library.

Bus Wraps of Seeking Shelter Design Challenge

There may be an opportunity to create bus wraps with the 01 Art & Technology Network and the Santa Clara VTA to promote the Seeking Shelter Design Challenge. Above is my first concept sketch for these. It includes patterns created by 6th grade students in Alum Rock, San Jose and 5th grade students in Cupertino California. The idea is that there would be multiple buses with these wraps and each bus would feature different student patterns and bus shelter designs. QR codes would link to project site where the student statements on their patterns and structures could be read.

Currently, innovative bus shelter design is being explored by many urban planners and I want to engage youth in this conversation of how can a bus shelter become community hub of a different sort. Two days ago I brought slot cards into four Fifth Grade classes of 33 and we explored making bus shelter models in groups. We discussed working with plane geometry shapes and creating solid geometry forms We discussed the designers Ray and Charles Eames and discussed personal space/public space in the context of a brainstorm on built structures in our communities. We then compared and contrasted with the brainstorming done by students in Azerbaijan on the same topic.

Next students will discuss patterns in Voicethread with students in other States and students will create bus shelters in Google SkechUp and share designs to a Google SketchUp Warehouse collection.

If bus wraps are made, they would be coordinated with the launch of the Design Challenge which would invite more schools to participate in the Slot Shelters project this coming academic year.

If you are an arts educator interested in this project please visit the Slot Shelters site to get a feel for the project and then fill out the Google Doc form below.

More Reflections on Shelter Installation

I have been meeting and contacting fabricators to identify materials to make a temporary outdoor modular art installation to launch the Seeing Shelter Design Challenge. This installation is really an exclamation point and question mark in the landscape to get people thinking about designing, brainstorming and building bus shelters that have greater functionality for the community. Some materials I am now thinking of are: window screen netting, cardboard tubes, polygal (light weigh translucent honeycomb plastic sheets) and vinyl decals shapes inspired by student pattern reflections.

At night, the installation will light up and one outer wall will become a wii interactive surface with Google SketchUp projected for the public to experiment with.

The installation needs to tie into the web based component of the project in a compelling way. The modular shapes units of the installation are the same as those that will be in a downloadable ISSUU catalog kit for Slot Shelters on the project site that students can print out. I am envisioning something like this ISSUU idea flipbook by MIO Culture  

In the design challenge starting in September student will first create prototypes from the modular units from the ISSUU magazine and submit images of their 3D slot card concept studies of bus shelters to the Slot Shelters Project site. These will be peer reviews and voted on for best concepts. The second phase of the project will invite students to create bus shelters in Google SketchUp and submit to a Google SketchUp Warehouse collection. There will be winners of this phase of the project selected by design professionals.

It is really interesting to meet with fabricators. I love to see their prototyping design process and creative use of materials. One great group I met with is The Monkey Wrench Group. Another amazing group is Because We Can.

Thoughts of Spring

Last Wednesday I visited the John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek to see the installation of my mixed media sculpture, Thoughts of Spring. Below are some images of the work installed in the 3rd floor lobby entrance to the pediatric wing. The installation is 38" x42" x 1.5". I used mostly chopstick sleeve wrappers, origami paper, and Chinese preserved fruit wrappers. A few Chinese tea wrappers and Japanese seaweed snack wrappers are included as well. Some fragments carry special meaning to me as they were from engagements with friends and family. This hospital is really beautifully designed and I was lucky to have a bit of a tour of the new wing. The interior bamboo garden was really lovely. As I was photographing the sculpture, a new mom and baby were rolled by with extended family in a celebratory mood. It was such a great feeling to know that this piece is in such a special setting.

Slot Shelters Installation Studies Continued

Yet another rough idea for the installation for launching Slot Shelters. This design would make use of a variation of materials for the modular units. I would like the roof units to be translucent material. I am wondering if it is possible to embed led lights in the roof material and have mood or motion sensors below for people to interact with and have reflected in the action of the lights. There would be additional sections of the structure connecting and extending outward. I envision sparse use of pattern and color. Large scale colorful student slot cards with their pattern designs would also be printed and will be available to the public to build additional structures near this one.

more pattern studies below: 

Seeking Shelter/Slot Shelters continued brainstorming

Engage shelter would have some pinwheel pieces spin in the wind or by hand. Refresh shelter would collect water and it would musically collect down rain catch chains.

Seeking Shelter/Slot Shelters Installation: I have been thinking more about the connecting unit shapes for structure installation of Slot Shelters. This structure will be an exclamation point and question mark inserted into the public landscape to excite people about the possibilities for what a bus shelter can be.

A design challenge for youth will launch at the same time.  
The challenge will invite youth to envision the bus shelter as more than a waiting space.
How can the bus shelter function in replenishing/refreshing, engaging and enriching the community? How can the space be designed to invite community connection, gathering and sharing? How can it be a node in environmental and community needs such as solar collecting, water collecting, digital device recharging, food growing? This challenge will be hosted on the Slot Shelters website.

The installation will playfully introduce the general themes: refresh, engage, and enrich. I will design and install a shelter in which each wall represents one of the three themes.
The Engage Wall will have units which spin by touch and wind.
The Refresh Wall will collect water from the slanted roof and the water will descend musically through rain catches (made of the building units cut from metal and folded into cones).

The Enrich Wall will have the building units printed with elementary student pattern art (from this academic year's Slot Shelter participants) along with their statements describing how their patterns reflect their neighborhood. Perhaps people could add to the art – so that it is an ever changing piece.  They could draw or leave notes & messages. Perhaps it is poetry they are writing down. It is a way to connect to people you may never meet.

very rough concept sketch of what a basic shelter might look like using the new slot units.

Two alternative shapes for the basic unit shape. One of these will be selected to work from.

The unit pieces I am creating (and still refining) will fold and connect to build the structure. The main basic unit shape will integrate both angular forms and organic shapes.
The organic shapes within it reflects on identity and place... cells and aerial view of Bay (together referencing a large span in scale).
The angular shape in the pattern unit is the standard pinwheel. It references green design and the  ingredient of playful experimentation necessary for innovation design in Silicon Valley. As a basic quilting pattern, this angular shape also references the quilt work of cultures pieced together to form our unique community.

The basic shape design will have several variations or slight "mutational" forms that will be laser cut so that resulting pattern has a dynamic texture of variation within the repeating pattern. Two examples below:

These new pattern shapes will be used in conjunction with the original patterns created for the classrooms. There will be a free issuu book for students to download and print the card pieces.

Ideas for installation of Slot Shleters/Seeking Shelter

paper model of slot shelter units assembled into a structure with a roof using new card designs.

I am exploring the creation of two new pieces that will be repeating units in a Slot Shelters installation. The above model is a early prototype of what these two units might look like. I would scale up the large piece to be twice the size of the square connector piece. The tab connection here works great so I won't be modifying that much. I will also make a test unit that looks more like the top quilt-like pinwheel pattern unit. These designs were inspired by designs I saw posted by students at this site: http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news19027.html

I hope to create the final designs as a CAD file at the TechShop and then have these two units laser cut from cardboard. 

A pyramid-like building is under construction in the square of Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou, East China's Fujian province on May 10,2011.[Photo/CFP]