Open-Ended Playground:
A Bifurcated Graduation Project
February - October
2018
As part of my graduation internship at the research and development center Creating 010, the Open-Ended Playground project aimed at designing a tool enabling urban dwellers to actively take part in city making through playful creation.
Based on desk research and observations of playgrounds in Rotterdam, the approach of the project was determined: the tool would facilitate Urban Hacking. In other words, it would facilitate the use of elements in the public space for other purposes than they were originally designed for.
The project bifurcated into two projects (elaborated below):
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Pleincraft (research through design with emphasis on co-operative process development)
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Coupling Piece (emphasis on user-production based design)
1.Pleincraft
Pleincraft is the name given to the process of research towards an Open-Ended Playground providing children with materials for the Urban Hacking of their neighborhood.
Communication
The project aimed towards collective decision making. Therefore, I looked into a variety of social players and set up a collaboration between different organisations, to which topics concerning the application of Pleincraft where presented (through conceptual designs) and discussed on a regular basis:
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Stadslab Cool-Zuid (social architecture)
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Thuis op Straat (neighborhood youth activities)
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Primary School Het Landje
Event
The project resulted into a playful event with sixteen children. By applying (partially scrap) material to visualize their architectural ideas on a scaled platform (shaped like their neighborhood), they performed a "conceptual" kind of Urban Hacking of their neighborhood.
2.Coupling Piece
Looking at how Urban Hacking may be applied in a more literal way, the Coupling Piece is an industrial product to which both hard and soft materials may easily be coupled to elements of the public space. Here, not only it allows a (literal) redesign of the public space, but the public space itself becomes an Open-Ended Playground. In other words, the choice of location to which the Urban Hacking takes place remains open.
Urban Hacking Sessions
Unlike Pleincraft, the Coupling Piece is designed for anyone, regardless of the technical experience. Therefore, several Urban Hacking sessions were proposed to people of different ages and social backgrounds in order to test the Coupling Piece models.
User Production
The Coupling Piece is design to be producible by anyone in Fablabs (non-profit workplaces dwelling in urban areas). A tutorial has been made to guide the user through the production process,
OnsBlok
February - July
2017
The Project
The research and development center Creating 010 developed the Onsblok concept : a product which, by using the Internet of Things, allows non-technical users to get familiar with technology in order to reveal the environmental circumstances in which they live in without having to pass through environmental experts. Moreover, the Onsblok aims at sharing the experience and insights of the users with the outside world. Creating 010 asked for a clear and applicable vision of the Onsblok.
Research Through Design
During the project, Conceptual Design was applied as a method to answer questions concerning a target audience with rich developmental potentialities, namely, children:
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What are the children's lifestyles (activities, preferences, thoughts…)?
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How do they learn and develop themselves?
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What is Internet of Things for a child?
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Why do the existing technical tools for children fail or succeed?
Weather Station
The research resulted into the development of a child-friendly weather station. Here are its overall characteristics:
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Modular design starting from a basis level of additional technical possibilities can be added
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Shares the measured weather data with other weather stations through wireless network
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Waste material may be used to build the weather station
Design as Critique
Throughout the years, I have used design as a tool to challenge status quo assumptions, often relating to the ways people deal with perpetual dissatisfaction in their everyday life. A selection is described below.
Feel Good Machine
The concept of Feel Good Design refers to mass production which instantly triggers the consumer to feel good about him/herself through positive affirmations of life: a short wisdom quote, or a attractive image of nature, etc... Feel Good Design aims at individualistic well-being at a psychological level. In other words, its overexposure challenges the ability of critical thinking about the conditions of social reality.
This project uses Critical Design to expose the industrial undertone of Feel Good Design.
The designed Feel Good Machine functions as follows: when someone opens the door, a sensor activates all the following electronic devices:
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The motor puts the mechanical parts of the machine into motion
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The LCD screen scrolls "feel good" quotes and words
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The piezzo buzzer plays a lo-fi melody of the hit song I Gotta Feeling
When someone closes the door, the sensor stops the activity of all three electronic devices.
Leisure as the Extension of Work
Leisure as the Extension of Work was a project in the framework of my minor at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy challenging the workers use of leisure time (breaks, weekends, holidays...) as a mean of dealing with the perpetual dissatisfaction of his/her work. This topic was tackled through various ways, using design, art and philosophy. Two of these ways are described below.
Fury Room
The Fury Room is an existing company proposing their clients to break everyday life products such as printers or TV screen. It runs on the frustrations of people towards their routine. My design challenges the acceptance of perpetual work escapism by illustrating an everyday life scenario at the Fury Room. It retook the design and architectural elements of the Fury Room, together with a literal interpretation of the latter's own promotional words.
Break Time Topics
Break Time Topics deviates towards art. It challenges the same issue as the design above, but here, it looks at the relation between work escapism and small talk during break time. It consisted of a space representing a break room, surrounded by 4 speakers playing small talk sentences (see audio file for stereo version).
