02 Workshops

Workshop at ZHdK

During a workshop at ZHdK we were working on flying objects as well as developing ideas around the topic of air. The schedule for the workshop was as follows:

1. Build a flying object that fly as far as possible
2. Build a flying object that produce an interesting movement whilst flying
3. Design Speed-Dating to create ideas for given contexts and personas

For the first two assignments we used our StyroGlider. The participants were asked to use the predefined form to produce a flying object which could fly as far as possible. We were expecting that all the objects would look more or less the same – which wasn’t the case at the end of this task. Each participant interpreted the requirements differently. All used the basic form of the StyroGlider but extended it in various ways. One was trying to build a biplane by using two forms and attaching them with some tape. Others cut the form in two parts and added them to the original form. The results were very divers. An subsequent challenge, where each of the participants had to launch her glider, showed that the performance of the objects differed as well. Some of the objects were flying around three to four meters, whereas other were even flying backwards after launch.

In a discussion that we started afterwards the different understandings of the task were exchanged. A common problem was the understanding of the assignment which would restricted the use of materials to the pre-given shape. This limitation was not taken serious which resulted in different forms. The discussion is wrapped-up in the video below.

In the second assignment the participants were asked to use StyroPaper to build a flying object that would produce an interesting movement whilst flying. What we observed during the process of building these objects was that the participants were completely affected by the first exercise. Therefore the resulting objects still looked a bit like airplanes although we even emphasized that the objects could look completely different. The results of this assignment could be seen in the following video.

The following discussion brought out that the results of this assignment were more interesting for mostly all of the participants. That was because of the sometimes unexpected movements and because of some other following facts. Nearly all objects needed some time of flight to start a movement. This movement started chaotic and random and stabilized during time. Before hitting the ground most of the objects had a very stabilized movement. Another notice was made, because the environment was playing a crucial role. Wind and air-drift had a big impact on how the movement of the objects evolved. Some were disturbed by a certain gust others drifted very far because of people passing by.

The third assignment was to create ideas for science toys for given contexts and personas. We used the Design-Speed-Dating method (described here) to generate a rich variety of ideas during a short time. Therefore we defined six contexts (Bridge, Mountains, Beach, Staircase, Car and Treehouse) as well as six personas (Artist, Child, Monk, Runner, Teacher and Physicist). They were generated in order to have a big variety and at the same time all the contexts and personas should be familiar to the participants.

After explaining the method we made six rounds, each with five minutes length. In this way not less than 24 ideas were generated in half an our. Each idea was pinned to the wall in the equivalent intersection. The picture below showed the matrix of all ideas.

Matrix

Not all the ideas followed strictly the assignment to generate a science toy which could be used to explore wind, but the context and persona were respected. In the following we will explain three ideas in more detail:

Staircase/Artist – Tornado Art
Thinking about the staircase and an artist immediately brought up the idea to generate an artificial tornado in the staircase where the artist could through in some colored particles. This would result in a very colorful installation that could be filmed or photographed by the artist to be placed inside a gallery for an exhibition.

Car/Child – Airstream Kite
The combination between car and child evoked the scene when driving on a long journey to holidays. On these trips children are always bored and a solution could be to give them some small kites which they could hang out the window to see and feel the power of the airstream.

Mountain/Teacher – Fog Signpost
Imagening a teacher going in the mountains with his class but looses them in the dense fog. To be able to navigate in the fog his only possibility is to use a tool similar to a Thermos bottle which catches the fog on the side on which the wind is coming from. In this way he could probably find his way back home.

The overall workshop helped us a lot in rethinking our first material (StyroPaper) as well as defining a methodology to use this material in a workshop setting to learn something about air in relation to flight. The part of generating ideas broadened our understanding of the topic (air) and the possible approaches for science toys.