where we have been

going back to my example of "dealing with the passed/past", the sensacell led floor has intrigued me in ways that go beyond the visual. on the first, most obvious level, it is a technologically innovative creation, a floor that responds to the users that walk on it. this interaction brings this device into a realm that goes beyond that of a typical electronic device or appliance. The interaction between the user and the floor itself has already created a relationship between the two sides, an awareness of each other. the ‘digital footprints’ are an interesting play on an older concept: footprints, which were originally thought of as a more organic element that exists in nature, have now been artificially created in digital form. Yet, users still experience a very natural event as the footprints illuminate and fade away slowly as they trail behind.

 

sensacell has reminded me of how we are constantly trying to reinvent the past. the new technologies that have been/are being developed today are simply new ways of doing the same tasks that we have been doing since the beginning of history. the computer is just a new way of organizing and storing information, something that was originally done with pencil and paper. the automobile takes the place of human-powered vehicles that used to be the only means of transportation from place to place. the led is a new take on the candle, still serving the purpose of providing a source of light, but in a more efficient and longer lasting way. it is interesting to look back on the mindset of designers and inventors now, compared to  that of history. the cause for the desire to invent these technologies was that there was none existing in the first place! the designers of the past were creating these ideas from scratch. looking at designers today however, the mindset is a bit different. all of the technologies in question exist already, and it has simply become a matter of reinventing the wheel. a newer car, a faster computer, a brighter light: these are examples of what we see all around us today. everybody is revisiting the past and trying to build it better. the sensacell reflects this idea. users walk on the surface, and these digital footprints appear. In addition to literally reminding the user of where they have been, one can take the concept further as a a reminder of where we have been as the human race. we leave these “footprints” in history, we have “left our mark” in time. but the sensacell is just a newer, modern way of displaying the same information. the user has taken the initiative to step onto the sensacell, and has made a few steps, and seen the result. The user has seen what their actions have caused, in the form of digital footprints. but now, what else is there to do but to keep moving forward and cross the floor? the user will continue walking across the led floor, and the same event will occur every time. the same, newer way of accomplishing the same task.  this is a good reminder to us that we as designers should not be satisfied with continuing this trend of reinventing the past. sure there are some areas that need more thought and reinventing. let those come about naturally. but as modern designers we should be seeking to create new ideas and concepts, those that have never been seen or heard of before. In today’s technological world, it seems like everything is already in existence, and that the only choice is to reinvent the old. but that obstacle should be the driving force for an even stronger desire to break of out this cycle of reinventing the past and to create something new.

the sensacell led floor starts out with just the 250 square foot floor surface. but perhaps that is just the beginning. my expansion of the sensacell concept would include a bunch of 1’x1’ square cubes that have the same led surface on each side, reacting to touch when users go to pick up the cubes. the cubes would be scattered all over the floor, and would react differently according to what the user decides to do with it. perhaps the cubes would be stacked on top of each other – this would cause the cubes color to change. the body temperature of the user holding the cube would case the intensity of the cube’s color to fluctuate accordingly. there would also be more than one sensacell floor, and each floor would also cause a change in the cube’s behavior. so the user could take a cube to different floors and see the different results caused by their action. what users take away from my version of the sensacell would hopefully be one that they have the potential to create new things. everywhere they travel within the sensacell, the concept of the digital footprints will follow them, constantly reminding them of where they have been. but the cubes will provide the ability to change the existing environment with direct interaction. users will feel that they have the ability to effectively and drastically change what is already existing with their own personal actions.

 

this is the approach that we should have as modern designers. be  aware of what’s around us, what has been around us and where we have been. let that be a reminder as we strive to move forward, and be more aware of where we are going. we should seek not to reinvent but to create!

functionalism as a theory of form

simplicity has become a popular and seemingly more necessary concept in modern design. choice of materials plays a big role in this concept, where a designer will take into account the availability of a material, the structural properties, how easily it is manipulated, the after life of the material and so on. the following 5 chair designs are some that i feel exemplify this concept of simplicity in furniture design. simplicity that takes into account both the aesthetic and functional qualities of a material. 

 

tal gur's "sturdy straws chair" 2002 • standard plastic drinking straws are packed together in a wooden form. a heated panel is applied to the side of the chair, melting the ends of the straws rigidly in place. typically, about 15,000 drinking straws are used in a single chair. this design transforms ready-made materials that are originally fragile and disposable into a solid, sturdy piece of furniture.

humberto and fernando campana's "corallo armchair" 1989-2002 • electrostatically spray painted steel wires are individually hand-and-tool-formed and welded together. the idea came from a study in interpreting originally pre-existing materials, and the form from sea coral. it is appropriately named "corallo", the portuguese word for coral.

anon pairot's "pare chaise longue" 2004 • pairot creates furniture and furnishings with materials native to his home country of thailand. the concept of the pare chaise is to reduce waste through a simple and effective design, inspired by traditional bamboo rafts that thai people call pare.

adam simha's "5-minute dining and lounge chair" • searching for a "free and unselfconscious mix of fact, function, wit, and whimsy", simha believes that "the design of a chair should address the reality of the experience of sitting: inherently one of changing needs and desires". the initial prototype took 5 minutes to construct, and became the name. constructed from a single sheet of mild or stainless steel, a strip of acetal or polycarbonate provides grip for the front leg.

verner panton's "panton chair" 1968• the panton has become one of the most iconic pieces of 20th century furniture. panton, a student of arne jacobsen, and a colleague of many of the era's most acclaimed designers, verner panton was deep-rooted in his pop influence, as was the famous panton chair, which featured a polypropylene structure consisting of sleek fluid curves. this method of using a single cohesive material throughout hte entire piece is still used in present designs and continues to be popular and effective way of producing innovative furniture that is at the same time conscious of effective material use.

designer lighting

i always spend countless hours during the move-in process (wether it be into my dorm at school, or back into my room at home) setting up my desk space. I will have my laptop, monitor, speakers, lamps, external hard drives, and various toys and figures all laid out around me, and i will be sitting on my chair at my empty desk - visualizing all the possibilities of where each item can potentially go. and after i decided on a configuration, i will be constantly moving things around slightly until i reach the perfect harmony of relationships between the location of each item on my desk (and every time it always ends up being almost exactly the same configuration as before!). lighting of course plays a very big role in this process. i am sure that is not only i that pays such attention to these things. lighting will make or break the mood of a room or space. what started as a necessity of a light due to visibility, has now turned into something that is much more based on aesthetics, mood, emotion and other personal attributes. The following examples of modern lighting show how far a lamp has come, from starting as a simple source of light, has taken on the attributes of a piece of furniture and decoration.

airswitch 1 by uk based, mathmos design is based on the design of a flask reminiscent high-school chemistry classrooms. passing your hand horizontally across the opening will activate/deactivate the lamp, and moving your hand vertically above the opening will dim and brighten the lamp.

the ed table by g. berchicci takes european furniture design to a new level with light. lights inside of the glass table illuminate the entire surface of the table as well as the support underneath, providing a new type of environment for dining or any other use you would have for this table. 

giuseppe colonna’s x cross consists of forty colored cubes of light, configurable to hang on a wall or lay flat on a horizontal surface. the range of colors is completely customizable, allowing each user to have an individually unique configuration. the x cross gives home lighting a new form.

carl mertens’ tabletop fireplace takes an ancient concept of an oil burning lamp and gives it a new appearance. taking on the configuration of wooden logs burning in a campfire, the tabletop fireplace adds a modern style to an old concept.

the fit lamp by giuseppe colonna consists of two interweaving cubes intersecting to add both light and color to a room. innovative form and customizability: two aspects that are becoming more and more apparent in modern lighting. the fit lamp is another example of the modern role of light - both as a source of illumination and as an expression of creativity and decoration.

dealing with the passed/past

history is written through people 'leaving their mark' in the world. that mark of the past may be left via the means of a war, a social movement, great accomplishments, etc. in most cases, human nature will drive a desire for ownership. wether it be through involvement in a project, or a significant achievement, or anything else that one involves their hand in, they want to be recognized. we like to see that our involvement has changed something, that it has affected to outcome of something significantly. we like to 'leave our mark' in history. that history may be that which will be read by students in high school classrooms, or that which is seen by everyone who walks in front of a particular wall in new york city. the following are examples of recent innovations in 'leaving your mark' in todays world. the advancement of technology has opened up endless paths that we can all 'leave our mark'.

the graffiti research lab is all about outfitting today's graffiti artists with new technologies for urban communication. the "untouchable" project allowed artists to leave their mark on places normally unreachable without extreme preparatory procedures, such as underneath the brooklyn bridge. these images are created by laser projection. 

the reverse graffiti project, by artist "moose" takes a completely new approach to urban art. the walls of the san francisco broadway tunnel were caked with soot and dirt from years of 20,000 passing motor vehicles per day. using a plant based cleaner by green works, moose blasts away the dirt and soot using stencils, leaving behind incredible scenery and images created from the now clean areas of the walls.

the hyposurface is a wall consisting of many smaller panels that are powered by compressed air. the wall reacts to sound and movment of passerbys, and can spell out words, and create images.

adobe's interactive video projection wall was part of their promotion for cs3. installed in union square, new york, people's movements were recorded by sophisticated tracking hardware and flash scripting, and were translated into a mixed-media digital mural. as a person walks across the wall, randomly generated animations and music will appear on the wall where the person has been.

interactive floor designer sensacell's led floor captures digital footprints. consisting of 1000 leds across 250 square feet, the pressure sensitive floor responds to steps by lighting up. the steps are tracked over time, allowing users to create a series of footprints that slowly fade away.