Unity Project

For the Unity Project we were challenged to create something with 12 skewers and 12- 4"x6" planes of bristol board unified in its structure, space, joinery, and concept.

The Lao Tse quote on our assignment sheet stuck out to me and was an important part of my concept.  I initially thought of a toilet as an example of unity and the Lao Tse quote in that the its utility depends on spaces where there is nothing. The seat, well, and bowl have importance in what is placed on or in them. The flow of water is also unified in that it is manipulated into swirling and straight motions due to the interaction between the well and bowl. Making a toilet model was too literal however I wanted to continue with the idea of unity where there is nothing or where spaces are implied.

From playing with the thick properties of the bristol board as well as the skewers I created a joint system in which a canal made through scoring folds the paper around the skewer. This type of joinery unites the skewer with the bristol board in a stronger way than if the skewer were pasted on top. Also this strengthens the bond between the paper and the skewer as the rubber cement used has limitations in joining such small spaces together.

My first model away from the toilet was somewhat pyramidal. The folded planes with the skewers inside them pointed inward to the middle which is where I decided to focus my place of unity. However the "roof" I made did not hold the legs very strong and I wanted the legs to be steeper which the roof would not allow. The roof also did not follow the unified "canal" joinery which went through the rest of the model. I also ran into problems with not using enough skewers and planes. I found that my principle problem was in the roof and that I could redesign the roof using more planes and use more skewers in the legs.

My final iteration was greatly improved through my new roof system. I created an open roof made of four planes joined though lapping canal joints. The joints on each of the four corners accept the legs and because these canal joints are the same as the legs the model is unified in joinery and modularity. The greater steepness from the roof increased structural strength as well as emphasizing my place of unity due to the closer proximity of the legs. The small opening in the roof also helps to emphasize this central place as the observer can not only look from the side but from the top to see the central place of unity.