Math Data and Computing
As designers we try to find ways to support our decisions when developing a product. With making models and analyzing data collected, designers are able to develop effective and useful tools to communicate their choices. Often reality is quite hectic, so finding patterns within the many interwoven factors that may affect one's design can prove to be an invaluable skill.
3D models of the individual components of the Sculpture.
Mechanical Sculpture
‘Design actuated systems’ reflects my ability to use models in order to make a fairly technically complex sculpture. One of the major deliverables of this course was to design a mechanical sculpture that should be hand actuated and release energy over time. My approach for this individual task was to base my sculpture around the escapement mechanism, a common contraption often found within clocks that allows it to tell the time. In my particular case I’ll be using gravity as my energy release, which will then spin the gear incrementally due to the swinging pendulum. This setup is particularly precise as not only do the levers' teeth need to constantly alternate within the gear, making it unable to free fall, but the distribution of weight needs just right to keep the motion perpetual while not putting too much stress on the system. By making a model of the system, with a motion analysis, it allowed me to assemble every component together into a successful sculpture.
Cultural Stress
This expertise area is also about one's ability to handle data and determine trends within the results, which is a skill I practiced in the initial phases of the multidisciplinary CBL ‘Creating a healthy workspace’. Like many projects, you often begin by researching the current issues within the desired context that can be designed for. This time around, we conducted a survey with mostly second year students and focused on the different experiences between natives and internationals have on the TU/e campus. The group had decided to target cultural stress, the pressures felt when trying to acclimate to a new culture, but lacked real direction. Once we closed the survey we needed to divide the responses between both groups, and determine which questions had significant differences that could be investigated further. The findings, summarized in a collection of graphs, showed a significant difference in three categories, academic expectation, emotional expression, and social interaction. With these three factors in mind we were able to devise some preliminary solutions, and work towards a solution.
Graphs that show significant survey response differences between both groups.
