Ellis & Embryo

In this assignment we chose two buildings, one a residence, the other a quarantine unit. After researching, I compared the two buildings. I chose Ellis Island and the Embryonic House by Greg Lynn. The differences were obvious, Ellis Island was a large, old building built in the 1900s. The Embryonic House is what is known as "Blob Architecture" and has never been built. The challenge was finding the similarities between them. The similarity is not in what they are but rather in what they represent. The information and similarity can be found in the brochure below.



The next part of the assignment was to Diagram different aspects of the two buildings. The first one I did was a pie chart of the major nationalities found in quarantine on Ellis Island. This graph also shows the percent of quarantine patients that were under the age of 10. Then next diagram is a figure-ground map that shows the isolation of the two buildings, which is very similar. Thirdly, I diagramed the circulation of the two buildings. Ellis Island's circulation is very structured, whereas the Embryonic House's circulation is more free.

Steps and Calories

Pounds of Human Waste

The Pox Lock... and drop it.

Final Model

I finished my final model. I double layered the thinner polypropylene fabric and made the inside fabric a different color than the outside, which helps to show the variety that can be had in color choices.

I made the pocket attachment out of acrylic that I laser cut and engraved with my device name and logo. I also made a slot that helps the reel stay securely on the pocket attachment.

The Details

I fiddled with the reel a little bit. I wanted it to somehow stay at the bottom of the pocket, so that it would bring the device into the pocket when it retracted. I bought some medal and cut off a long piece so that it went down to the bottom of my pocket and I curved the top so that it would fit tightly over the lip of my pocket. I then attacked the reel to the bottom of the metal strip so that the reel stayed at the bottom of the pocket and could more easily retract the string and the handkerchief back into the pocket after use.

I have begun focusing on the details of the handkerchief as well. The first model that I built had two straight openings for the fingers. I found it difficult to slip my pointer finger into the slot while it was in my pocket. My solution to this was to make a horizontal slit with the vertical one, that way I could stick my finger into the horizontal slit and on the way up to my face, slide it into its final position in the vertical slot. Another thing I tested was the use of magnets to keep the device closed when not used. I found that the magnets were not strong enough to keep both sides together. I experimented with attaching the handkerchief with the reel as well. I sewed one side of a snap onto the device and kept the other one on the reel. It worked well, but I decided to move the snap onto the pointer finger side of the device because it would help it go into the pocket better.

The second model I made out of the black polypropylene material. I bought it in the bag form at walmart and it cost more than the blue bag did and I wasn't sure why. It turns out that it is thicker, consisting of two polypropylene layers rather than one. I kept the placement of the finger holes for this model but changed the horizontal and vertical slits of the pointer finger hole into a curve to show the movement of the finger within the slit. I used velcro to keep the wings of the device closed instead of magnets because I found that they could possibly harm a dryer if washed. The velcro worked well, but I needed to play with the placement of it on the next model more. I also changed the position of the snap to the other side and it worked much better.

The third model I changed the placement of the velcro to where my fingers were so that I could more easily press it together. It worked better, but I feel like it needs to be placed on the inner layer of fabric rather than the outer layer. I attached some snap ons that I bought that must be forcefully applied with a hammer and it cut through the fabric and it didn't on the thicker black fabric, so in order to use these snaps, I will have to do two layers of the blue fabric. I played with my sewing technique on this model as well. I made the stitches larger and used a bright and contrasting color to the blue (orange) thread and spaced out the stitches and made them larger.

Reinventing the Handkerchief

While thinking about my device the past couple of days, I realized how similar it was to the handkerchief. So I did some research on the handkerchief and found that this simple device (which is really just a square of fabric) dates back to 1377 to King Richard II of England who is thought to have invented it. Not only is the handkerchief used for personal hygiene, but it was used as a decorative accessory as well, much as it is today in suit pockets. So in addition to reinventing the handkerchief in the hygienic sense, i cold also reinvent it as a fashion statement.

The handkerchief has for the most part been replaced by tissues, this is unfortunate because tissues are not always available when need it and come in large bulky boxes, whereas a handkerchief is always kept handy. Also, the handkerchief is more environmentally friendly since they can be used multiple times, and if they were made out of polypropylene (which is usually already recycled and can be recycled again after use) it would make for one very green product.

Here is what I have come up with so far. I designed it to fold up easily into a triangular shaped piece that can fit easily into any pocket. It has two slots for your pointer finger and thumb so they can slip in and open the device before arriving at the face to cover a cough/ sneeze. When opened, the device is deep so the force of air expelled from the lungs goes into the device without receiving resistance.

Problems and Progress

Within the past week I have made a lot of changes to my original design strategy. But first, here is a picture of my new site model.

I laser cut another site model of a face that is tilted down, as it would during a sneeze.

I began using my material (polypropylene fabric) to build site models. Here is the first one I came up with. It attaches around the neck and rests at the bottom of the neck.

It can then be expanded to cover the mouth and nose in case of emergency or an oncoming cough or sneeze.

Last Friday, we spent the day doing desk crits as a class. When it was my turn I received some really helpful feedback. One thing I was concerned about was that my device would be strapped around the neck, not an easy place to be subtle. One of my classmates brought up the idea of how natural it was to raise the hand to the face when sneezing or coughing in order to block it. Keeping this idea in mind, I have changed my strategy to try and integrate my device into this natural hand-to-face reaction.

So, I began thinking of a way to make the device easily accessible to the hand, but not very noticeable or in the way. What came to mind was the retractable id reels, so that once used, the device would retract back to its place. Also, since doctors and hospital personel must wear an id holder anyway, why not combine it with my device, so that they always are equipped with a face mask. I began experimenting with these reels and and id covers.

I started off just attaching the fabric to the back of the id holder but found that if that when pressed against the mouth, a sneeze or cough would go around the sides, because it does not seal around the face.

I then experimented with concealing a face mask within the id holder. but found it difficult to get the mask out and put it back into place after use.

Next, I thickened the id holder so that the face mask could more easily slip in and out. I attached the reel to the face mask instead of the id holder so that the holder would stay in place when the mask was brought to the face and would then retract into the id holder.

After talking with Seth, I decided I had too much going on. I was trying to combine a face mask and a cough/sneeze cover, which was presenting more problems. Also, the id holder had become like a holster and in order to fit the face mask, it had become large and bulky. Not very discrete like I had wanted it to be. The face mask was also unnecessary, I needed to simplify my design and stick to the original idea of covering sneezes and coughs, which would hinder the spread of smallpox by shooting them into the air for other people to ingest. I decided to shy away from the id holder and and create something that could be discreet and still work with the idea of the motion from hand to face. Seth and I talked about possibly integrating the device into a pocket, so that while on the way to the face, the hand would catch onto the device and then be spread across the face.