14 Weeks of Walking
Walking in the City Design Lab, UTS DAB
Wednesday 21 December 2011
Monday 14 November 2011
Have a read.
Sunday 13 November 2011
Wednesday 9 November 2011
Tuesday 8 November 2011
Monday 7 November 2011
Sunday 30 October 2011
Pink spot trails
Saturday 15 October 2011
Tiny Speakers
Friday 14 October 2011
Katherine and I grouped together and chose the field of protection for our final design concept.
Originally we thought to incorporate the energy of crystals into a form of vest/harness (wearable) as a conceptual way of 'protecting' the wearer while walking. Having realised that this is a bit too simple, we thought of exploring how lights could help protect someone when walking. By completing the mind map class exercise last Tuesday with George, we were able to sort out where exactly we could go with this initial idea.
We decided that night walking will be our context for our design, as it is problematic in terms of low-lit streets, local parks etc.We want to encourage people to go for a walk even though it is night time, and to give people a sense of security and energy balance while doing so.
becoming sound tekkie's
Thursday 13 October 2011
Walking in the City: at night
Our brainstorming exercise was very useful with many interesting ideas being produced. We eventually grouped ideas and arranged them as seen below:
We then chose certain important ideas and moved them together creating the beginnings of a mind map:
Finally we neatened ideas from here up and moved them onto a final mind map to work from:
The design ideas we derived from this brainstorming activity were:
Light sourced being reflected off the body
Crystals placed on the garment serving as a protective source and also empowers walker- providing a sense of security and comfort
Reflected light could link to heart monitor- release an alert signal if heart rate rises to an alarming level- ie. if walker is afraid or in some kind of peril, lights emit this sense of anguish to others
Summary:
I am interested in persuing these ideas in order to make a wearable for a walker at night. However I feel it needs to be a bit more conceptually grounded and perhaps challenge some pre concieved ideas about walking. I am interested in pursuing the idea of protective natural energies surrounding the walker and capturing them to enhance the walker's experience of the journey. Ie. to capture the few positive and natural energies pulsating through the city and block out the overwhelming negative energies of the industrial dark city scape.
Tuesday 11 October 2011
Redefining City Sound Project
Monday 10 October 2011
Augmented Reality with Layar
Anyone interested in seeing if this actually works? Looks fun - but almost too good to be true!
; )
Social Walking: Lygia Pape "Divisor" 1968-2011
Performance en el Museo Reina SofÃa, Madrid
Brazillian artist Lygia Pape was a contemporary of Helio Oiticica and Lygia Clarke - part of the Tropicalismo movement that emerged in that county in the 60's and 70's - - a form of 'expanded' practice that developed from the neo-concrete aesthetics of the 50's (Grupo Neoconcreto). This looks like loads of fun - and a big presensce. Ryan's protest walk proposal made me think of this - I thought it was Oiticica but it was Pape! Here's another 're-performance' in Brazil…
Check out the Oiticicia clips on youtube as well - they are a hoot…
Wiki Tropicalismo listing here
Enjoy!
Sunday 9 October 2011
Walking in the city- A Running Perspective
Friday 7 October 2011
Grayson Perry- Map of an Englishman 2004
Sunday 2 October 2011
Electronic Devices.
Finally located my images from the week that we had to take apart our electronic devices! I had an old straightener lying around the house and thought this would be a great item to take apart especially because it had heating elements which would be quite cool to explore. taking it apart proved more difficult than expected but the end findings were quite interesting and it was great to learn how it works by seeing the inside. The straightener was mainly electrical and though various layers of metal plastic and a chemical substance it was able to heat the plate. It would be great in the future to learn more about how to put together simpler electronic devices.
Saturday 1 October 2011
Walking Rules
below is the link to the article called 'How to walk in NewYork by Andrew Womak'
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/how-to-walk-in-new-york
Implicit and Explicit Meanings
Pedestrian access :
- The image on the left shows the entrance to the tram line behind the Powerhouse museum. This is the first opening in the tree lining for at least 25m, and despite the no entry sign, there is evidence of foot tracks and graffiti on the wall. This suggests they should have provided an opening so people didn’t have to break the rules.
- The image on the right is near the back entrance to Darling Harbour, accessible via Ultimo. Despite being a major tourist attraction, the access for pedestrians is restricted to a footpath in the middle of a large roundabout with freeway entrances and high traffic areas. Doesn’t seem right..
Doors:
- In our ergonomics classes we are taught that a handle affords pulling and a panel affords pushing. But both of these handled doors set back behind a metal strip which means they have to be pushed to get in. It looks as though the owner has become sick of people pulling and getting it wrong that they have had to put a PUSH sign up.
On the street:
- The left image shows a drain and the top of where a tap used to be along Harris St. Possible explanations could be that the tap was unsuitable for the busy thoroughfare so it was removed, but a plate with a hole in it just below waist height is something that affords ‘putting’. The hidden message – less taps, more bins.
- The right image is the walk button that clearly affords pressing/pushing. However the noise that is created by the beeping causes confusion for such a simple activity, and many people end up crossing when they hear the noise from the adjacent pedestrian crossing.
Birds:
- The seagull on the left was found in Darling Harbour, a so called friendly, safe tourist zone. But maybe it’s not so safe after all with this bird and a few others I saw suffering injuries to their legs.
- I found this sign near the Chinese Gardens. Although the meaning isn’t really that hidden, it seems a bit for a tourist area. The whole of Darling Harbour is depicted as iconic and friendly, but there seemed to be a few things that were a bit off.