We wanted to make a furniture piece that would explore something other than ergonomics. The bathhouse project has a lot of experiential qualities to it: the way that the colors and textures of the CMU block, wood, and concrete slabs connect physically but have different emotional responses in people; the reflective qualities of water and the lake; and the general way people approach this man-made thing after having been in the wilderness for days.
As a response, we made a lighting fixture. We placed it between the kitchen area and the living spaces, above the table. The shapes were to mirror the plan of our building - overlapping rectangles distinguishing between functions of the space. This wooden piece of furniture would do the same. The face looking towards the kitchen are would have stronger light while the sleeping quarters would receive low, diffused light. We would do this by manipulating the sides of the lighting fixture so the side towards the kitchen is wider and more open by manipulating the cloth covering so that the side towards the bedrooms is double-layered.
In addition, we were careful in constructing the joint between these sheets of wood. We again wanted the furniture to mirror the whole building, so we wanted some simplicity in the way the shapes overlap and connect. In our bathhouse, we have a wooden plinth, wooden walls, and a wooden canopy, but the facades are all held up by a concrete (plinth) or steel (walls and canopy) structure. We wanted to reflect this in the furniture so we hid the structure behind the cloth material.
We made prototypes for both the shape and construction of the fixture, to experiment with different sheet material, stability when increasing the size, and number and kid of rods needed. We found that some cloth material (as opposed to paper or plastic) would work best because of its flexibility and range in thread density. We also found that it was difficult to match rod sizes to drills available. We also explored bolting the fixture to the ceiling or suspending it.
Stay tuned for Wednesday's final review to see the final product!:)
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