Glen Baghurst

Harmonising Science and Design

www.glenbaghurst.com

Masters of Industrial Design, Swinburne University, Melbourne Diploma of Industrial Design, Swinburne University, Melbourne Bachelor of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney

Harmonising Science and Design Science is the study of the real and quantifiable, to find truth. Design is the practical application of this knowledge to live a better life. These disciplines are more intertwined than this short passage will manage, but the main reason for my switch from a scientific arena to design has been what focal length I have acquired. I am currently able to approach science with a holistic view, and apply its theories and processes into everyday objects. I have used both chemistry (pg), biological mimicry (pg) and Material physics (pg) in some works completed this year in my masters at Swinburne University. I have also acquired a healthy background in Industrial design through my diploma, masters and professional practice at Swinburne University. I have covered user-centred design, contextual design, product interaction and smart environments, digital content creation (solidworks, 3dsmax). My studies were unique because I was able to put my education into practice whilst at university for the following companies; SCA, sorbent, Frog design and Regent Caravans. Design is a battle between the urge to create, being empathetic to others and tapping into the emotions that make us human.

Achievements
3rd in International Design Competition, Green Earth (2008 Oct) Designboom Work displayed at Tokyo Design Fair 2008, for Tobu Department Store

Verge Art Festival 2008 (Nov) Winner of Best Abstract photograph and Best Overall Photograph.

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DESIGN RESEARCH TAXONOMY

PIECE PLATE pg 5 FIRE SUIT pg 71
FITA, pg 63

FOUR WAYS TO CATEGORIZE USER CENTRED DESIGN glen baghurst

GLOSSARY AFFINITY DIAGRAMS INTUITIVELY GROUP THINGS TO FIND RELATIONSHIPS

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BEHAVIOURAL MAPPING TRACK THE MOTIONS OF PEOPLE VIA TIME AND SPACE CULTURAL PROBE GET PERSONAL OR WRITTEN RESPONSE ON ANOTHER COUNTRIES PERCEPTION OF A PRODUCT. DOCUMENT HOW THEY INTERACT HISTORICAL ANALYSIS COMPARES THE FEATURES OF VARIOUS GROUPS AND THEIR STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT. eg AN INDUSTRY OR COMPANY LONG RANGE FORECASTING ACT SCENARIOS, HOW NEW TECHNOLOGIES COULD MANIFEST BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES (HUGE PHILLIP K DICK FAN) PERSONAL INVENTORY CATALOGING EVIDENCE FROM THE USER, AS TO WHATS MORE IMPORTANT. COULD BE SPECIFIC TO AN AREA. TISSUES. RAPID ETHNOGRAPHY BE AROUND YOUR SUBJECT, OBSERVE, HANG OUT, MINGLE.

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Homeware

Piece Plate, serving plate (2010) This plate is used as a normal plate. Serves food. Cleans well, is durable around the house. However, at the end of its life it breaks with purpose, and can be used once more. Reincarnatory Design When an object is broken or its function / life ceases to exist in the form it once knew, it is dead to the user unless there has been time for sentimental attachment. People form unique bonds with objects over time particularly if they wear and tear well. When something breaks instantaneously their is less room for this build up of sentiment and normally results in the discarding of the object. This process of design allows the object to transform in the act of breaking and propose an alternative use at the point of destruction, providing the user with a scenario of enlightenment. There bye an act of reincarnation.

Prototype 1:2

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Homeware

Poured Platter, platter (2011) This form was inspired whilst working on my piece plate, I spilt some ceramic onto my workshop floor, it set and formed a puddle shape. The finish was smooth with soft fluffy lines where the material had naturally wanted to flow. As the form was generated through pouring ceramics, the form is free letting the nature of physics and viscosity choose the shape. Available Gaffa Gallery Sydney, &Company.

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Prototypes The initial production method was to pour ceramic to create the platters individually, however this was not a possible method for mass manufacture. We opted for a handmade line by a ceramicist master who would use our templates, tweaking the form a little to increase the individuality of each piece. This brought the costs up a little but manufacturing in Australia is expensive, so it was not much more to go to a specialist. These products are being launched via a popular pastry cafe in Sydney, Blackstar. It was important that they held the entire line of pastries and cakes, so once we got our initial prototype produced successfully, we started looking at varying options of platters that could work together. We finalised the designs on 4 shapes at start of November and are looking at a product launch mid November via &company.

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Homeware

Rock, stool (2011) material: lightweight concrete An innocent form, found in nature and brought home. The shape disarms the user into a casual informal rest, like on a bushwalk. This stool has been commissioned by a well known pastry cafe in Sydney, Black Star. The pictures shown below are the original rock, found as a boulder in a quarry. This has been moulded and will be replicated into a lightweight concrete aggregate form. The top and functional surface will be polished concrete and will lustre in comparison to the sandy texture. I chose this flat surface based on a comment by Naoto Fukasawa made about the top of a car. That it will suitably hold your coffee cup when opening your car door, there bye its a table. Well this rock will now hold everything coffee, cakes to cutlery.

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Finding the Right Rock I approached the geology department at Sydney University, and they explained that Sydney was an old water basin so most of the rock underlay is sedimentary. If you go walking in the bush and search for a rest you will 9 times out of 10 sit on sandstone. In Sydney this is not possible due to urban sprawl, so we will be bringing back a natural interaction within the bustling CBD. I was able to get the rocks top and tailed and found having a six pack of beer at the ready always sped up production.

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Behavioural Mapping The stools that used at Blackstar are used as both tables and seating. When the cafe is busy all the stools are in use, so the patrons have a fast experience. When the cafe is quieter, the customers can spread out and use the top of the stools as tables. Rock capture both these scenarios by providing a flat polished waxed surface. Friendly to bums ad coffee.This relationship of movement was produced via different contextual observations over varying times during a business week.

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Process An important detail in the design was the polished cut top. A lot of time was put into filling, priming and sanding to get a perfect transition from rock to polished surface. This is an important part of the design, as the polished cut will tell you about the use of the object straight away. I adopted a glove moulding technique, where a flexible coat of polyurethane was applied to the rock to capture the details. Once this set, I started building up walls of clay, and laid up some fiberglass sheeting to create structure in the mould. Finally a plug has been manufactured, that will create a wall thickness.

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Materials We wanted a material that would capture the physicality of a rock, strain the user when they move it, but be back friendly at the same time. Our goal was to push the limit. So we researched what the limit of luggage on an aircraft was, 30kg! Lightweight aggregates are common in concrete manufacture. However most of the articles and research undertaken is about thick load bearing structures and how to decrease weight by units of tonne not kilogram. After sifting through a lot of research I came across a Spanish engineer who used recycled foam waste from the car industry as aggregate. Unfortunately we have stopped producing cars in Australia, so i found some from the furniture industry instead. I then produced two kinds of lightweight material, one of which will be used in the final design. The first material (top picture), was following the engineered method of mixing, foam and concrete paste. The results were surprising. It created this mottled marble look. The structural integrity was surprising at 30mm, it was 40% lighter than traditional concrete made with sand. The second material was high density foam soaked in concrete paste. This was a very interesting material. As it looked rock hard but when used had a bit of give, and actually formed to your figure. I built a 1:1 prototype but unfortunately I could not facilitate the same amount of soakage as a smaller piece so this method was not used in the final

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Part One, picnic bench (2009) Material: 100% Formed plywood Nature builds environments and structures through repetition of single molecular/ structures units, I set out to produce a table with a seat that could be built through the repetition of a single piece and with the most natural materials available. part one can be recycled and refurbished easily, mimicking nature and being truly sustainable. Concept project.

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Cornered, floor lamp (2009) Apartments are not always designed with space in mind, or contradictory how much space can be utilised. Cornered is a floor standing lamp that tucks into the corner utilising every inch of space, even with the shade. The chord climbs up the wall, in a controlled casing that leaves the power element on show throughout the structure of the lamp, there bye increasing awareness of energy. Currently in prototyping stage.

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To finalise the detailing of the design, the inner chord will be fabric wrapped giving a timeless and softer more homely feel. The lampshade has bee quartered to slip easily into the corner, maximising the most space possible.

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Summer Winter, clothes dryer (2009) Shocked by the cold in the land of Europe, I found myself fighting to get my clothes dry, the products at my disposal were often pricey and complicated. I wanted to create a simple solution so my dryer would attach to the heating element. I found this common design beautiful and also practical as it can be unfolded, adjusting to any dryer.

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This drying rack is an example of a simple object. The utilitarian design has a three piece addition. The hook allowing the dryer to be hung inside on a heating element more commonly found in European countries. The second and third additions are round screw disks that can be adjusted to any size of heater.

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Float, bookshelf (2007) materials: birch plywood, frosted perspex This shelving unit plays with the perception of structure and balance, a memory of literature at the edge of imagination. This was one of my first furniture pieces. The shelves were made from found materials courtesy of reverse garbage, Marrickville. This is really my first structural experience and pushed the boundaries on balance, by using wedged perspex to provide the vertical force in the shelf. As wood is seen as the major structural element it feels like these joints are just floating. The addition of lighting explores this apparent floating of materials.

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Parasitic Design, Collection (2010) Youth Homelessness is a major problem in most capital cities around Australia. We were approached by a Youth Organisation that particularly looks at keeping kids at home and off the streets by improving their accommodation standards in conjunction with other community programs. Our mission was to develop cheap alternative accommodation for homeless youth. Ikea furniture is cheap, accessible and flat pack; by designing within their parameters / hacking, I was able to bring a more personalized function for the youth and add a bit of character to the mass manufactured items. These additions Will be developed solely for the youth organisation to be retro-fitted at the point of assembly involving the youth in the production of their new home.

Natures Purifier Air quality is a large problem in small flats and gardening is not high on the agenda. This piece incorporates natures filter with an excepted piece of furniture, collaborating to be a simple air filter.

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Hangs UPs We worked directly with the familys that were involved in these hard environments. Most of the children had walk in wardrobes, that is their floor was a carpet of garments. We needed to give them something accessible and noticable. This is a space saving solution where a splash of yellow can keep your clothes off the floor. material: aluminium tubing.

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Storage Desk With the addition of a melamine top and white legs, this storage unit has been turned into a workstation. Experience Prototype Once the product was built I used the desk. I am just over 6 foot high, so I needed significant leg room. I found moving one structural bar to the base to the floor of the product allowed enough room. And if you wanted to stretch your legs, the draws would just move when needed. Displaying the uniqueness of this design. The desk was structurally sound and provided enough room for my 17 inch computer and A4 sketchbook. This has since been adopted into my studio for interns.

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Partitioning System Material: Felt A major part of the brief was to provide the children with a noise and thermal barrier in the apartments. Often these apartments are crowded and there is a high level of substance abuse meaning people cant gauge their voices. Felt is a proven insulator and here is used in a pleated system alongside the available stolmen unit. This is a space within a space, allowing a greater feeling of ownership, control and escape.

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FITA

Fita (2010) - Tissue Box The design centre was approached by SCA, the mother company of Sorbent to develop a new tissue box that would be suitable for the car. We focused primarily on the target user, females with small children, the areas of research were user surveys and scenario, car apartment analysis and scenario enactments.

Car apartment Analysis

Results of User Centred Research

Research {oppurtunity}

Easily accessible to everyone.

Other Uses 80%

runny noses 20%

A packages shape and feel tells the user a great deal about what a product is used for. This data shows that there are more reasons to use tissues and that there is an oppurtunity for this to be communicated through the texture.

Scenario Enactments

Cleaning after food / Napkin Covering small cuts Mop up sweat Disposal of gum Make up

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User centred results found products that full filled these opportune characteristics that tissues could be used for, and incorporated the shape and feel in a new design. Fita allows the user to wedge the package into spaces around the car, allowing flexible placement without the need for special compartments. This design has been selected by SCA / Sorbent for feasibility testing.

Fita

Key Insight
Grandmas put their tissues up there sleeves. Low display The tissues are manually forced into place, with little more holding them than the elastic of the sleeve. Allows quick exchange between end of use, Thanks grandma.

Packaging

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How does the sleeve work?

By packaging the tissues in a unique way you can allow dual access to the box, for both drink console and wedged positions

Packaging

Developing a working prototype enabled us to take the object and interact with it in the car, and get feedback from users, which we left the product with for a period.

Packaging

Fita - exploded

WEDGED

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Packaging

PEOPLE DEAD
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HOMES LOST

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PEOPLE HOMELESS

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Fire Protection Suite - Fire Retardant Material / Gel Suit (2010) Patent Pending In a fire situation, many civilians who are unable to evacuate early may end up trapped in a home or vehicle. Due to the sheer intensity of the heat, they are unable to last long enough for help to arrive. By providing civilians with a pre-packaged fire protection suit (worn over clothing), it acts as a last line of defence against the overwhelming heat. The gel suit protects the wearer from radiant heat, effectively increasing their chances of survival. Airtight packaging allows the unopened suit to be stored in both the home and in a vehicle, ready for immediate use. The suit is designed for single use.

Gel Material Hydrophic Layer

Skin

Materials

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Testing Material Preliminary tests have indicated that fabric* soaked in Thermogel, can potentially shield up to 86% of radiant heat to a maximum temperature of 49 degrees celcius (in comparison with nonThermogel-treated fabric, which heats up to 75 degrees celcius). This gel-treated fabric can be used to produce a civilian suit, that can be easily stored within the family home or car. The suit will be sealed in airtight packaging keeping the gel fresh, ready to be used in an emergency situation. We propose using a felt-like material, similar to a Scotchbrite, as this retains a higher percentage of Thermogel as compared to other fabrics.
Performance of fabric / 300C of radiant heat

temperature of back of fabric (C)

FELT

Hydrophic Layer

Materials

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Scenario - Gel Suite In the case of a bushfire the suite can be stored at home or in your car ready for use. The suite is a last line of defence and will only be used as a last resort. If you are caught in a fire normally on the road or your home, the suite is to be removed from the air tight packaging and put over your existing clothing. It will provide protection from the radiant heat from the fire, giving you a chance to find shelter at a low point of your property or perhaps in your car.

Materials