This blog provides a forum for students, instructors and others to share information and ideas about the Spring Thesis Program at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Violaine de Pourtales - Multifunctional Furniture with Lasting Value
Hi Violaine, I have looked carefully at your models, and am excited about the direction your project is taking. the next step for you will be to carry out user tests, so that you can narrow your focus and decide which version of the table/desk you want to make as your final project. What are the main questions you need to answer in order to make this decision? It seems to me that you should be looking a lot at the ergonomics of using this furniture; you are trying to make a single piece that can serve multiple purposes, and this is hard to do, because satisfying the needs of the desk may conflict and complicate making a functional dining table. We know, for example that there is probably a different height requirement for a desk and dining table. What are these, and how could you carry out research to improve your understanding of this question? also, a desk needs to have storage space. How much? What do you imaging most people will want to put in the desk? Next, I think you need to study the legs of the desk/table. In your models, you show several different ideas for the legs. Are you thinking about making legs that act like scissors, so you can adjust the height of the table by changing the spread apart of the legs? what material are you considering? I am imagining that the legs would be cut out of metal. If you want help designing metal legs that act like scissors, please let me know, and I will help you to brainstorm about this. It could be a very fun aspect of your design, so I am hoping that you focus a lot of attention on the legs, to make sure that they contribute to your vision of very high quality furniture that meets our needs for portability and easy configurability. How can you reconcile our expectations for heirlooms that are heavy, old and decorative with a modern sensibility? I think that this is an excellent thesis topic, because it addresses a real issue in our culture. I am hoping that you can make something that really expresses your thinking about this. steven
2 comments:
Hi Violaine,
I have looked carefully at your models, and am excited about the direction your project is taking. the next step for you will be to carry out user tests, so that you can narrow your focus and decide which version of the table/desk you want to make as your final project. What are the main questions you need to answer in order to make this decision? It seems to me that you should be looking a lot at the ergonomics of using this furniture; you are trying to make a single piece that can serve multiple purposes, and this is hard to do, because satisfying the needs of the desk may conflict and complicate making a functional dining table. We know, for example that there is probably a different height requirement for a desk and dining table. What are these, and how could you carry out research to improve your understanding of this question? also, a desk needs to have storage space. How much? What do you imaging most people will want to put in the desk? Next, I think you need to study the legs of the desk/table. In your models, you show several different ideas for the legs. Are you thinking about making legs that act like scissors, so you can adjust the height of the table by changing the spread apart of the legs? what material are you considering? I am imagining that the legs would be cut out of metal. If you want help designing metal legs that act like scissors, please let me know, and I will help you to brainstorm about this. It could be a very fun aspect of your design, so I am hoping that you focus a lot of attention on the legs, to make sure that they contribute to your vision of very high quality furniture that meets our needs for portability and easy configurability. How can you reconcile our expectations for heirlooms that are heavy, old and decorative with a modern sensibility? I think that this is an excellent thesis topic, because it addresses a real issue in our culture. I am hoping that you can make something that really expresses your thinking about this.
steven
Ok thank you very much for your comment. I checked the box so that future comments be sent to my e-mail.
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