materials & structures . . .

this autumn in regensburg jakob timpe, michael salberg and myself have engaged
our first semester industrial design students in materials and structures exercises (during both werkstoffe and grundlagen classes) that can be considered a kind of three dimensional sketching process. we have been working with cardboard, foam, basal wood and wire on spheres, towers, transitional units, arches and even a pursuit in the perfect egg . . .

2 comments. please leave your own below.

lieber matt,
das sieht interessant aus. wie war denn die Aufgabenstellung?
habt ihr da was schriftliches?
ciao
Lutz

greetings lutz,

thanks for your comments and at the moment, i’m sorry to say, there isn’t anything in writing that i can send you, but here are a few guidelines. this course is somewhat like the 2003 film from the lars van trier called “the five obstructions”. the point of departure for all the assignments is a very brief period of time from start to finish (90 minutes total), connected to a given material (for example: farbric, needle and thread), for a given structure (for example: the most beautiful, perfect egg shape). all put together it makes it rather impossible to complete the structure with the material in the time allowed. this then leads our 35 students, out of necessity, to come up with a plan “b” and in some way, turning the requested assignment on its head, in order to direct the results into a more poetic paraphrase of the intended task . . .

“a mind is like a parachute. it doesn’t work if it’s closed.” frank zappa

ciao+matthew

posted 28 November 2012

categories education