| 'Anatomy of a Prototype' |
|
| Nancy Diniz & Hai-Ning
Liang |
| Students:
|
| Chitraj Bissoonauth, Fang Nan, |
| Henan
Xiong, Mengxue Gu, Shuyu Zhao, |
| Siying Liu, Rong Yao, Wang Tianhe, |
| Tao Yang, Yuyang Mao, Zirui Zhang |
| Hard/Software: Jun Li |
| China |
2014 |
| |
| links: |
Exhibited at 'Design and Research: Shared Territories' Curated by the Design Research Institute, XJTLU, 28th Oct-11 Nov 2014, Suzhou China.
|
In proceedings at ACADIA 2015, October 22-24, 2015,
Cincinnati, Ohio, US (forthcoming)
|
|
|
The exhibition is formulated by the dissection of an interactive piece by exhibiting the role of the same prototype in different manifestations from problem solving through problem-finding to full documentation. The exhibition exhibits several prototypes in different scales developed by students of the XJTLU Architecture department. Here, design research (Faste and Faste 2012) as a combination of process and research that culminates in an artifact as the embodiment of design research knowledge (e.g., an object, process, interaction, experience).
#1 – 'Prototype Outside-In'
In the first materialization of the exhibition we intend to show the prototype as ready-made fully working product, an abstract machine representative and a manifested form of a ‘marketing design idea’. We argue that the purpose of designing a prototype is to find the manifestation that, in its simplest form, will filter the qualities in which the designer is interested without distorting the understanding of the whole.
|
|
#2 – 'Prototype In-Action'
In this section we show the prototypes as interactive experiences/experiments. The prototype will be replicated in a modular system of interactive units and each unit will react to different stimuli either from users (proximity, motion, heart-rate) or the environment (light, noise, air quality). The aim is to trigger diverse and unexpected behaviours. In this materialization, the prototype not only acts as improving design as ‘problem-solving’, but in creating a space for designers to reflect upon the ideas, theories, logics, and implications of design in and through practice. That is to say, the intervention of an intellectual basis for ‘problem-finding’.
|
|
#3 – 'Prototype Inside-Out'
In the last materialization, the prototype will display a video which will fully document all aspects of the ‘making-of’ of the interactive prototype in the exhibition. From hardware to software implementation, assembly and materials with testaments given by students and tutors revealing the ‘prototype as a discourse or authorship’. The video is meant to be a fictitious narrative in the style of an elaborate scientific research project. The documentation therefore offers a poetic and playful reflexion about the status of prototypes and design research in general. This ‘spoof presentation’ ties with the writings of Bruno Latour, he says: ‘To guarantee success, the scientist is required to gather resources, talk with authority, convince others and equip laboratories. Success is measured by attention, money and confidence.'
back to projects <<< |
|