Outdoor Furniture Design

Our Task

The goal of this project was to design, blueprint, and model a piece of outdoor furniture to be implemented on San Marin campus. We first brainstormed ideas for outdoor furniture and locations on campus, then sketched blueprints, built a scale model, and researched the materials list and total cost to build the bench. We then presented all outdoor furniture designs at Open House, and were judged for location/placement, total cost, aesthetics, and ease of building.

My group consisted of Riley, Fin, and myself. We designed a "C" shaped bench with three sections connected at 120 degree angles. This bench would create better communication and collaboration amongst group members sitting on the bench by making it easier to face and talk with each other. The location of the bench would be on the south side of the makerspace to be close to the STEM building and to maximize the amount of sunlight. If it was placed on the west side of the makerspace, the building would block sunlight coming from the east, making the bench even colder in the morning. The total cost of the materials would be $140. Below are the blueprints, budget list, and slideshow presentation.

Content

Solar Angles: as the angle gets more acute, the area covered increases, but the brightness decreases. The total light energy stays the same. 

Material Choice: Pressure treated wood is used for the parts that are in contact with the ground because it can withstand the elements and is cost effective. Redwood is used for the top of the bench because it is cost effective and also nice looking.

Blueprint: a scaled drawing of the object or building. Above blueprints are drawn on graph paper using a ruler/protractor and color coded with pen.

3D Modeling: We constructed a physical model of the bench, in addition to designing a digital model using Tinkercad.

30-60-90 Triangle: a right triangle with angles of 30, 60, and 90 degrees. The sides have a ratio of 1:2:sqrt3. This was especially useful in calculating measurements of the bench because many pieces had a 60 degree angle.

Reflection

Overall, this project was fairly short (2-3 weeks) and I collaborated successfully with my teammates. Although our final design was simple, the joints, connections, and measurements were all carefully considered and drawn out in the blueprints, and the materials list was organized and precise.

Some things we did well on were critical thinking and communication. When working with the 120 degree or 60 degree angle connections, we figured out ways to connect the pieces of wood using different wood joints and cuts. We also came up with many creative, but not necessarily feasible, designs in the brainstorming process. For communication, I was able to listen attentively to other group members' ideas, as well as contribute my own.

One thing we were not successful at was decision making. We had difficulty selecting the overall design of the bench, because we had a few good ideas to choose between. It also took longer than necessary to figure out the details of the frame. Another thing I could improve on was time management. Because the decision making process took up a portion of the time, this led to us being rushed when working on the idea we actually decided on in the end.