After much debate and testing out ideas, both groups settled on a design. It would involve a structure constructed out of plastic piping using ironed-plastic sheets for a kind of cladding.

design of the structure

The design would become interactive by turning it into a maze. Here are some photo’s of the construction process.

F2, one of the glass groups explaining their design.

At the end of Tuesday the whole year had a design competition between groups using the same materials. Concrete vs Concrete, Metal vs Metal etc. We were Polymers (F3) vs Polymers (C3). Our design was based around this organic form we had made with the fibre earlier in the day.

fibres soaked in resin then folded

The idea behind the design was that we were going to serve coffee to induce conversation. Basically people would come to our “place for conversation” and in exchange for the coffee we’d serve, they leave a note, telling us something about Barnsley. An anecdote, a feeling, a thought… whatever. An this would in turn hopefully bring about conversation with the people drinking coffee.

Within the folded parts of the design we would also cast circle slots where people would leave their coffee cups or notes with their thoughts about Barnsley. It’s basically not a wine rack, but a coffee rack, which would have a flat top so we could serve the coffee. This design won in the competition, but would be subject to many changes once the two groups get together and work on ideas.

Now the two groups (us and C3) would combine to form one large group, progress the design further and construct it in Barnsely.

So I printed off a badly worded AutoRoute map directing us to the factory, prayed my car still worked after spending 2 weeks under a pile of snow, and picked up Louis.
I’m not sure if we got there by magic or my superior driving (which involves going round round-a-bouts more than once), but I still can’t really believe we found the right place. They were really helpful and sold us everything we needed. For £35 we got:

- a bucket of general resin
- a bucket of red gel coat resin
- some catalyst
- some (about 2m squared) fibreglass
- some wax to stop the gel coat sticking to the mould
- some wax fillets for sharp corners inside moulds
- a metal roller and some paint brushes
- and more buckets.

We were supposed to get some acetone to clean the brushes but in our excitement it must have been forgotten. Something we’d later regret but it was ok for just the design stage.

In the studio we began experimenting with what we had, and casting on what we could find.

By the end of the tutorial we’d made the decision to push forward the idea of making and using our own fibre-glass. It’s going to be interesting to see what actually comes from it, especially designing under the influence of those fumes!

Dan

We aimed to get an idea of what the process was like to develop fibreglass, and what other applications it had. As we arrived one of the first things we noticed were rides for the Alton Towers theme park right by the door (basically 12 foot long bath tubs) as well as body kits for cars and the front ends of trains. Before we went into the factory it was already obvious that fibreglass was used for a lot of things.

Then we all got high. Well, not quite. But the fumes in the factory were really strong, so you could forgive yourself for thinking thats why the workers looked so happy!

We were shown around by the owner, Stuart Pease who talked us through the main process with examples.

As you can see in the picture, there is a lot of woodwork going on here and that is how most of the moulds are made. Creating a mould is what forms the main cost of making fibreglass products as they have to be sanded down and waxed to let the resin form a smooth finish.

The gel coat (coloured resin that makes the outer finish) is mixed with some catalyst and applied to the mould. This forms the basis on which the fibres are placed. The general purpose resin is also mixed with the catalyst, brushed onto the fibreglass and left to set. The fibres are what give the resin strength and there’s no limit on the amount of layers you can have.

fibre-glass roll

mixing resin with fibre

Placing over mould. This would be left to harden and the mould removed.

We broke the research up into five different areas which  we thought would give us a good overall knowledge. Something we could come away with that might be useful in future projects.

The areas we looked into were:
- Traditional Japanese Architecture (use of traditions with respect to culture and architecture)
- How the building compared to others within the same time period (also how Kuma compared to other architects)
- The uses of Fibre-Reinforced Polymers (FRP) and its application in The Plastic House.

Making use of the journals in the Western Bank library became a really good resource, espescially the Japan Architect (JA) magazine. If you haven’t already checked it out I definitely reccommend it. Its has brilliant examples of design with emphasis on materials, the way Japanese architects have tackled environmental factors, and occasionally includes their working/research methods. It also provides essays on some really interesting topics by influencial designers, well worth reading in my opinion.

We gave the presentation using PowerPoint with the help of Louis’ little Mac Remote. Which in theory sounds like a brilliant idea. but we can say from first hand experience that this will not work when people sit in front of your computer when you’re trying to click!

Nevertheless I think the presentation went quite well, putting across the message that Kuma is very interested in the materials he uses when it comes to his architecture. He has a way (described as ‘sensitively’) of putting together materials. He’s famous for it. If you look at any of his architecture (and I definitely think you should if you havn’t already) then you’ll notice immediately that each building will show this ‘sensitive’ way of working. Making full use of the materials he’s using and pushing them in an innovative way. He is basically taking the traditions of Japanese culture in architecture, and presenting them in a modern, 21st century way.

Dan.