Portfolio

Final Year Design Project

 

Function

Spacio, All weather leisure shelter is a kid friendly rotatable recreational area designed to protect people from the elements. The wall and roof is made out of a transparent material which gives perfect view to parents and minders while children are playing in the park. It is made of durable non-toxic recyclable and recycled materials, it is a locally manufactured product and is easy to maintain. It has several seats that are rotatable and moves through a track. It has three small seats for two people and three large seats for six people, and one at the centre that rotates. This layout allows the user to interact with the furniture and create their own space according to the number of people. The roof rotates 360 degrees giving maximum protection; this has a safety device that keeps it closed when is needed.

 

Inspiration

Spacio was designed to solve a problem that exists in public parks when bad weather is constant. During my research I discovered that this is a major problem in countries where rain is permanent. Public parks in summer and winter are abandoned because of the weather. It was observed that there is not a cover to protect the people in the park when it suddenly starts raining. There are also not enough seats for the parents to use while their children are playing. It was observed that there is no problem with children continuing to play when it starts raining, however the rain seems to be a problem for the parents. Therefore this product intends to solve that need for parents. Spacio was designed to create a space where they can stay and where it is possible to enjoy the rain in the summer. Children and parents/minders will be able to stay for longer in parks and to enjoy fully the day by exploring and discovering nature during rainy days.

 

Development

The product was developed from models of concepts made to scale 1:10 as actual dimensions of the product were very big. Several iterations were created in order to find the right strength of the structure. The idea of making it rotatable was born on one if the iterations and started to take shape from there. Once the structure was more or less defined, advice was needed from an expert in structures as it was impossible to build it to full scale. I got the approval from a Structural Engineer and an Architect to go ahead with the final design. Nevertheless all the full scale models and the scaled models were functional. The final design was modelled in SolidWorks in order to create a realistic look. The model was done to scale 1:10 and painted in white as it was an architectural representation. This is a product that would be produced in mass scale and in series.