Technology – Product Design

Zekican Turgut 6352 13216

Design Presentation

IDENTIFYING NEEDSSituation:

Urban renewal is an important stage which needs to be thought about when changing the community to the fast adapting people of the urban community. Designers in the industrial revolution made sure that their pieces of work fitted in with the healthy, able majority. Now the people of the modern lifestyle are concerned about the minority. The minority may come across difficulties that the majority may not. Something as simple as opening a door. I believe that well designed street furniture can eliminate that isolation when people have an increasing time for leisure.

Street furniture is top of the list when talking about urban regeneration. The thinking process used is to create street furniture that creates an atmosphere which makes the people feel equal, and a member of society. This is why I believe that if I can create a well designed piece of street furniture, I can fill the gap between society and the minority that want to be a part of it.

This is why I am going to create a seating product, one where the minority e.g. A wheelchair user, can actually use. Also this seating product has the potential to leave a mark on the visitors, which can lead to a step forward in erasing the minority in humanity. Street furniture such as post boxes, phone boxes and red buses are what come to the mind of a visitor. I wish to create a product which allows the wheelchair user to be in the group, and most importantly a part of society.

Design Brief:

A our concern to gain more leisure time grows, our concern to make the city a less prejudice environment grows. Everyone likes to have time to socialise and enjoy the area intended for social activities. However the minority don’t have the opportunity to enjoy some of these social areas., thus losing there independence and worse still, feeling excluded by society.

With my intended product, i hope to eliminate the feeling of exclusion from society and bring warmth and friendship into the atmosphere. I intend to build a system, which allows the wheelchair user to be a part of society when doing something as basic as sitting on a park bench, Instead of a wheelchair user being on the site of a park bench, they can be a part of it, and something as little as alter the mindset of the wheelchair user, leading the user to feel a part of society.

Zekican Turgut 6352 13216

Zekican Turgut 6352 13216

Similar product analysis

Name Modern Series Park Bench with Contoured Back

AXS Basic Wheelchair with Footrests

Garden wall

Cost (£) £447 £141.61 Varies on build.

Function Provides seating for outdoor use

Provide mobility and movement to one which can not use legs.

Protects gardens.

Aesthetics Looks modern, eye catching. Looks modern, however easily singled out.

Basic, unnoticed unless extremely eccentric.

Materials Aluminium Steel, nylons and plastics. Brick and cement.

Components Arm rests and back rest. Footrests ,arm rests, back rests, moulded hand grips.

Act as a seating product.

Special Features Waterproof, wont corrode. Lightweight black nylon upholstery, Removable swing-away footrests and Supports 250 pounds (113kg).

Can hold many things, such as stairs, ramps etc.

What important things I have found out from this that will help me with my design work:-The cost of a seating system is quite high- Not only seating systems can be used as seating.- Not only can I make a bench for the minority, I can mould the majority fit bench to fit the minority.-Something as simple as a garden wall can be used as a seating product.

Zekican Turgut 6352 13216

QuestionnaireQuestionnaire:

Q1) Do you believe that there is a general need for a seating product which accommodates each and every individual?

A)YES

Q2) If such a system existed, how would you like it to look like?

A)Matches environment/Modern

Q3) What colour would you like the seating product to be?

A)Green / Black

Q4) Do you think it is important to keep the carbon footprint to a minimum in the creation of this product.

A)YES

Q5) What materials would you think would be suitable?

A)Wood

Q6) Would you prefer sectional seating or one large seat with two arm rests?

A) Large seat, average park bench style.

Q7) For the park bench to accommodate a wheelchair user, the bench must have a system which allows the wheelchair user to become a part of the bench. Would you think it is better to use gears for the system, or an electronic solution?

A) Gears, A manual setup.

In this questionnaire, I have come to a conclusion on many factors of my product. The questionnaire suggests that there is a definite need for a park bench which accommodates each and every individual, which makes my product valid.

Aesthetics are important. However it is clearly understandable by the result of this question came to matches environment, as it is not really aesthetically appreciable to have a bright pink bench in the forest. Also, Modern has been voted the same amount of times as matches environment. I will try to accommodate both designs into my finished product.

It is also understandable that Green and Black were the most popular colours among the selection. I believe that Green would be the most suited colour in a park environment, while Black would be more suited to an city environment.

As our concern for global warming and carbon emissions grow, it is extremely understandable to have tried to keep the carbon footprint of this product to a minimum.

To keep a zero carbon footprint, wood can be easily used. For every tree cut down, simply another tree can be planted. I also agree with wood being the post appropriate material to use.

It seems to be that from the results of this question that the people are happy with the basic design of the bench, so during the creation of my bench, i shall incorporate this to keep it the same.

I would have also opted for the manual setup from the selection box. Instead of using an electronic solution, which would have resulted in a increasing carbon footprint over time, a simple gear based mechanism can be used to easily for fill the need of such a bench.

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Research – Materials Wood

In my questionnaire, the largest vote for the material to be used was wood. This is why I intend to make as much of the product out of wood as possible. Using wood I also am keeping the carbon footprint to a minimum.

Types of Wood

There are a large range of the types of wood I can use to create the product. There is a large choice of woods I can use ranging from the mighty oak to the willow. To find the best type of wood I have to research on the best all rounder and durable woods.

Through my research I have chosen two woods which would for fill the need of the all rounder wood.

Mahogany

A tropical medium-to-hard wood indigenous to S. America, Central America, and Africa. Mahogany's strength makes it an excellent carving wood. It has a uniform pore structure, a medium grain, and less defined annual rings. Mahogany ranges from tan to reddish-brown in colour. It is a durable species, and maintains its shape against swelling and shrinkage. Its stability and resistance to decay makes the wood ideal for high-quality cabinetry and furniture.As the girth of the tree is broad furniture makers were able to use a single cut of wood for a table top. Furniture made from mahogany became very popular in Britain from mid 18th Century, followed by the rest of Europe.

Oak

Oak is the wood most commonly used for finer, more durable furniture. It is a very hard, heavy, open-grained wood that grows from deciduous and evergreen trees in the States, Canada, and Europe. It's found in both red and white varieties. Red oak (a.k.a. black oak) has a pinkish cast and is the more popular of the two. White oak has a slightly greenish cast. Prominent rings and large pores give oak a coarse texture and prominent grain. It stains well in any colour.

Out of the two woods I believe that the best choice would be Oak. As it is located in Europe, the transportation of that wood would cause a less of a carbon footprint than getting mahogany shipped from South America or Africa.

Other Materials

As in the questionnaire, the system chosen to allow the wheelchair user to use the bench was a gear system. For this gear system I must use a metal as wooden gears wouldn't be extremely appropriate or even last long. I will try to keep the product to as much wood as possible, but use other materials when wood is not an option.

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Research – Sustainability

When it comes to a choice between plastics, metal or wood, it’s pretty clear which is more environmentally friendly. When using wood there’s no industrial process, no harmful waste and most importantly no noxious fumes.

Trying to keep the carbon footprint to a minimum, transporting the wood is less harmful than expected. Research shows me that France is the 2nd oak wood producer in the world. With 28% of metropolitan France forested and 27% of the trees are oak trees: 12% durmast oak, 11% English oak and 4% Downy oak. The transportation of the wood for the product is less environment damaging than expected. Although I could not recover the information regarding sustainability of the trees, I am able to conclude that in 2006 at least 2 thirds of the French forests are supposed to be sustainable by 2015. I’m assuming that by this information is about half of the 10 million acres of French oak Forests are sustainable.

It would seem that using English Oak would be a better idea, however the British Oak tree supplies the most food out of any other British trees to birds such as Tits and Tree creepers. The acorns of the British Oak tree provides food for a large amount of animals such as : jays, pigeons, pheasants, ducks, squirrels, mice, badgers, deer and pigs. In using the English oak, the impact on such animals can result in lost of numbers. Rare animals such as red squirrels are protected, and taking there food only results in fewer numbers.

After all of my research I have decided to use Oak trees from France as the transportation damage to the environment is very little and the trees are sustainable.

The other material I will be using is Metal. I am pretty unclear on what types of metals I should use keeping the global impact in mind. I have singled down all the metals I could possibly use to Aluminium and Iron.

Iron

Iron makes up 5% of the earths crust. As iron is not that high up the reactivity chain, Iron can be extracted using a blast furnace. This reduces costs of iron massively. The down side of using a blast furnace is the hot waste gases that leave in order to extract the iron from the ore. Even though it may seem that iron produces lost of harmful gasses, it is a good metal to use when keeping the global impact in mind.

Aluminium

Aluminium makes up 8% of the earths crust. However it is quite high up the reactivity chain, and is extremely costly to extract from the ore. Electrolysis is used to split up the elements in the ore, which requires a large amount of electricity, and the source of that electricity has an impact on the carbon footprint. This is why aluminium is such a costly metal, and pretty unsustainable due to the way the metal is extracted.

After my research, I believe that the best metal to use is Iron. Due to its abundance and the carbon footprint of the extraction method. Even though its a good metal to use, I will try to keep it to a minimum during the creation of my product.

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Design SpecificationSpecification Points Justification

Function The seating product must accommodate each and every individual. To remove the feeling of the exclusion from society. Slide 1 shows how something as simple as this effects there mentality.

User Requirements An outdoor seating product, matches environment/modern, material used to be wood, environmentally friendly and to be no different than an average park bench.

In my questionnaire these factors were most voted for.

Aesthetics Looks like an average bench however, as modern looks needs to be incorporated into the product, something that looks like a blast from the future. The product should make the users feel happy, a calm and warm atmosphere and which the removal of the exclusion of society when a wheelchair user wishes to use the product.

My questionnaire states that these factors must me incorporated into the product.

Ergonomics The bench backrest in line with the backrest of the wheelchair, the wheelchair users torso in line with a non wheelchair users torso.

Why have a seating product which is to high or too low? This simply makes the product uncomfortable. In my “identifying needs” slide, I have an image of the measurements of the average wheelchair user. This allows me to create the bench in exact accordance of the body.

Sustainability Using materials which are extremely sustainable, or trying to keep them as sustainable as possible.

In my questionnaire, it shows that it is extremely important to keep everything sustainable. In my Sustainability slide, I have showed how I will do this.

Performance The seating product must accommodate a wheelchair user. The wheelchair user does not feel left out in a social environment. Slide 1 suggests how this effects there independence.

Form (Shape/Size) The size and shape of an average bench In my questionnaire, keeping the bench like a normal one was most recommended.

Reliability The product must be reliable to use in all weather conditions and everything outdoor use can throw at it.

Using non waterproof materials is a basic flaw because the product is intended for outdoor/unsheltered use.

Materials To use materials which are durable in all weather conditions last for long without faults.

Its crucial that an outdoor product must be durable in all weather conditions. Why have a peice of street furniture which needs replacing or constant caring for?