March 13th, 2010 by
Alex Fortney |
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General Posts, Milwaukee Innovation Center, Precedents, Program, Thesis |
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Week 7 has consisted of some research and a lot of design work, but I have tabled crits until next week so there is little output to show. I decided that next week, before spring break, I will present my pre-interim presentation with my whole committee. Up until this point, due to schedules, I have been unable to get my whole committee together to discuss my project, but next Thursday that will change. I won’t be taking a spring break, but instead use that time to get ahead on their design changes and avoid and surprises as the actual interm presentation which is in a month.
During the course of my research I came across an article in Wired magazine from January which seems like it was written for me! The title of the issue was “Atoms and the New Bits” detailing how do-it-yourself has moved from software to hardware, i.e. people now have the capacity to make their own products and sell them worldwide without a huge investment in equipment – which is exactly one of the ideas for the Milwaukee Innovation Center.
From the article:
Tech Shop
In June, Local Motors will officially release the Rally Fighter, a $50,000 off-road (but street-legal) racer. The design was crowdsourced, as was the selection of mostly off-the-shelf components, and the final assembly will be done by the customers themselves in local assembly centers as part of a “build experience.” Several more designs are in the pipeline, and the company says it can take a new vehicle from sketch to market in 18 months, about the time it takes Detroit to change the specs on some door trim. Each design is released under a share-friendly Creative Commons license, and customers are encouraged to enhance the designs and produce their own components that they can sell to their peers.
Local Motors
Local Motors plans to release between 500 and 2,000 units of each model. It’s a niche vehicle; it won’t compete with the major automakers but rather fill in the gaps in the marketplace for unique designs. Rogers uses the analogy of a jar of marbles, each of which represents a vehicle from a major automaker. In between the marbles is empty space, space that can be filled with grains of sand — and those grains are Local Motors cars.
Read the whole article here: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_newrevolution/all/1
Below is a preliminary rendering of the interior office space, and a couple photos I was playing with:
Preliminary Interior
Interior
Exterior
November 19th, 2009 by
Alex Fortney |
Posted in
General Posts, Industrial Design School, Milwaukee Innovation Center, Program, Solvay Coke and Gas, Thesis |
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Below is the presentation I gave to my class on Monday, November 18. I have settled on a project name: the Milwaukee Innovation Center. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the image.
Below are the slide thumbnails of the presentation, or you can view the PDF if you prefer »
October 19th, 2009 by
Alex Fortney |
Posted in
General Posts, Industrial Design School, Precedents, Program, Solvay Coke and Gas |
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Work this week consisted of making revisions to my thesis statement and abstract, doing some site analysis and finding precedents. I also selected the Industrial Design School and Workshop as my program. I dismissed the School of Freshwater Sciences for three main reasons: a) the School of Freshwater Sciences shouldn’t abandon their existing infrastructure, b) given the political and personal interest in the project, I feel it is going to be distracting from my product as I am not interested in integrating polical manuevering, citizen concerns, and the universities budget into my project and c) the industrial design school works better with my manufacturing and industrial focus, and is more of a fitting tribute to the Solvay site.
Thesis Claim
Milwaukee is in desperate need of and economic stimulus. Since the 1960s, Milwaukee has seen a steady decline in its manufacturing base and the replacements in the service industry has not earned much respect. Milwaukee’s global images was, and now is, manufacturing. We build motorcycles at Harley-Davidson, motors at Briggs and Stratton, and we brew beer at Miller. Creating highly innovative technologies in the city will encourage job growth and reverse the exodus to business parks in the suburbs. Milwaukee has the potential to be a leader in innovative industrial design and production. The best way to bring notoriety and investment to Milwaukee’s renewed innovative spirit in the 21st century is to build a signature educational and manufacturing facility to draw international attention. The exemplar project ideally will be located in a formerly prosperous, but presently distressed part of the city combining design and production under one roof to serve as an icon and a catalyst for future growth.
Abstract
What is a city? On the physical level it is a collection of buildings, roads and infrastructure allowing people, on the human level, to live, work and play within this physical context. Each city is unique with regard to size, quality, features, landmarks, history and more. Milwaukee is a city rooted in its industrial past and currently struggling to adapt to the post-industrial present. By most metrics, Milwaukee is struggling. Auto manufacturing jobs have left for foreign countries, not to return. Steel and metal fabrication has declined. Breweries have
consolidated or shut down with Miller as the exception, who now brews most of the legacy beers. The result is a number of missing teeth in the city landscape. These vacant and dilapidated lots disrupt the city, punching holes in the urban fabric. My goal for my thesis is to design a project which repairs this fabric with a new program emphasizing integrated project delivery by streamlining design and production into a single facility to begin to restore Milwaukee image of education, innovation and manufacturing dominance.
Below are the slide thumbnails of the presentation, or you can view the PDF here if you prefer »
