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Group Contributions

Belle - Sourced biodegradable tent materials, edited and shot video

Jacob - Created window pattern template, logo and presentation slides

Annelies - Technology, CAD casing and initial folding prototyping

We all built the large-scale prototypes and contributed to 3D printing. We consulted together on all aspects of the design and we all sourced materials and components.

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Final tent form

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Final casing for the technology components. It wasn’t the ideal form but we found that the components fitted in a lot better. The technology is supposed to act like a keepsake for the user to take away with them as electronics don’t biodegrade.

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Housing for technology components. This was the shape we ideally wanted to use but we found that the electronics weren’t fitting properly and the form was getting in the way of the wires and compressing parts together. We wanted the form to reflect the faceted nature and diamonds of the tent. The casing would also be attached to the end of the toggle and string of the tent.

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Our failed laser cutting prototype. The card we used was too thick and the laser cutter would not have been large enough to score a piece of card that would create an adequately sized tent.

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Final tech wiring.

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Fullscale model. The dimensions of the card we taped together was 2.56x2.7m and required 12 pieces of card.

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Creation of the toggle pieces on the end of the drawstring - rolled up thin sheets of brown paper, secured with tape and drilled to allow for the string. 

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Forth prototype - our final model

Adopting the changes from the third prototype as stated below, including a new pattern for the window and larger scaled diamonds to provide greater structural integrity. 

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The full-sized prototype showing the folding and windows with plastic layer. -Annelies

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Video showing the drawstring mechanism closing the tent. -Annelies

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The closing mechanism for the tent. The user would use the drawstrings to pull the sides of the tent together, enclosing the form completely. -Annelies

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Progress photos showing the large prototype we made. -Annelies

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Tech components

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Drawstring mechanism

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First tech/light form prototype

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Third prototype  

This was to be our final model, however once we folded it up we realised the diamonds were not big enough to support the structure as it was not holding the faceted shape, and sinking in the middle. 

Because of this, we will be scaling up the diamonds to fit two big diamonds in length rather than four. We are hopeful this will produce a cleaner fold and thus a stronger structure. 

We have learnt a lot from doing this prototype - firstly, it confirmed we used the correct number of card, as we are happy with the overall size of the structure so will be continue to use 12 pieces in total, which we will purchase from the Resource Shop on Monday. Secondly, we are taking all the techniques we learnt from this prototype to our final model... 

In our second prototype we attempted to create windows by cutting out whole triangles - this resulted in a floppy structure due to the folds having no support from the cut out flat pieces. For this prototype, Jacob thought of creating the same size windows but using smaller holes so as to still provide support to the model. He did this by creating a template with cut out holes of different sizes, then placing this template over the centre diamonds and hammering holes into the cardboard. This proved to be an effective technique and did not result in any loss of shape when we folded the structure. It also gave an interesting pattern inside the tent when light shone through. 

As seen in the above photos, we swapped out the green tape for a thicker and more robust cardboard coloured tape which we have found effective in holding the sheets together and camouflaging into the card. 

To secure the ends of the tent, we hole-punched the base of the card on either side, and used a twine to pull the folds together in a drawstring sort of mechanism. This has proven to be a successful method of holding the folds together. It has given rise to the idea of integrating the lamp/tech inside the tent for the purpose of being the toggle for the drawstring.