Curation: Miriam Green | Ange Karabedian | Jingxuan Cao
Catalogue: Lizzy Hennessy | Edmond Hua | Ray Hwang
Website: Oli Frohlich | Abhbinav Bose
Time
4 months
Project Brief
Create an exhibition event to showcase projects from Design Computing graduating students, complete with theme, design, curation of projects, website and print catalogue.
Our Solution: D19 ‘Wonderlab’
Our theme ‘Wonderlab’ is a nod to childhood play and imagination, a space where we could display the projects in an exciting environment to allow people to interact with them and be reminded of the innovative abilities of the students. The space was full of bright yellow, red, orange and pink perspex hung throughout and coloured vinyl covering the windows, with interactive student profiles, food carts, lighting and music, all surrounding the excellent student projects. The exhibition was a successful end of year event enjoyed by the students, staff, industry and the public.
Video by University of Sydney
My Role
I was on the curation team involved with designing the space and choosing the projects to display, however I ended up project managing a lot of the exhibition, including planning, instructing the team, students and University staff and problem solving throughout.
Budgeting
The curation team researched materials to build our ideas, talked to staff in the Fabrication Lab, contacted suppliers for quotes and did measurements and mockups to calculate material quantities. I helped make decisions both within the team and individually regarding measurements of different design elements and spatial planning.
Project management
My main role was managing the team through organisation, delegation and decision making. I helped with curation as well as other areas of the process when required, such as the catalogue and student communication. To stay on track I made calendars to combine all our tasks and create deadlines. I regularly checked and updated it to make sure all tasks were covered.
Spatial Design: Prototyping to Final Design
We designed and built the space from initial sketches to testing and final fabrication adhering to the d19 theme of wonder and play with lots of bright colour and light. We measured areas such as the windows for vinyl adhesives, multiple tunnels and hanging perspex. These design features were placed within the space along with the students’ projects to best showcase the work. The designs were communicated to the rest of the team and university staff (who were helping us build), through technical drawings, sketches and floor plans.
Hanging perspex
Our initial idea was a perspex light created with LEDs, which developed through testing to simple hanging perspex. We created a successful prototype of the light, however it took us several days to complete due to our limited skills. It was also larger than expected so we decided to reduce the width and use one piece of plain perspex, rather than a light, and utilise the effect of sunlight shining through coloured perspex.
Perspex Frame
We prototyped two versions of the frame, the first one was a small version using light wood we bought from Bunnings and screws. It was very unstable and weak. We remade the frame using a new design, better wood and a nail gun, with help from the Fabrication Lab. Then hung perspex inside to match the theme.
Student Profiles
The staff helped us prototype and build our ‘guess who’ style design for the student profiles and both tunnels, based on our drawings and explanations, as they were more complicated.
Tunnels
We created two tunnels within the space to both assist with walking flow through the exhibition and to hide some fixed aspects of the space which were not aesthetically pleasing. The entrance and courtyard tunnels were wooden pergola style structures with perspex, lighting and letters attached to fit with the theme. (left - entrance tunnel)
Vinyl Windows
We tested the coloured vinyl windows by using a cheap squeegee we bought. The look was very effective, but the application and cutting of the pieces was awkward and difficult to perfect. We decided to hire a professional to complete this process due to the size of the space.
Design Iterations
As we gained more clarity about the projects in the show, budgeting and feasibility, we adapted our initial ideas into concepts which were more appropriate for the show. Iterations were also made based on prototyping and group and staff communications. We also asked staff members who have worked on past exhibitions and could give valuable feedback on feasibility and past issues so we could avoid them.
One of the main iterations we made was for the U-shaped table design. We wanted to create a great design for it as it is the first feature guests see in the exhibition space. We began with acrylic boxes on the tables to display projects and divide the table, but due to time restraints and limited fabrication skills, we decided to combine that idea with our hanging perspex shapes concept. We designed a large hanging perspex display that is aesthetically appealing and acts as a table divider for the projects.
Communication
I assisted with contacting students, staff and companies necessary to complete certain parts of the project. For students, this included making forms and announcements as well as sending individual messages to collect information. For staff, I emailed and talked to the Fabrication Lab and the building manager to get feedback on our ideas and discuss the best way to create the exhibition. Communication was difficult at times, as deadlines often relied on external people providing information or completing a task which was out of our control. This encouraged us to create more realistic deadlines and leeway for this behaviour.
The D19 Team
A successful night!