Powers of Ten [statement and write-up]

Powers of Ten is relevant to design and how we view the world around us. Mirrors positioned at angles show us distance, time, and scale just like the Powers of Ten. Sometimes the man looks closer or farther and smaller or larger. Time is infinite as everything repeats itself and goes on forever. Mirrors in design make a space look larger than it actually is.

How the Powers of Ten has changed my perspectives as a designer:

The Powers of Ten video by Charles and Ray Eames is all about connections. After watching 901, it is very evident that the Eames’ took their design work to a whole new level. Design was their life as they brought life into their own designs. Their Powers of Ten video shows you how time, distance, and scale are all linked together in our very own world and body that we live in. Zooming out every ten seconds we see a whole new perspective on things. Earth soon starts to appear small just like stars that we see and then soon we do not even see Earth anymore. It is hard to imagine what is outside of this planet because we do not think about it everyday even though we know there is much more out there that we do not know about. Same goes for when the video zooms into the human hand. We cannot see what is inside of us, but we know there are lots of cells, atoms, protons, etc that make up who we are.

It is crazy to think that this Earth we live in is connected to the galaxy and that our cells make up our bodies. Everything is linked, which makes us not feel out of place. Everything has a specific place for a specific purpose.

As a designer it makes you think how things are connected and how perspectives are different. When we design a space, we must think how it will connect with the space adjacent to it. Everything is connected. The Powers of Ten video makes us realize that design comes from the world around us from everything that is seen with the human eye to everything that is unseen.

Powers of Ten model

I decided to make a 3D model with my mirrors having them placed at angles that bounce off each other to make the man in the middle reflect off all the mirrors to make several of him. Here are some of my practice and final pictures of my model.

Powers of Ten precedents

I came up with a mirroring idea and making one object have multiples and farther away then they actually are. Here are some of my precedent study pictures:

Powers of Ten

In class last week, we watched the Charles and Ray Eames video of The Powers of Ten. The Powers of Ten shows you how everything is connected in our world and our own bodies. Everything has a purpose.

My bottom sketch are three words that I thought described the video well. Time, distance, and scale were all things that were evident in the video. From the video we had to come up with a project that presented our ideas on the Powers of Ten. First I thought of making something that dealt with scale and playing with the idea of making something small that you would normally know as big. I got stumped and couldn't think of how to do that well in a design manner. Here are some of my sketches that show scale with space and objects.

Happy to ReDesign

Here is a bedroom that I would be happy to redesign. I chose it because it has some good bones to start with. There is a fireplace that could be emphasized more and there are great white panels on one side of the walls in the room that would look great if they were seen better. It is a very bland room and it could use some tender, love and care.

Happy Design

We have been talking about design happiness in studio this week and were made to find a picture of a thing or place that makes you happy. I knew exactly what I wanted to post. This is a picture that I took last summer in Martha's Vineyard. It is in Edgartown, one of my favorite towns in the world because it is so charming and friendly. I have always loved New England homes like this one especially ones with gamble roofs that are all of wood siding. This place makes me happy because I have always wanted a house like this on a cute street that has a porch to look out onto the ocean to watch the boats and sunrise while swinging on the porch to feel the breeze and the smell of the ocean.

Unity Village Phase 3 Reflection

Phase 3 of Unity Village was a success! I did however run into rendering problems that kept me behind the last few days before it was due, but as always it got done. I am very happy about my design and have learned that the most important thing is designing for the clients in mind at all times, not yourself. I can just imagine myself meeting with clients and asking about their wants and needs for a space they want me to design. As for my design, I wanted to make the foyer feel big when you first walked in. The ceilings are not very high and I wanted to have an open floor plan so it felt bigger than it actually is. The girls Sara and Karen love hosting small dinner parties and cooking so the kitchen is emphasized by it being on the curve wall of the space and has plenty of counter space for serving and cooking on. The dining, living room and kitchen are all open to each other to better entertain. The bedrooms have personalized casework pieces like the dance shoes displays and the desk for recording music. The colors I have chosen are soft and relaxing because after a long day at school it is nice to come home to a place that is relaxing and refreshing. I will continue to develop my designs based on creating community for any client.