This one week project was designed to develop the students full scale prototyping skills. Students were given one sheet of OSB and one ratchet strap to develop a piece of furniture for fabrication via CNC milling. The first day explored concept development and non-scalar model making. Students then developed 1/4″ = 1′ scale models via laser cutting preparing the CAD work for full scale fabrication. Once the scalar tests were verified, the CAD work was modified to include dog bone connection details and fabricated on the CNC mill.
Results were reviewed as prototypes, not finished projects and students presented what was learned (either in process, fabrication, time management, materials, etc). This reinforced the failure based pedagogy and encouraged students to be more comfortable with experimentation and exploration in design projects.
As professor I supported all the students in learning both analog and digital tools, with woodshop staff support from Richard Thompson.
