I started unit7 by looking into myself, trying to figure out what "I" like and interested in. One of the things I love to do is to walk around the city on a nice warm day, enjoying the atmosphere. Back in South Korea, I used to walk around the city and spend the day at wherever my steps take me. I often went to the Han river park (which is like the Hyde park but with a huge river) and enjoyed the park's greenery in the middle of the city.

However, I haven't had much chance to walk around in London; firstly because of the weather, and secondly because of the dull and narrow streets. Therefore, I have decided my big theme as "streets", and to design a product that goes up on the streets. I am planning on going out to various streets in London, research what the real problem is, and what I could design to solve the problem. 

Another theme I have in my mind is a "comforting furniture". I love being comfortable mentally and physically. I am thinking of designing a furniture that gives me a feeling of hugging. However this is just my second choice and I want to focus on the first theme. 

I decided to do some research on installation arts.

Two days ago, I visited the Saatchi gallery because I've heard some great reviews about the gallery. I was able to find a few unique modern paintings and installation artworks. One of the most interesting pieces were the twisted form of installation work, which was covered in the feathers of a crow. It was pitch black and had a very strong impression. Another inspiring installation was this table looking object with small trees stuck on it. I thought of incorporating real natural elements to a design, making the streets more green. 

I also visited Gallery Miro, which was very near from where I live. However I could only find the series of lighting from the gallery. All the lightings were shaped in a certain order with layers of plastic.

Now I have done quite a lot of primary research as I walked around the city and explored different area's streets. While doing the primary research, I kept on thinking of how important street is in our community. People spend a lot of time on the streets as a means of spatial relocation. Every day, people are confronted with different surroundings and sceneries that construct a certain street such as street shops and street trees. However, I faced quite a few problems on the streets while researching. I have organized of some of the problems, similarities and differences found in different streets of London. 

1) The streets are so narrow and dull. I could barely find trees and benches on the streets.

2) I could find a lot of litter bins. I could find various different models of litter bins. The older design does not have a lid and newer design has a small hole for throwing away trash. Another surprising fact I found was that I barely found any trash thrown away on the streets besides butts. There was a small litter bins just for gums and butts! However, the trash can itself was very dirty.

3)The red telephone box. One of the most popular things that represent London but no one actually use it. Also, it smells horrible inside. Maybe I could design more functional telephone box that actually has an objective?

4)Londoners like to spend time outside, on the streets. For example, I saw office workers come out to the streets in lunch time and enjoy beer out at a pub. I thought of designing a street furniture that would make the street itself a place for socializing.

5)I was able to find a lot of bicycle racks since bicycle one of the most popularized transportion in London. There were bicycle racks of newer designs, and ones with older designs.

I think creativity and vibrance are the factors really needed in the streets to make people’s day more lively and cheerful. I want to design a series of products that will make the streets of London more spirited. I could design a totally new product for a street, or re-design a common element on the streets such as a trash can. I want to focus on making the street more visually and functionally organized with creative factors, therefore achieving visually aesthetic streets.

There are many ways to incorporate nature into a design. These are few ways I have thought of.

1) Using REAL PLANTS in a design.

2) Using PATTERNS found in nature in a design.

3)Using TEXTURE found in nature. 

4)Using industrial materials and fake it to look like real plants. 

Again, it's really challenging to make a choice because I want the outcome to be perfect. 

Today we did this workshop where we share our themes with other students and share opinions. I actually got some useful suggestions regarding the research. One of the students recommended me to research about the public designs of Scandinavian community because people there have high satisfaction for the government and  the community. Other student told me that the streets in Switzerland always have a line of trees behind the streets, which was very interesting.

I thought it was about time to decided on what I want to make, and develop the design of the specific object .I decided to make a biophilic design of a bench. Biophilic design is a sustainable design strategy that incorporates reconnecting people with the natural environment, which is also what I want and wish from the urban area I live in. I got this initial idea from Jaime Hayon's vase and the installation piece I saw from the Saatchi gallery, and designed modern but nature friendly bench.

I wanted to make an object that would brighten up the whole atmosphere of the street, as well as satisfy the users' visual and physical needs. I decided to incorporate real plant into the design, because I want the users to experience a realistic feeling of sitting at a forest. However I am planning on doing more research and developing the design in more sustainable way. 

I started on making miniature model today. I intentionally made the shape in more of an organic form because I wanted the outcome to look nature-friendly as possible. At first I put the holes and layers on the bench just because I was inspired by Jaime Hayon's vase. After making it in a miniature model, I realized the holes are actually important and efficient in the design to hold the plants straight around the chairs and to avoid from the bench to look messy and bushy. 

I used transparent acrylic sheets to make the miniature model. As I was making, I thought of using wasted materials for making the real model later. I wonder if there is any transparent material that is sustainable besides glass. Glass would be too heavy and fragile. 

I cut each layers in certain organic shapes and made overlapping holes on the layers. For the bottom container, there will be real soil and plants for the real model, so that flowers and baby trees could grow through the holes. 

During the assessment, Tom told me that he likes how plants grow up through small holes which reminds him of the plants growing through small surfaces. I haven't thought of an image of plants growing through small gaps until he said it, and I really loved the idea of it. I tried to research for the picture of small cracked gaps on streets, and find common patterns that could be found from the cracks. As I was researching, I found this series of paintings named Yarla Jukurrpa. It comes from an area to the east of Yuendumu called Cockatoo Creek. ‘Yarla’ (bush potato) are fibrous tubers that grow beneath a low spreading plant, found by looking for cracks in the ground. The spiral and crooked patterns are so interestingly shaped, and the colorful combinations of colors really intrigued me. Reflecting the patterns from the paintings and the pictures I have found, I think I could make the design more interesting and playful rather than just a few holes on the sheet.

Today we had a lecture about the exhibition and just the unit 7 in general. I also had a talk with Kathleen, and she said I should simplify the design a bit. I totally agree with her because I have so many ideas going on in my mind that it is quite overwhelming and challenging to choose a final design. She said I should keep the materials down to two types and simplify either the plants or the structure of the design. I thought of using flowers and different types of plants to the design, but decided to keep it simple and use moss, grass, and simple and short plants instead. 

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-best-sources-for-ecofriend-144244

There are three types of most commonly used eco-friendly materials for outdoor furniture.

• Hard-wearing, durable woods like western red cedar, northern white cedar, and teak that are FSC-certified and come from sustainably managed forests.
• Recycled plastic, or high density polyethylene (HDPE). Recycled plastic furniture is durable, water resistant, and low maintenance, and unlike wood furniture, it won't rot, splinter or crack and doesn't require staining, sealing or painting, and is basically impervious to all types of weather.
• Stainless steel, particularly if it includes a higher percentage of recycled content.

I'm interested in using recycled plastic(HDPE) because it is something that I've never seen and heard of. I looked up the pictures online, and was attracted to playful colors it has.

(worksheet on sketchbook)

Now that I have decided on a final design, and started to think of the users and the place it would be used at. Then I instantly thought of the Granary square, the area around CSM King's Cross. The granary square and the Pancras square is relatively newly built, and decorated with natural elements. Since the final design has both modern and natural factors mixed together, I think modern square area decorated with natural elements would be a perfect place for the bench to be at. 

At first I was worried that there's not much time for making since I started making after Easter, but thankfully I was able to finish everything by today. Just in case of running out of time, I prepared specific sizes and shapes for the final design so I just had to cut the boards in a certain shape. The final outcome looked better than I expected because the green, blue, and yellow colors from recycled plastic sheets blended really well with natural materials. Tomorrow, I will have to get real plants to place them in the middle of the board.

In the beginning of the project, I intended to make a street furniture that would change the whole atmosphere of the streets of London, simply due to it's aesthetically pleasing and unique design. However the final design came out to be a bench, which is not only visually attractive, but also sustainable many ways.

The initial design was a bench which had three layers of boards with holes on them. Plants would sprout from the bottom layer through the holes of the upper layers and grow in between the seats of the top layer. I did not notice anything until I was done with making the initial miniature model, but realised afterwards that the plants growing through the holes have an image of plants growing through small cracks on ground. I thought of few meanings behind the image of plants growing through hardships, such as the perseverance and power of nature. I researched on the patterns of ground cracks and was inspired by the series of paintings named "Yarla Jukurrpa", expressing of natural patterns, lines, and colours of ground cracks. The organic shapes in the paintings really helped me to develop the design to next step, progressed into much simpler and practical design.

With the final design ready, I started to think of the materials. I have always been interested in sustainable design, which naturally led me to concentrate on the sustainability of the product. I tried to focus on designing an outwardly engaging product by using sustainable and natural elements, that sometimes have a risk of looking tacky and old fashioned. Trying to search for a sustainable material that still has modern and unique aspect to it, I found the perfect match which was a recycled HDPE plastic. HDPE plastic is a shortened word for High-Density Polyethylene, a plastic polymer with flexible properties which make it ideal for a wide range of applications. However it was pretty challenging to get the material in hands but I got in touch with the workshop that specifically focuses on making recycled HDPE plastic sheets, called the Happenstance workshop in New Cross, London. I visited the Happenstance workshop and asked for the procedure of making and few more questions I wanted to know about the material. Jordan, the man who works at the workshop, told me that about 30 milk bottles are used per plastic sheet. Thinking of how people throw away milk bottles in a couple of days, reused HDPE is incredibly sustainable in a way it could last for years and years when it is re-created into new design objects. I asked for specific colours using the lids of milk and bleach bottles. I will be using the recycled plastic as the seating boards of the bench, cut in specific organic shapes. The organic shapes of the seating boards will create the pattern of ground crack in the middle of the board, which I plan to put artificial grass in between the seats.  

After the Easter break, I will have to do the making which should not take long. I just have to cut the recycled plastic sheets and wooden board into certain shapes and attach them together.