P O W R H O U S E

Design Process:

First Week

The first day began with an introduction to the User-Driven Creative Academy’s (U-CrAc) goal and past history, afterwards we were introduced to the different companies that had sought out U-CrAc’s assistance in the internal or external difficulties these specific companies were experiencing. The process for our group (Group 10) began with a meeting with our requestor, a part time nurse working in Norway, who introduced us to her vision. A building with open access to everyone no matter their station. In short she wished to see all the different clubs pull their resources together to end up with a “multi-cultural” association where everyone is welcome. Once gargantuous room with no predestined definition, making it, in a way, a utility room. Each individual would therefore be able to use it to his or her wishes. The bomb fell with being told that, as of yet, no such building exists and the only thing keeping it alive was our requestors hopes that one day her dream would be a reality with our help. It was therefore up to us to design this idea from it’s foundation and up. An exciting challenge yes, however problematic as none of the group members have a background in architecture, a necessary skill set in order to accomplish our requestors vision. Another problem was that out requestor had an exceptional broad perspective problem wise. Making the beginning of this process very problematic since we each took the giving assignment, namely, the physical environment as a literal thing.

We then starting toying with ideas of using google sketchup to make a 3 dimensional sketch of any potential building with an internal structure that could be manipulated to to fulfill the user’s request.

Field Work – 1 Day

On the second and third day of the U-CrAc workshop, the group was performing field research, both to validate and verify questions related to the concept of PowRHouse. The first day of field research the group went to Storvorde, here we met our requestor for a short conversation before exploring the area where the PowRHouse is to be build, and asked pre selected and random citizens of Storvorde. The justification for this was to ask them pre-defined questions of different topics related to PowRHouse, the ideas was to accumulate data on their impressions and opinions on this concept. All the data collected on the first day of field research was recorded with camera.

Field Work – 2 Day

The third day of field research took place at Sundheds- and Kvartershuset in Aalborg Øst and Trekanten, also located in Aalborg Øst. The reason for visiting these two places was to benchmark already running concepts with similarities to the concept Lene Porup presented the very first day of the workshop and because the building was a representation of what she wanted, where we were asked to imagine that instead of having several rooms all spread out. She wanted to have all the rooms placed into one big room since both Kultur- and Kvartershuset and Trekanten are multi-functional buildings which accommodate various activities, such as health care, physical training facilities, conference rooms, shops and cafeteria. The group was presented to, Grethe Andreasen who works on projects at
Kvarterværkstedet, Lars Overvad Nielsen a psychotherapist and Michael Mansdotter who is the leader of Trekanten(a youth center), who are connected to both sundheds- og kvarthuset and Trekanten. They were able to provide insight in what has worked for each of the places and what has not. This served as input to how the group were to develop the concept in Storvorde further. All of this data collected during field research was recorded with camera.

Processing the collected Data

The fourth day and fifth day of the workshop was concerned with extracting the relevance from the data accumulated, and convert this data into actual problems/needs. The group was concerned with creating a scope of analysis for further investigation, which lead us to the next fase and the second week

Beginning of the Second Week

Tools used for interpreting the Data

The topic for the second week of the workshop was Idea-Creation and applying tools to reflect upon these ideas, and to visualise these ideas. Tools such as the Ouroboros and the Sandbox was applied to further understand the case and the complications associated with this. The group benefitted from using the Sandbox workshop, a tool used to illustrate, through figurines placed in a sandbox, the case, the stakeholders and the key issues of the case.

Tools and Methods Used During the End of Second Week

Some of the video tools during this period was Stop-Motion and actual movie clips, using Green Screen as a tool to manipulate the reality, and provide possibilities that would have been inaccessible otherwise. Aside from tools associated with video, the Story Board technique was introduced to the group. The group used these Story Boards to draw a sequence of actions in a given context, related to the case. In order to use these tools, lectures on the topics was given by the U-CrAc teachers/supervisor. The group attended the lectures in the morning with the purpose of using the tools in the afternoon. There was a proper balance between theory and practice, meaning that the practice would take place right after the theory was presented. This made it easier for the group to use these tools and apply them to the case. The teachers was present during the afternoon, to assist the groups with potential obstacles and questions. The result of the second week was input to the entire process of applying these tools to the case, where all steps were documented through pictures and video recordings. This gave us a good platform for the initial phase of the third week, where the ideas generated, both through video and Story Board drawings. Could be gathered and made into a demonstration of the event and the final product

Final Week and Client Meeting

The final week of the U-CrAc workshop, was to create the final product, in the form of a video presentation to the client. The first day of the final week, the group had the final meeting with the client before the presentation. The group and the client discussed potential directions, which was created during the second week, with the purpose of providing one final solution. The client commented on the production from the second week, and the most feasible solution for the client’s desire was forwarded to the third week. The second day was concerned with brainstorming and discussions with the purpose of creating a final scope for the final product. During the third and fourth day, the final video presentation with the selected concept and ideas was created, using both Stop Motion and Green Screen. Both the processes and the production was recorded on camera. The last day of the u-CrAc workshop was the final meeting with the client, and the presentation of the entire workshops three weeks of work. First the client and the group members were presented. After that, a brief introduction of the case and the observed problem(s) was introduced. This was followed by a video presentation of the solution to the proposed problem(s), concluding on the potential benefit(s) that this solution provides. After the presentation, the client and group discussed the final outcome, whereas the client was in focus.

Videoskitser:

In the second week of the U-CrAc workshop we used stop motion and green screen to document our ideas about PowrHouse. These films were made as practice before the final product.

In the third week we have used stop motion and green screen to document the process, solution and benefit of the final idea for Lene Porup.

Stop Motion

Video Sketching