Close to the body was a research collaboration between IaaC (Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia), EsDI Universitat Ramon Llul, and TU/E Eindhoven Netherlands. It focused on novel methods of developing fashion design by using interaction design, electronics and digital fabrication. Here you can read a log on the second week of work and development:
Back in the studio with a handful of components and a faint idea of the outcome by the end of the week. Exciting. This is the second week of Close to the Body. The same teams return to their prototypes and rethink, reiterate and redesign the wearable objects in order to make them sense and actuate and form some kind of communication among the wearable, the body and its surroundings.
Monday, March 11, Valldaura
After a brief morning introduction and short presentation by Eva Deckers from TU Eindhoven, we are in the taxis again, heading for Valldaura. At the site. In a windy and cold surroundings of the Collserola park we perform the original movements, wearing the prototypes for the new people to guess, comment and suggest the further steps. Trying the prototype enhancements, adding the objects of everyday-life, which we had been told to bring with us. Small bike LED’s, MP3 player, smartphones, flashlight, hair dryer, some more LED lights, all of these are being tested inside the wearables to see the immediate effect. After lunch we are given more time to identify the way of interactivity for our objects and find the means of presenting this way to other groups. Movement. Input. Sound. Output.
Our prototype should respond to a changing position of the body by making sound or vibration, suggesting the person to explore these sensations via movement. We find dry branches, which help us to communicate this idea in a simple way to the others. A person wearing the prototype moves randomly across the south terrace while the other person tries to follow and respond accordingly, changing the drumming patterns on the stiff felt surface of the prototype. Branches as drum sticks.
After a brief morning introduction and short presentation by Eva Deckers from TU Eindhoven, we are in the taxis again, heading for Valldaura. At the site. In a windy and cold surroundings of the Collserola park we perform the original movements, wearing the prototypes for the new people to guess, comment and suggest the further steps. Trying the prototype enhancements, adding the objects of everyday-life, which we had been told to bring with us. Small bike LED’s, MP3 player, smartphones, flashlight, hair dryer, some more LED lights, all of these are being tested inside the wearables to see the immediate effect. After lunch we are given more time to identify the way of interactivity for our objects and find the means of presenting this way to other groups. Movement. Input. Sound. Output.
Our prototype should respond to a changing position of the body by making sound or vibration, suggesting the person to explore these sensations via movement. We find dry branches, which help us to communicate this idea in a simple way to the others. A person wearing the prototype moves randomly across the south terrace while the other person tries to follow and respond accordingly, changing the drumming patterns on the stiff felt surface of the prototype. Branches as drum sticks.
Tuesday, March 12, IaaC
At IaaC again. Short presentation by Martijn ten Bhömer, who shows us some projects combining the textiles and electronics. We are introduced to the microcontroller shield prototypes, which had been developed at TU Eindhoven. Small boards, 30×30 millimeters, each with a microcontroller preprogrammed for a different input or output. LED lights, speakers, vibration motors, accelerometers. Tiny and easy to implement to the textile fabrics. We decide to test one of these boards programmed for small vibration motors, the ones from the LiliPad family. After building a simple circuit, using the board, vibration motor and 3,7V lithium polymer battery, we place the motor onto different parts of the felt prototype and try to understand how the material distributes the vibration and its effect on the body. The robust felt material with a high density of texture seems to spread the vibration waves quite well.
Time to control. Using the Arduino software, we check the program controlling the vibration motor, how it is defined and what are its time delays. Based on these findings we program three sketches which should explore how the motor effects the wearable and the body at the same time. High/Low, Fade and Pulse, these are the basic motor behaviors, which should help us to define the interaction between the garment and body.
At IaaC again. Short presentation by Martijn ten Bhömer, who shows us some projects combining the textiles and electronics. We are introduced to the microcontroller shield prototypes, which had been developed at TU Eindhoven. Small boards, 30×30 millimeters, each with a microcontroller preprogrammed for a different input or output. LED lights, speakers, vibration motors, accelerometers. Tiny and easy to implement to the textile fabrics. We decide to test one of these boards programmed for small vibration motors, the ones from the LiliPad family. After building a simple circuit, using the board, vibration motor and 3,7V lithium polymer battery, we place the motor onto different parts of the felt prototype and try to understand how the material distributes the vibration and its effect on the body. The robust felt material with a high density of texture seems to spread the vibration waves quite well.
Time to control. Using the Arduino software, we check the program controlling the vibration motor, how it is defined and what are its time delays. Based on these findings we program three sketches which should explore how the motor effects the wearable and the body at the same time. High/Low, Fade and Pulse, these are the basic motor behaviors, which should help us to define the interaction between the garment and body.
Iaac Barcelona + TU Eindhoven + Esdi Barcelona.
T: Oscar Tomico, Marina Castan, Sietske Klooster, Eva Deckers, Marina Toeters, Guillem Camprodon
project team: Gemma Vila, Bert Balcaen, Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac<BR>
photo credits: Bert Balcaen, Oscar Tomico,
Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac
video credits: Rafael Vargas Correa
T: Oscar Tomico, Marina Castan, Sietske Klooster, Eva Deckers, Marina Toeters, Guillem Camprodon
project team: Gemma Vila, Bert Balcaen, Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac<BR>
photo credits: Bert Balcaen, Oscar Tomico,
Rafael Vargas Correa, Martin Lukac
video credits: Rafael Vargas Correa
