The overall goal of the Carousel Shelf is to design a dynamic storage system that serves as a learning tool to engage a child's motor skills and awareness in a playful way. The rotating capability of the shelf promotes independence in storing, organizing and retreiving their materials: no shelf is inaccessible. It also allows the child's mind to make connections between the crank and the pulley system, realizing one needs the other to move. Even if they don't realize this at first, they can still push down on the shelf, noticing that the rest of them move.

In the previous studio, Cece, Bryan, and Harper made a non-functional iteration of their overall hope of the shelf. When it came to choosing groups for the final project, Cece and Ryan realized that this project has potential to be significantly improved. Therefore, we decided to continue with this project. The original iteration consisted of an imcomplete shelf with yarn instead of the chain link.

To sum it up, each part of the shelf had their own separate iterations. Cece and Ryan's working process did not focus on everything at once, but more specifically one part of the shelf at a time. Firstly, the crank went through 4 iterations. The original design was pretty similar to the final results, but we constantly found slight problems while cutting the crank. The problems include incorrect diameter measurements and a non-filleted crank. 

Another part where we had seperate iterations was of the chain link and gear. The first iteration of the gear was nearly identical to the final iteration. The only part that we changed was that we made the edges smooth. This way, the chain link would run more smoothly. Our first iteration of the chain link was made out of cardboard and was connected by wire. The only decent part about this iterations was that the "links" were actually. We knew that this design needed much improvement, so we moved on to wood. The second iteration was much better than the previous. It was made out of wood and was much smoother than the first. The only problem was that the screws were too long and the shape of the link had to be slightly adjusted (for purposes of the gear). The final iterations is perfect. The screws are the perfect length, and the design of each link works well when running over the gear.

For the shelves themselves, we made 4 iterations. The first iteration was the box from the previous studio. The box worked fairly well, but the problems we discovered was that it was too long and needed to connect to the rest of the shelf in a better way. The second iteration was better than the previous. The length was perfect, but we still did not have a better way to put them on the shelf. For the third iteration, we thought about a better way and made a parabola type shape which would be placed above the box. We made the iteration out of cardboard and placed it on the box. For the final iteration, we made it out of wood and attached it to the smaller side of the box.

For an independent project we revisited an older project originally createdin the Montessori studio which CeCe was a part of. It was meant to be an interactive storage system that could serve as a space definer, storage, and learning tool for students. Our studio was inspired by montessori schools, and some of the main characteristics we wanted to incorporate were adaptability, multi-use, and intellectial stimulation. As the independent project week started we rethought the idea, so that the entire mechnism is now meant to be more of a toy than actual storage space. While objects can fit in the boxes, we took inspiration from other montessori toys such as object permanence boxes for the boxes on the carousel. Childeren can use each box on the carousel as its own object permanence box. Also, we wanted the shelf to be multi-use so that it could be used for entertainment and learning. The shelf can be moved by a hand crank so children would get the chance to work on fine moter skills, as well as problem solving skills.