Patients in mental institutions have limited freedom and time outdoors. The patients, especially kids, can feel trapped and imprisoned in the hospital, with not many ways of coping with this feeling. I decided to create a wall installation that helps teenagers practice their breathing exercises, to ease them through this rough period of time in their life. The installation would include an iris diaphragm, which is commonly used as a camera aperture. The iris would open and close to a mindfulness breathing pattern when a sensor detects someone in front of it, and would reveal an Ecosphere, which is an encapsulated ecosystem. Patients could connect to the nature inside the wall, and possibly have a deeper emotional connection with the brine shrimp, who are encapsulated just like the young adults are.

During the second half of February, my parents traveled to Hong Kong, touring with their string quartet. I decided to take advantage of that oportunity, and chose to film any interesting things I saw there. Once getting back, I edited chose the music I would use, and spent about three days editing the footage.

The Idea of the welding helmet started in the "Personal Protection Wearables" Studio. When I heard that we’d be making protection devices, I immediately thought of my father. My father has spent his whole life working on farms and construction sites. He became a welder 2 years ago. Welding is dangerous for a few reason. The UV rays produced while welding are 10 times brighter than the sun. As a result, eye protection is the main priority. The next biggest danger is the spatter, or the debris, and the sparks produced welding. These often can burn welders when there is contact with the skin. The modern welding helmet was introduced in 1937. If you look at a helmet from 1937 and the helmet my dad uses, they are identical. The only difference would be the Auto Darkening Lens which was introduced in 1981. The Auto Darkening Lens allows the user a polarized view when not welding and a dark view when welding. Although the Auto Darkening Lens is a great innovation, innovation in welding protection has remained stagnant. Our original idea was to 3D print a helmet that used the UV rays from welding to power lights and an air filtration system. This would be used when welders are in poorly lit areas and in situations when fumes are produced. After a long period of initial prototyping and collaboration with the coaches, we decided that we should create a concept of a new welding mask. The welding mask would be made of Polybenzimidazole fiber, which is used in firefighting equipment. We would use the fiber to create a balaclava which would connect to a custom fitting faceplate and Auto Darkening Lens. The faceplate would be complete with a hinge that allows the user to flip the Auto Darkening Lens up and down.We 3d-scanned my face and imported it into Rhino, a 3D modeling application, to create the custom face piece. We then printed the face piece. "The New Face of Welding" creates a lighter, more custom fit experience for the user. The helmet also allows welders the chance to fit into tighter spaces. We feel this welding helmet concept brings a lot of new ideas to the forefront, which can hopefully be implemented in welding helmets of the future.