Extreme circumstances have often been the impetus for innovative design intervention. After the fall of the USSR, Cuba lost nearly 80% of its imports due to the trade embargo, leading to a sudden trend in hacked consumer electronics and home appliances. During the Great Depression, patterns were printed on bags of flour and feed, allowing people to repurpose the fabric for dresses or dolls. In 2017, Venezuelans protesting governmental corruption combatted tear gas attacks with respirators made of plastic water bottles. These examples all paint a picture of our ability to imagine new solutions to old problems, even when we don’t have the right tool for the job.

This studio will give students the opportunity to create devices, interventions, and machines that help mitigate the fallout from Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. Students will conduct primary research through interviews as well as secondary research to better understand the immediate needs and limitations of life in Puerto Rico post-Maria. Following this initial research phase we will begin an improvisational design journey.

In order to simulate the strain on resources many communities experience following a disaster event, we will be imposing a system of artificial scarcity. Materials will be limited to objects found in a visit to a junkyard, upcycled electronics, scraps, and periodic “air drops” of vital supplies. Access to tools and machinery will be commodified and translated into a credit system, making them more valuable than ever. These constraints will test students' resourcefulness, imagination, and willingness to break the rules.

Many births require c-sections. However, the procedures are unavailable in many parts of the world due to a lack of education and infrastructure, causing many birthing problems and in some cases death. Educating surgeons is difficult because the simulation dummies on the market sell for around $100,000 and are therefore not viable tools for many schools to use.

Our solution to this issue is to create an affordable simulation designed to teach students how to deal with problems during a c-section surgery. Our simulation is made of cheap materials: plastic, fabric, velcro, and just two replaceable sections for the incisions.

Inspired by already existing c-section simulations and molds for organs, we designed an abdomen piece that has one cutable section where the surgeon can make an incision in the skin. We then designed the uterus, baby, and placenta to fit inside the abdomen.

After thinking about all these parts, we came to the conclusion that the easiest way to fabricate them would be with the CNC machine and vacuum former. Because both the abdomen and uterus have to be hollow for other parts to fit inside of them, creating a CNC mold of the exact shape we were looking for made the most sense.

We then modeled our uterus and abdomen in Rhino and milled them on the CNC machine. Since we had to use thin foam for our molds, we ended up slicing both the molds into multiple pieces for the machine. Afterward, we brought the models to Beaver to use the school’s vacuum former. While all of this was happening, we also created our placenta, baby, and cutable skin and uterus pieces from cheap materials to prepare for the final assembly.

With the parts put together, students can practice a lifelike the c-section surgery by cutting through the silicone pieces of the skin and uterus and then pulling the baby and placenta through.

A small attachment for your door that fully automates it for wheelchair accessibility. It uses a string to unlatch the handle and rolls the door open with a wheel.

For people with disabilities, it can be difficult if not impossible to leave the house on your own for many reasons. In the case of our client, Lee has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and therefore, can't open a door on his own. I decided to solve this by automating his door.  While there are obviously forms of automation for doors that have existed for a long time, there aren't really any home alternatives. Most of the automatic doors you see are bulky metal bars at the top of a door, impersonal, tacky, non-domestic, and overpriced. I decided to create a small, affordable, and easy to install automation for Lee's home. The design is a small box you slide under your door with a wheel on the floor, and a string sticking out the top attached to the door handle. When installing, all you have to do is slide the box under, tie the string around your door handle, and once you plug it in your done!

A device that lets two people support the body weight of someone who is disabled and unable to support themself, allowing him or her to dance freely and return to a sport they love.

Our project is a device made to help a women named Marina, who suffered a traumatic brain injury that resulted in a partial loss of motion on the left side of her body and the inability to dance. Dance brings a story to life, animates a feeling, and spreads cultural awareness, but most importantly it's an expression of creativity and self. Dance brings beauty to the world and everyone in it. The device we developed will allow Marina to return to the art of dance, an activity that she loves, with her siblings who will be there to support her physically and emotionally. Our project addresses the post injury issues of exercise and physical interaction. By helping her to dance, Marina will be able to spend time with her siblings doing something they all love. In order to make this device we used PVC pipe for the two poles that makeup the frame and between them is a metal "Lazy Susan" with a harness in the middle. This allows Marina to spin around without needing to worry about holding onto something or falling. The pieces that attach the "Lazy Susan" to the pipes were 3D printed as were the pieces that stop the "Lazy Susan" from sliding to far up and down the poles. Additionally, caps on the ends of the poles which hold strapping that attaches to the support harnesses is also 3D printed. 

Daria's Brief: 

As a student at the Cotting School, a school for people with disabilities, E.B. uses a wheelchair and is an active participant in Waypoint Adventures, which offers hikes, rock climbing, and other adventures for people with disabilities. Participants have to borrow all-terrain wheelchairs, and E.B. has found them to be uncomfortable and tiring to self-propel. Freedom Skis take a wheelchair already custom-fitted to the user and adapt it so that it can be pushed over the varied, snowy terrain by an able-bodied person. This allows the user to experience the joy of skiing instead of focusing on propelling themselves through the snow. E.B. has never been hiking in the snow, partly because Waypoint's existing wheelchairs for skiing in the snow are uncomfortable for her, an issue that Freedom Skis solve.  Existing ski chairs are also expensive for families who do not have access to a program like Waypoint.

Freedom Skis improve on current options in several ways. Designed to be affordable for everyone and to allow more families to experience the joy of winter and skiing together, Freedom Skis were made mostly of PVC, 3D-printed connectors, and used skis, keeping the cost under $100, whereas the current ski wheelchairs on the market cost in the thousands. Freedom Skis also improve on current options by incorporating a system of springs that helps absorb shock for a smoother ride and allow the skis the necessary vertical freedom to navigate uneven trails, but not so much that the skis get caught in holes and come out from under the chair.  Lastly, all of the current ski wheelchairs force the user to move from their usually custom-fitted chair into a different chair not designed with comfort in mind. Freedom Skis keep down costs and the user comfortable by using the user's own wheelchair.  They also help normalize having a disability by allowing people who use wheelchairs ski, a popular and fun winter sport.

Ronan's Brief:

People with disabilities often face unnecessary limitations in their activities, due to a lack of innovative, affordable design to meet their needs. EB is a client who loves the outdoors and exploration but is in the the wheelchair. She has expressed that on these hikes her legs become sore and stiff because it is not her personal chair. These chairs are often not durable, efficient,comfortable, or affordable. Freedom Skis takes EB’s original chair and transforms it into a snow terrain chair. This adaptation allows EB to stay comfortable while allowing her to explore.

The basic design of the project uses PVC piping, skies, springs, and two to three pieces of three-dimensional modeling. There are two bigger skies that are on the back which [remove words wherever you can without sacrificing meaning] give support and stability and two front skis that help with steering. Each individual ski has its own suspension system, which allows helps with rough terrain and limits rotation of the skis. The four skis are screwed in with bolts that would normally be used for the wheels. The goal of the design is to provide the easiest way to put on the skis while still having efficiency, stability, and durability.