Whittle School Retreat

Polyphonic Fun

Jackson Enyeart

MUsic-Go-Round Presentation

Stefano Pagani

The Music Box is a project worked on in collaboration with the Karam school, located in Reyhanli, Turkey. The town is mainly occupied by Syrian refugees, who are creating a musical playground to give back to the community that welcomed them. The Music Box allows children to play and explore the creation of music. It has been shown that both play and music accelerate brain development in the language and sound processing centers of the brain. For many refugees, who are learning new languages, this could be very helpful. The music box is made up of two cylinders. The inner cylinder holds the comb, which is a series of flat steel pieces that get plucked by the pegs positioned in the outer cylinder when the kids spin it. The kids can ride on the pegs as it spins around. The design takes into account that there will be many different users with a range of ages, by including components that are fun and engaging for everyone, Such as the spinning aspect for the kids and the platform to sit for parents.

Sound Barriers

Lucy Gunther
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At most playgrounds, parents don’t have anywhere to sit and socialize with one another; as a result, kids to be are surrounded by hovering parents and are prevented from taking risks and learning to overcome their fears at young ages. Sound Barriers is a series of translucent elastic string walls that vibrate at modified frequencies based on sounds that are picked up from microphones set around the playground. Sound Barriers helps children have the freedom to take risks on the playground, while still allowing the parents to watch their children. In of an emergency, the parents can access a walkway through gaps in the strings to reach their kids. Sound Barriers is being designed and built for a playground in Reyhanli, Turkey, in partnership with students from a local school called the Karam House. Sound Barriers will surround the adult sections of the park (designated as reading, gardening, picnic, and board game areas). The local kids and adults will come to this park and use it as a community space and place to play.

Presentation: The Dancer

Maddie Mullin

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. 

Freedom Skis

Rosa Weinberg

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.

sense-ational sound course

Jackson Enyeart
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Making

Saeed Arida

Project in motion

Natalie Ferry

Polyphonic fun in use

Lina Huang