STEAMBox

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY | SPRING 2017
PROFESSOR: VIVIAN LOFTNESS

Climate change, global health crises, the emergence of exciting new technology regarding renewable energy - Is modern education up to the challenge? STEAMBox pioneers a new educational paradigm to equip young learners with the passion and tools to enact global change.

Most school buildings and curriculums segment fields related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math, into classes titled “chemistry, biology, history,” etc. In contrast, STEAMBox unifies these subjects within the context of a water classroom, light classroom,mindfulness classroom, and other more elemental subjects. This allows students to make connections between the pillars of STEAM education within a single classroom.

The Ellis School, a private all-girls K-12 school in Pittsburgh where STEAM education is already a priority, is a fantastic candidate to launch this new way of learning. A STEAMBox on the Ellis School campus would help the school expand their curriculum, enrollment, and engagement with both students and professionals throughout the city. The current parking lot is transformed into an educational facility which would not only serve the Ellis School, but also the greater Pittsburgh community when school is not in session.

CAMERA OBSCURA

Carnegie Mellon University | SPRING 2016
Partner: Josh Kim
Instructors: Daniel Colvard, Stephen Lee

The Epic Metals Corporation funded a three-day competition for all students in the Third Year studio to design a Camera Obscura using Epic Metal innovative metal deck products. The design was to function as an innovative learning space for students that could operate in tandem with the middle schools we were designing. In teams of two, we researched the phenomenon of the camera obscura. We then developed structures which offered complete darkeness with the expection of small holes, through which dim images of the surrounding city were projected upside-down into the structur’s interior.

As an education necessitates experiencing the world around you in new and unique ways. This experiential camera obscura transforms the globe into a series of 8 evenly spaced shards, each with an oculus focused on a pivotal building in East Liberty’s history. As one circumnavigates the structure, he or she can experience views of their world projected upside-down onto a gossamer fabric in the center. The shape of the fabric can be manipulated through utilizing the dove tail structure of the perforated Epic metal EST. In this way, students can manipulate both the spatial qualities of the camera obscura and the way they perceive the surrounding world.

FABRICATION: CUSTOM JOINERY

Fabricated by mckamish Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA

BATHHOUSE

Carnegie Mellon University | SPRING 2015
Instructor: Mick McNutt

Hikers follow a windy path from the Appalachian Trail to this oasis just half a mile up the mountain from Saco Lake, New Hampshire.

The kitchen and dining room, sleeping place, and baths each set the stage- or rather, kindle the hearth - for spontaneous interaction between likeminded strangers. Coming from the appalachian trail of seclusion, serenity, and the constant discovery of what is waiting just around the bend.These three hearths present everything, and everyone, out in the open. Suddenly your fellow hikers become not faded footprints but tablemates. In this microcosm of civilization, hikers may find a new kinship in quietude.

ROSEMARY PLANTER

Carnegie Mellon University | FALL 2014
Instructor: Jonathan Kline

Our studio was challenged to build a device that would keep a plant (in my case, rosemary) alive until the first frost.

Rosemary requires plenty of air, sunlight, and warmth, each characteristics of the worn parking lot beind my dorm. The planter hugs an old and leaning parking meter, and provides an unexpected shock of lively white and green in the barren parking lot. The planter kept this rosemary plant alive, exposed to the elements, from August until well past the first frost in late October.

The planter was construted out of strips of Yupo paper, sewn together with black thread and reinforced with piano wire.