The process of personal development begins with self-discovery and ends with self-actualization. Before one may grow into the person they desire, they must first establish their identity and the skills and qualities they possess. Reading is for everyone, and with the correct books, one’s brain develops as a result of exposure to a broader vocabulary, as well as to diverse viewpoints, locations, cultures, and languages. One does become wiser by frequent reading, and it also helps them go a step further by enhancing their inventive abilities. Books stimulate the brain in such a way that one gains a greater understanding of the world and of oneself. When an individual is self-aware, it inevitably leads to the higher goal of self-achievement. When we were working on our project, we aimed to accurately reflect that. Combining knowledge in the form of books with the creation of an object displaying personal growth in the shape of a flower pot in a bookshelf. Ultimately, the fundamental purpose of this product is to reflect this growth from the use of recycled materials, raising awareness of the damage that the single-use culture (ironically correlated with the development of humanity) has brought to the environment. More than a solution, we expect this product to shed light on the future we want, where products are designed to stand the passage of time, to be repaired and to be more than just convenient, but useful and aesthetically pleasing.
In order to achieve a strong, stable and durable structure, it was opted to work with High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), due to its versatility to be melted and be shaped into what might be needed; also being the most abundant material available to work with. Comprised of several plastic boards, the first challenge was to understand which methods could be used to create relatively long plastic rectangles. With the help of the professor, it was determined that the most convenient way was to directly melt some of plastic on an oven. This idea came also as inspiration from a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpsXvO5LsTY). Several modifications to the technique shown include: the use of shredded plastic rather than the whole plastic caps; not pressing the plastic during the heating process, but rather to leave the molten plastic flatten by itself; and the use of an industrial dryer to speed up the production of plastic boards. Further changes to this technique might be necessary as the project progresses. Expected changes are the use of a wood plank to flatten the board, and the use of a jigsaw to achieve the correct sizes for the shapes needed.
The process of creating the bookshelf is the following:
We melt 250 grams of shredded plastic (bottle caps, HPDE) in a tray in 200 degrees celsius for 25 minutes.
After it is melted we used a big fan to cool it down faster. Since the plastic shrinks during the cooling process, it detaches itself from the aluminum tray which makes it easier to extract.
Once it is extracted from the tray, it is deformed and to flatten it we use heavy weight to press it down in between two pieces of wood.
This way we need to create 14 flat pieces of plastic to create the bookshelf. The bookshelf is divided into three compartments, each compartment is created from 4 pieces of plastic to make a hollow square pipe shape, the top and bottom of which is 15×15 and the sides are 15×20. After creating the three compartments we use bolts to stick them together consecutively and we alternate the rotations of them. We rotate the second compartment by 90 degrees by the Y axis. This will make it look such that the second compartment is not hollow. On the second compartment we attach two isosceles triangles to create a “pocket” for the plant.
Mood Board:
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