Primavera Sound Design Proposal

Andrew BarnesDesign Proposal for Primavera Sound Festival

Materials & Structure 240052986

FEMB Design Primavera Sound 2013 Lighting/Street Furniture Design Proposal

Contents

Introduction

Response to Brief

Festival Research & Background

Street Furniture Case Study

Design Proposal

Dimesional Drawings

Primary Materials

Manufacture Process

Secondary Materials

Lighting Method

Structural Analysis

Ergonomic Considerations

Design Control

Design Review

FEMB Design Company Policy


Introduction

This design proposal is in response to the request from the curators of the Primavera Sound Festival and the government of Catalonia to provide conceptual outdoor lighting for the 2013

edition of the festival. Our aim is to present to the two parties a lighting system that meets these requirements whilst also being in the same stylistic realm as Primavera Sound.


Response to Brief

The brief given to us was simple, to design street furniture for application at Primavera Sound 2013. Our response to this is to play to our previous knowledge in lighting design and tap into

how lighting at music festivals is generally overlooked. With the left-field and independent nature of the festival in question we see this brief as an opportunity to be as creative and conceptual as we wish. Our aim for this design is for it to serve two purposes, useful lighting that will illuminate paths within the festival plaza and a visually enticing design that will be attractive to patrons of

the festival.

Festival Research

Primavera sound is a festival that takes place annually in the Catalonian City of Barcelona.I myself am going to this year’s incar-nation, and I went to a ‘sister’ festival in Oporto last summer, therefore I have first-hand knowledge of the festivals aesthetic and

therefore what would be suitable design wise at the festival.

Primavera Sound is a major event in the European circuit, and one of the most well-known of festivals that focus on the ‘alternative’ or ‘indie’ music scene. The Line-up’s mainly consist of acts from the U.S, Canada, the U.K, France and Spain and is a mixture of cutting edge acts and veterans, for example this year’s line-up has established classic bands like Blur and The Jesus and Mary Chain but also more contemporary acts like Animal Collective, Four Tet and Grizzly Bear. Primavera sound attracts an audience that is normally between the ages of 20 to 35, mainly made up of young professionals, students, musicians and artists. From my experiences with meeting people at the Oporto edition last year, festival goers are typically from all over Western Europe (e.g. U.K, Ireland, France, Germany, Scandinavia) and the Mediterranean region (e.g. Spain, Portugal, Italy), on top of this there is a

small percentage of festival goers from the U.S.A and Canada.

The festival has an artistic leftfield ethos and aesthetic, as can be shown in the examples of graphic design below, there is also an awareness of traditional Iberian styling. From my research I can see that the festival curators would receptive to an installation that

.


The images below highlight the colour scheme and style that is used for graphics promoting this years edition, we will use these as a reference for our own design

Aesthetics of the Festival


Street Furniture Case Studies

As part of our research, we look at existing forms of street furniture, from our case studies we can learn what makes street furni-ture successful informing our own design process.

Abstract Bench (Hong Kong)

Location: Hong Kong, China

Materials: MDF (main body), Steel (screws, other components)

Finishes: MDF have been sanded down and treated to improve appearance, every other mdf section of the bench has been painted black or a deep brown

Manufacture: It is likely that the bench is shaped panels of mdf that have been bolted together, each panel is of a varying size and shape, which when put together results in the shape shown above.

Notes: This bench is conceptual and was probably envisaged for artistic pur-poses, not just public service

DUNE Street Furniture System

Location: Lá Defence (Parisian Financial District)

Materials: treated pine structure, retified pine side cladding, decking acacia, furniture’s frame in welded steel tubes powder coated

Finishes: All woods treated with insecticide and fungicide, colored sections painted with PU (Polyurethane paint) in Pink, Blue and GreenManufacture: Parts likely to have been constructed using typical joinery methods

Notes: Excert from architect’s description “Designed on a principle of inter-changeable and easily transportable modules, DUNE can be assembled into a larger island or adapted to the neighborhood’s activity. The low and vibrating geography of this modular furniture will insert discreetly into the landscape, leaving the horizon open”

Essentially, the furniture is a system of a slope and a series of benches that are of varying dimensions, this allows for the configurment of the furniture to be adjusted according to what situation the furniture will be used for

Sharp Solar L.E.D Street LightLocation(s): Japan, India

Materials: Aluminium alloy for body of the street light

Finishes: The Aluminium has been treated so that it is corrosion resistantManufacture: the aluminium body will have been fabricated; the column section will have been extruded whereas the section holding the solar-power panels may have been die-casted

Notes: Excerpt from gazmag.com article “they run on sunlight, emit no CO2 emissions, provide an off-the grid source of lighting during in an emergency situation and use efficient LED-based light which tends not to attract insects” The Street lights are an incredibly ecological piece of design, as stated above, and also eliminate issues that arise with typical streetlights.

Final Design Proposal


Dimensional Drawings


All measurements in metres


All measurements in metres


Choosing A Primary Material

For my design I am to choose between two polymers (stated in the brief) for the street furniture to be manufactured from, Polypro-pylene and Polyurethane.

Polypropylene

Polypropylene is a plastic polymer that is commonly used in industry and consumer goods; it can be used as a structural plastic or as a fibre. Polypropylene is perhaps most commonly used as a material for containing foods which is down to its high melting point of 160 Celsius (compared to other polymers). Polypropylene is also resistant to water and can be dyed with ease lending itself for use with consumer goods, another impressive feature of this polymer is how it is very resistant to repeated stress and

friction, an useful property for products that include integral fittings like the hinges of a CD case.

Polyurethane

Polyurethane is a plastic polymer that is known for being resistant, flexible and durable, Polyurethane has the ability to be used for many different applications. While mainly seen in the form of foam (which can be used for anything from cavity wall insula-

tion to bath sponges) polyurethane can be and has been used for a whole range of furniture uses (e.g. flooring, seating, ceiling coverings, tables etc.) obviously this is not in a foam form application of Polyurethane as the polymer can be produced as a solid

material also. In its solid form it can be used as a structural polymer, proving to be incredibly sturdy and durable, polyurethane also has the ability to be dyed in any colour imaginable and also to be finished in most styles.

Both polymers have their reasons to be chosen, but for the nature of my design Polyurethane is better suited. There were three factors that in formed me in my decision.

First was the colouring and translucency of the polymers, for my design the polymer will have to be a tinted translucent shade, as the main purpose of the lighting is for it to be illuminating in the colours chosen. From my research I found that both Polypropylene

and Polyurethane were both capable of a achieving this finish.

Secondly was how the polymer would react to weathering and damage from festival patrons, for this topic I was mainly looking at how resistant the polymers were and how water resistant they were (e.g. being able to protect electrical sections of the lighting during rainfall). Like with my investigation into the translucency of the polymers I found that both have been used for products

that require to be waterproof, Polyurethane has been used for kayaks and surfboards meanwhile Polypropylene is mainly used as tupperware, therefore both polymers are sufficient.

It was the third factor that led me to my decision on what polymer to use, sturdiness and structural ability. Polypropylene is seldom used for large structures that require structural integrity, whereas I discovered that Polyurethane can be used for virtually any pur-pose. Polyurethane is used for furniture for example, and depending on how it is manufactured, can be incredibly sturdy for use as a structural polymer. Knowing that Polyurethane is used more that Polypropylene for these purposes it made sense that I were

to choose that as a my polymer.


Maufacture Process

Rotational Moulding is a manufacturing process mainly used for the manufacture of polymer products, as stated in the brief the major parts of my design must be manufactured using this process.

Rotational moulding creates hollow objects by rotating a mould about two perpendicular axes at a slow to medium velocity. Before the spinning takes place, a suitable amount of molten polymer is put inside of the mould, the manufacture material is

heated so that the polymer then becomes heated which allows the desired shape to be achieved when the manufacture material is cooled and ready to set, on top of this the mould will be heated to ensure that the cooling doesn’t begin during the spinning.

The spinning action on the mould creates forces that push the molten polymer outwards of the centre of the axis, meaning that the manufacture material will be sent firmly to the edges of the mould. When the spinning process is finished (time varies depending on material and size/density of the mould) the mould is then given time to cool which allows for the molten material to set. After the cooling period the mould is split and the rough version of the object is ready, as with all moulding processes there will be a

finishing process to get rid of excess material and any rough blemishes.

Rotational moulding mainly makes use of two polymers; Polypropylene and Polyethylene. However the following materials can be and have been known to be used for such circumstances:

Polyvinyl chlorideNylon

PolycarbonateAluminum

ABSAcrylic

PolyesterPolyurethane

SiliconeVarious foods (e.g. Chocolate)

Secondary Material

Recommended in the brief, is that there is to be a second material used within my design, this material doesn’t have to be rota-tionally mould and neither does it have to be one of the two polymers stated in the brief. As you can see on the CAD visual below, the triangular component of the lighting has an outer casing that is not the rotationally moulded polymer. The casing lies along the edges of the component and serves two purposes, extra structural support and an improved aesthetic. Despite the polymer used (Polyurethane) having great structural capabilities in its solid form, I feel that the nature of the design could cause problems. My solution to this is to introduce a steel frame around each triangular component, when the steel parts are put together and fitted

firmly, a solid steel structure will be created.


Secondary Steel Section

Polyurethane Section

From an aesthetic standpoint, the outer steel structure also adds to the appearance of the design, after generating an first draft of my CAD model that didn’t have this feature, it did feel as if something was missing from my design in terms of appearance. While going through the process of reviewing my design, the areas that needed improvement were the aesthetic and the possibility of the structure being weak with just polymer as the material (this also tied into how a second material was needed to be added to

the design).

Fabrication of Secondary Material

With the second material being steel, the outer casing will be made up of 8 bars of steel that will be extruded then welded togeth-er, as you can see from the CAD visual the casing is not a typical steel colour, the outer section increases the aesthetic appeal

but the natural appearance of steel is not desirable for these aesthetics. Therefore the steel casing will be painted in a light cream colour that will fit in with the colouring of the lighting and also the aesthetic of the festival.

The reasons for choosing steel for my second material, are that steel is an incredibly strong material and resistant to blows. The placement of the steel over the edges of the polymer mean that structural damage can be kept to a minimum, if there is a blow

to the corner, there will little deformation, the same also applies to the non-steel sections, with the polymer being attached to the steel, the polymer could be said to be reinforced.

Here is an example of painted steel in use for ar-chitectural purposes; the colour of the steel here is similar to the hue that will be used in my design


Method of Lighting

So far all that has been addressed in the design of the lighting has been how the structural capabilities and also how it will all fit together, as the main purpose of my design is to provide light there must be an explanation and design of how the lighting will

actually happen.

The chosen method of lighting will be the use of L.E.D’s, L.E.D’s are rising in popularity and are the most cost effective and sus-tainable method of lighting nowadays, will an a electrical supply being all that will be need for the L.E.D’s to work, another thing is that compared to other methods (Halogen CFC) using this particular way can achieve a higher intensity of light which is very

important for two reasons. The tinted nature of the plastic means that a high light intensity will be required for effective lighting, the other being that the festival’s main hours are between 5pm and 5am during the Catalonian summer, hence meaning that around

75% of the program will be in darkness.

The L.E.D’s will be connected up into a system of approximately 50 per component, to hold the lighting together the L.E.D’s will be lined up inside of a translucent column that as shown in the CAD visual below. The column will be made from translucent polypro-

pylene like the shell of the component but will not be tinted to ensure that there is maximum light emitting from the L.E.D’s.

L.E.D Column


Structural Analysis

An essentail factor to consider in the design is structuraly sound the design will be, below the possible loads taken by the design will be discussed.

High Winds

Primavera Sound is based in the Catalonian City of Barcelona; the climate of this area in the summer is generally very warm and humid therefore wind is not a consistent occurrence. However, the location of the festival is at the seafront of Barcelona, it is com-mon knowledge that these areas are likely to be the most windy in any city, this does not mean that winds will be frequent but as in

anywhere else there is always a chance.

To cope with this environmental factor, the choice of materials is essential to the design, and in this case the choice of materials should prevail. Polypropylene is a sturdy material that should resist such winds. But with the inclusion of the steel outer frame on each component, I can be confident in knowing that the design will be able to resist the possible intensity of winds that will be

experienced at the festival.

Human Error

As the case is with most music festivals, the behaviour of the clientèle is not going to be the same as that of a public space or a park, excitement is prevalent amongst festival-goers and the mixture of large crowds, quality live music, a social atmosphere

and alcohol (and possibly illegal substances) means that there is a change that people could fall onto the structure or there to be some kind of accident involving the structure. Like the situation with winds (mentioned above) my designs will likely experience some kinds of impact from people during the festival week, however due to the steel structure providing a lot of support it is not likely that any damage can be caused. In fact, there may be a risk of injury for people falling into the lighting, this is something

that may be inevitable and can happen with any kind of structure within the festival site (e.g. beer tents, food vans).

Patrons Leaning On Structure

The other likely occurrence at the festival that would result in my design experiencing some kind of load to bear would from pa-trons leaning on the design, as the lighting structure would be placed along paths or amongst areas where people will gather, it is reasonable to expect that it would be used for this purpose when patrons are sitting down. The force would be experienced due

to people sitting on the ground with the backs to the structure. Due to the aforementioned strength of the steel and polyurethane, I can confidently say that this would not cause any adverse effects on my design.

Ergonomic Considerations

In the field of ergonomics and anthropometrics, lighting is not affected as much as other kinds of furniture typically are, seating for example is dependant on ergonomics as human interaction is a large part of the function, however there are still factors to

consider with my design.

Visual Contact

Visual contact will be the primary way that patrons of the festival will come into contact with the design, as it will be a major source of lighting and potentially a meeting point, visuals are important. Where ergonomics comes into this is the intensity of the light-

ing, if the light is too bright then this could dazzle people or cause headaches and nausea, as I am using L.E.D’s as a source of lighting there will be no florescence so these effects will be minimised. The other factor to consider when it comes to visuals is that the intensity of the light will likely be stifled by the tint of the translucent polyurethane, I expect that the lighting will be given a glow in the colour of the corresponding colours and therefore will not be bright and white in nature, this means that any dazzling effects

on patrons will be minimised.

Physical Contact

Physical contact is not part of the primary purpose of my design, however as noted in the structural analysis it is likely that festi-val-goers will lean on it when sitting on the ground nearby. In terms of ergonomics, it is likely that patrons will be leaning on the bottom section of the structure as shown in the sketch below. The materials are not likely to be comfortable but as my design is

not exactly for sitting purposes this is not really an area for me to improve on.

Size of Lighting

As mentioned above, my design can’t be too tall or too wide, if the size is disproportionate to the festival patrons then my design will also be disproportionate to any other structures at the festival. To get a gage of my limits for the size of my design I consulted

ergonomic tables on the human scale

From consulting these tables I see that the average or ideal height of a male is 6ft and for women it is 5ft 8 inches. In metres this converts to 1.8 and 1.7 metres respectively. In relation to my design the structure is proportioned to be approximately 2 and a half times taller that the average height of males and females, the two images below show how I have considered the human scale in

my design.


Human Scale Chart

Dimensioned diagrams showing ergonomic consideration


Design Control

During the design and final review of the design, certain components may need to be altered. To ensure that the changes are established and controlled, I will use a change control form that is based on the template below.


Design Review

Is there a clear brief?

The breif was straightforward in that we were given a simple task, to design street furniture for an internation festival of our choice

Is the design response clearly expressed by intention?

The intention of my design was for it to be relevant to the festival in question, I feel that by taking a coneptual and artistic ap-proach, the design fits in with the nature of Primavera Sound

Design Elements

When reviewing the design, it is imortant to look at the elements of the design. There are three parts to the lighting. The first is the steel outer casing, this privides the backbone to my design and prevents it from any possible structural damage, second is the

rotaionally moulded polymer sections. These fufil their purpose by allowing the light form the L.E.D’s to transmit through (by being transluctent) while also maintaining a glow that is important to the visuals of the design. The third element is the lighting itself, the

L.E.D’s are well positioned and in a high enough quantity to allow for a decent intensity of light.

Possible Failures

Possible failures for the design are if the L.E.D’s burn out, to rectify this the affected component would have to be deconstructed to allow for replacement of L.E.D’s or more conviently, the entire triangular section would have to be replaced. This would keep a

theme a modular design, however is more wasteful which could affect the companies ecological standpoint.

Material Choices

All materials chosen for this design have been carefully thought out and considered, all choices have been the result of appropi-ate research and investigation

Manufacture

For the manufacture process, it was already pre-determined due to the nature of the breif, I followed the breifs instructions by haveing the primary component of my design making use of the rotational moulding process


Company Policy

As a company we aim to minimise our carbon emissions as much a possible, although in this design we have utilised polymers and metal, we only work with companies that make the upmost

effort to be as ecologically sound as possible. For ourselves we strive to design products that are visually striking and are as safe for the environment as possible, for example in the design featured in this proposal we make use of L.E.D lighting as opposed to halogen bulbs and other

similar forms.

Primavera Sound Design Proposal

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