thesis

CONCEPTS:

>Floating

Inspiration: back to the beginning - planes and wasps

Corradino d’Ascanio pulled images from his work on aircrafts to design the first vespa. With a strong dislike for existing scooters and motorcycles, d’Ascanio worked to develop a mode of transportation that would be easy to ride and that would keep the user clean and comfortable. When Enrico Piaggio, the owner of the company, saw the prototype of the scooter his first words were, “sembre un vespa”... translation:

“It looks like a wasp”

Translating the original inspiration for vespa into built space means bringing the idea of weightless objects such as aircraft and wasps to the forefront of thought. Here the physical vespa becomes the floating object.

The symbol: ^

>Technology

Inspiration: here and now, there and then - its all relative

The new generation of vespa users come from a world of the here and now. Waiting is becoming obsolete, while obtaining things immediately, especially things that no one else has is the goal of many.

But what happened to the past? What happened when technology wasn’t prevalent? People wrote, they talked to each other, they explored by walking and looking and trying... not by surfing the net. They made by hand, not by the computer. They discussed in person, not by email.

Inspired [by Vespa] brings the worlds of the past, present and future together. Technology is always relevant, but it affects the human experience by changing space and changing ideas.

Writing, exploring and trying are equally as relevant, but it is up to the visitor to take advantage of the opportunities.

The symbol: +

>Experience

Inspiration: customize, personalize, humanize

What makes an experience unique? Is it something that makes you think? Something that make you do? Something that makes you understand? An experience is unique when it is out of the ordinary and when it makes you do something you would not think to do on your own.

Bringing this idea into a built space means creating opportunities for discovery. This is examined through the idea of customization, personalization, and humanization. In these explorations a user can create their own products (customize), change the physical elements of the building (personalize), and interact with designers and vespa staff members (humanize).

The symbol: ¤

THESIS

Re-design of a 20,000sf building in NW Portland

Portland, Oregon

Project 2007

Advised by Linda Zimmer, University of Oregon

Design stems from a collection of personal experiences. Without constant investigation and examination of these experiences, designs can become stagnant. Inspired [by vespa] creates an opportunity to experience a building and objects in a way that is out of the ordinary. With this, an atmosphere of constant thought is produced allowing vespa to continually grow as an object and a brand.

it goes into dis-coordinates

PRODUCT WALL:

Function: a wall that connects rather than separates

Concept: The wall is examined as an object that can connect horizontally adjacent spaces and people rather than separate them. A basic grid is made with thin steel sheet to make an outline of casework. When the casework is not filled with products the spaces on either side of the wall visually become one. When the wall is filled with products it becomes a solid object. as people start buying products the wall becomes more and more transparent resulting in a visual connection of the spaces on either side of it again. The visual connectedness can change by the minute, hour, day, week, month.

Dimensions

: total861 x 24 x 150”

: large section657”

: gap75”

: small section129”

Materials

: 1/8” matte white powder coated steel sheet

: 1/8” clear acrylic rods

: 1” thick lightly frosted glass panels

: cardboard product boxes (at multiple sizes)

Fabrication

: steel sheets are cut in heights of 24 x 150” for vertical panels