Friday May 27th Update

Earlier this week, David set up the laser cut files for the ribs of the mound and Grace constructed the 2'x4' base. Alison and Paul worked on the text that would appear on both the poster and in the exhibit.

Today, we worked on finalizing the whole design of the exhibit as well as the poster layout. For our three panels, we are planning on having the first one be the money shot and an introduction of the importance of the exhibit (info from the survey conducted earlier in the quarter, purpose and goals, etc.). The second one will have site information and our general design concept. The third one will show the specifics and mechanics of the actual exhibit inside the mound.

We have distributed the work and will reconvene on Monday to tie up loose ends.

WED 5/25

The pictures from the previous post show a more detailed outline of the content we will include on the 3 pages of our project poster. We started an Indesign file to model the poster. In addition to refining the poster design, we have decided to make a model of the magnetic board that we will include in our exhibit. The map below shows the geothermal locations in the area that will be marked with metal from behind the board. A magnet will allow users to located the spots on the map. Information will be presented next to the map to inform users about the local geothermal potential.

Our physical model is being made, and our previous sketches presented earlier in the quarter will be modified to include our most recent additions. We have decided to include solar panels on

top of our model that will power the lights in the exhibit's interior. Also, we want to include a seismograph that will map the current temperature above and below the ground for the current week at our exhibit (example below) so that the user can compare and see the potential energy available under the ground. We initially wanted to give the users the option to map the current temperature, however due to vandalism concerns we have decided to not make this portion of the exhibit interactive. It will be moving, so we believe that it will attract people as is, and they will be able to see and interact with the other parts of the exhibit.

monday may 23

We've nailed down the final three displays in the exhibit, detailed in the previous post. we've detailed each one a bit better, for example deciding on a system to push air through the ground source heat exchanger display. We've also flipped up the edge of the hill in order to provide a protective railing for those occupying it's upper surface. A physical model has been started, to be completed soon hopefully.

Friday

Today we found geothermal heat sources in SLO

http://www.slocity.org/utilities/energy.asp

the palm street parking lot/office building uses geothermal heat pump.

We also had guest speaker, Chad Worth (sp?) come in to help us with ideas. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture, but we created 3 interactive components*:

*Note, we are keeping the hill

1. Magnetic Wall Map of SLO County- repulsion from magnets=deep pockets of geothermal energy hot spot

-attraction from magnets=surface pockets of geothermal energy hot spots ie hot springs

2. Display of temperature change underground and above ground (not quite interactive, but interesting to watch as it updates)

3. Feel the temperature tube- swivel fan to blow at your face, then compare when you swivel the fan into the tube, so cool "underground" temperature flows out of tube and onto your face/hand/etc

We need to find a way to make it flow either large scale to smaller, etc to make less choppy and more understandable to get our point across

Continued Work...

On Monday, we went over to the Library to look at the "Look the Other Way" exhibit. We were able to interact with the exhibit and see what worked well and what did not. Beforehand, we read over the critiques of our design from the midterm review on Friday. From reading people's comments, we learned that we really need to focus on what actually goes on under the mound. It needs to be more interactive, and the concepts that we want people to learn need to be more clearly defined. We also need to think about the construction of the exhibit.

Today, the professors presented the deliverables for our final review. We basically have two more weeks to have a concrete idea for our exhibit and execute a three-panel poster presentation. We also plan on having a physical model. As we were trying to figure out how to fix the issues brought up by the critiques, we discussed about possibly talking about the other form of geothermal energy that taps into the deeper layers of the earth. Chad Worth also talked about mentioning the hot springs or the fish hatchery that uses geothermal technology. Right now, we feel like we have reached a standstill because we keep coming up with downsides to all of our ideas that make them impractical. On Friday, Chad is going to meet with us to help us focus our project and guide us onto a more practical path.

midterm presentation

 collage from afar

 collage up close

initial rendering

powerpoint sorry it's backwards...

wednesday

we got a lot of work done on Wednesday in order to prepare for Friday's presentation. We made a 3-D model, photoshop pictures, and sketched the inside of the exhibit. We didn't finish in class, so we finalized everything on Thursday night.

for our wall

http://www.bpa.gov/corporate/kr/ed/geothermal/sec3.pdf

this has a great info booklet with awesome pictures.

<--for industrial sized power plant stuff

http://www.winecellarinnovations.com/blog/2011/01/05/wine-101-passive-wine-cellars/

for all you winos out there, how a basement can utilize stable temperatures. well this kinda is close...

http://www.premierindoor.com/geothermal/geothermal-installation

woulda posted this but it's a gif more than a pic so you can click on the link to see how geothermal works in a home.

Progress 5/9/11

Today, we worked more on the specifics of our design. We have a better idea of what we want to be inside of the mound. Right now, we are thinking about having a house with a geothermal pump, a geothermal facility, and a cellar on top of the mound with pipes that go through the surface of the "earth." We are still thinking about signage and the mini-exhibits that will be inside.

We also started on the PowerPoint for Friday. David is working on the 3D Rhino model, and everyone else is working on the Photoshop collages and refining the design.

Site Visit

On Sunday, our group went to the new site on Osos and Monterey to take pictures and field measurements. Instead of using the benches, we are considering using the lawn patches on either side of the benches because the benches are currently well-bolted down. The site is actually an ideal location to place the exhibit because it is easily visible from almost all sides and it does not block any walking paths because it is set back into the lawn.

photos for photoshop

we got a nice donation from the Titanic

imagine this kid climbing 

Redefine the Design

On Wednesday and then today (Friday), we have discussed and refined our initial bus stop exhibit design. Although our survey feedback indicated that it could be a good idea, some practical location and setting issues have encouraged us to expand our options. Instead of a bus stop, we have settled on a new site at the corner of Osos St. and Monterey St. (shown to the right). The two benches behind the clock are positioned by a low planter and the lawn, which we would like to use to simulate an "underground" exhibit. Our plan was to initially extend an enclosure, covered in grass, above the benches to simulate the extension of the lawn. Today, however, we decided to eliminate the benches altogether in an effort to provide more space for our exhibit that participators can easily view.

Underneath the overhang, we will place colored lights that will be powered by two cranks. The cranks will simulate day and night, representing the constant temperature of the earth and how it can help with the climate control of a home, regardless of the outside temperature. Information will also be provided on geothermal heat pumps and the possibilities homeowners have to install them. We will upload diagrams and/or sketches when we have them.

user personas

As part of our process, we will be analyzing the use of our exhibit through storyboards of four different kind of peoples interaction with it. The four we will be analyzing is a father (Paul), his son (Grace),  a homeless woman (David) and an agriculture student (Alison). below are some profiles we've sketched up for these characters, more to come on the storyboards.

Front End Evaluation Results

The survey was conducted through Survey Monkey. The surveys were taken by college students invited through Facebook. In total, there were 74 survey-takers.


Questions:

-What forms of renewable energy do you know about? Would you be interested in learning more about specific types of renewable energies?:

Less than %50 of those surveyed are aware of geothermal energy

What interests you about renewable energy?:

%96 - It's good for the environment

%75 - I could save money

%10 - Everyone seems to be into "going green"

%74 - It can help reduce oil use

Have you ever heard of geothermal energy? If yes, what do you already know? Are you interested in learning more?:

about %85 of those surveyed know little to nothing about geothermal energy. 

A lot of room for us to teach.

What do you think best describes the temperature of the earth one story (~10 feet) underground? 

%7 - very hot

%10 - very cold

%57 - stable

%8 - changes by season

%3 - changes through the day

%15 - changes based on location

Do you use the downtown transit center bus stop? If yes, how often (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)?

%35 - don't use it

%12.5 - use it daily

%7 - use it weekly

%12.5 - use it monthly

%33 - use it rarely

How long on average do you spend at a bus stop?

%15 - 1-2 min

%39 - 2-5 min

%25 - 6-10 min

%21 - 10+ min

How would you react to an exhibit as a bus stop? Would you be intrigued or bothered?

most people (over %80) thought it would be a good idea, some of the concerns brought up were about vandalism, whether it would be interactive enough, concerns about repeated use, and a concern about avoiding "eco fascist propaganda"

Today we did a group discussion on what works for our group, what doesn't work for our group, and what we should start to do. Our team came to the conclusion that we work really well with each other and it is great to be made up of people with diverse backgrounds. I think on the first day of being put into the group, we discovered we are all from different parts of California. Grace mentioned that as shown by our fridge exhibit, we need to work on streamlining our thoughts, because we all have so many great ideas, but it'd be overwhelming and ineffective if we do everything.

We also worked on our survey which is posted right before this post. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PKRLRFF here's the link incase we didn't post it. So this will definitely be good to help us understand how much people know about geothermal energy and highlight what we need to concentrate on for our explanations ie mechanics of geothermal, geothermal as an alt energy, etc. This survey also helps us with a possible idea of placing our exhibit at the downtown transit center bus station.

Also, I didn't have a picture from today so here's some random photos of bus stops found around the world

Front End Evaluation

Questions:

What forms of renewable energy do you know about? Would you be interested in learning more about specific types of renewable energies?

What interests you about renewable energy?
-It's good for the environment
-I could save money
-Everyone seems to be into "going green"
-It can help reduce oil use
-Other:______________________________

Have you ever heard of geothermal energy? If yes, what do you already know? Are you interested in learning more?

Do you use the downtown transit center bus stop? If yes, how often (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)? How long do you usually stay at the stop?

How would you react to an exhibit as a bus stop? Would you be intrigued or bothered?

Survey Monkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PKRLRFF