Back to the Serving Units

Earlier the [R]ed[U]x Lab team posted up some iterations of the serving units that would be deployed at the Night Market. As the days went by, the team refined the cart design and the serving units in tandem.  Retaining the ability to illuminate and be a keepsake of the great event, the team had to address logistical challenges such as fitting 750 of these units on the cart each evening to branding and coordination with the team's assigned chefs.  Here are some images of the development of the serving units that are simple, functional, and memorable.

It wouldn't be a [R]ed[U]x Lab project if there weren't any...

Recent followers of the group's work have commented over the past year that an (unintentional) hallmark of the [R]ed[U]x Lab's portfolio of work beyond using digital representation and fabrication techniques has been its consistent integration of light.  This year's [R]ed[U]x Lab design for the Stop's Night Market Cart event epitomizes this and comes close to overkill - but for a good cause!

Here are some images of the full scale mockup exploring the nature of light and shadow in the waffle infrastructure.

Now let the prototyping begin!

Once the form and imagery was consolidated, the [R]ed[Ux] Lab team began prototyping at full scale to sort out the structural integrity of the waffle assembly and its relationship with the clip conditions.  As one can gather from the images, each cell on the waffle would serve to hold serving units that would be taken by visitors to the cart along with their food samples.  This iteration demonstrates the intention but clearly the material efficacy of the infrastructure would be poor.

A Form Emerges...

After careful consideration of the materials and resources available, the [R]ed[U]x Lab team has begun consolidating its design ideas under a unified concept.  Though the waffling of the structure may seem elementary, the infrastructure provides an interesting solution to how the serving units will be displayed and dispensed.  Staying true to the fundamental idea of dissemination of light and food, these renders illustrate the impact the cart design would have during the event once the sun goes down.

And then there were more iterations...

The wonderful thing about having such a diverse composition of teammates in [R]ed[U]x Lab is that everyone from first years to faculty get a chance to have an equal say in how the design of any given project emerges.  Here are some additional iterations of the project as the evolution continues.  These quick renders illustrate a sampling of not only the formal investigations but also the material palette and lighting ideas the team had.

The Cart Design as it Developed...

As with several of the previous projects in the [R]ed[U]x Lab's portfolio, the team developed several early iterations based upon the concept outlined at the outset but experimented with forms and methods of deploying the individual serving units. The options varied while staying true to the fundamental idea however these concepts had to be refined over the course of the design period to work with the parameters of the event, those of the matched restaurants. and the team's collective aesthetic choices.

[R]ed[U]x Lab's Night Market Cart Concept 2013

Many people have asked what the design intentions behind this year's Night Market cart design and the team has been fairly secretive about their work.  As the Night Market event is a week away, it is time to finally outline the design from its initial concept submitted a few months ago including an initial conceptual sketch:

  

Dissemination Via Disassembly

The 2013 [R]ed[U]x Lab design proposal for The Stop Night Market cart embraces the notion of change over time. Despite the brevity of the event, many variables evolve during the evening including the ambient light, volume of people, and food availability.  The design serves as both a vessel for the display and serving of culinary works, but also an artifact accentuating the event's dynamics.  Using a digitally fabricated framework, the design serves as a lattice supporting a tessellation of components that may be removed or altered by attendees ultimately transforming the cart into a lantern by nightfall.  The premise is that upon coordination with the assigned culinary organization, [R]ed[U]x Lab would design the components to create a suitable taxonomy of units ranging from serving containers or utensils to small lights or keepsakes.  The design intent is that the cart begins the evening as a monolithic mass that, over the course of the event, is dismantled and disseminated throughout the crowd casting a wide network of illumination while simultaneously transforming the cart into an illuminated focal point as the night draws to an end.