Author Archives: Kevin Padilla

Friday morning was an early start the students from Chichester and Hazelwick College were joined with AT student her in University of brighton.While everyone is preparing for the presentation and waiting for the model to come Laura and I printed out the A1 poster to ensure it is perfectly fine and nothing is missing. We displayed our poster into the board first which then followed by the model brought by Sam straight from Chichester College and placed on a position where the audience can see the model on different angles.

When the model arrived there are still some finishing to do to present the model properly, for example the material attached to the raised roof that provides lighting for the entire building. The actual material we will used on the real cabin is tarpaulin therefore we used tracing paper around the opening part to represent it. Moreover due to limited time the proper stands for the canopy didn’t get to me made therefore we improvised to have a reasonable size stand just to show that it does open up. Furthermore we printed our solar panels onto scale to represent the right numbers and energy source to be collected for the cabin. Externally the model is reasonable done however due to the limited time we didn’t get to do anything for the interior design and furniture for the cabin.

After all the alteration to improve the model we then started preparing for the presentation. We had a little meeting to ensure everyone is on the same page and will know what to say if being asked or to share ideas while presenting. We then started the presentation with an introduction of the group and begun to explain how we came up with the whole idea and giving out information for the entire Eco-cabin, we all provided our own knowledge about the model as a whole a we helped each other out while presenting. I believe that the presentation was very successful there are some positive and negative feedback’s from the audience however this will all be for the Eco-cabin’s improvement our design can still be developed to be more efficient and sustainable.

Further in the day while the other groups are presenting their projects and while listening to the audiences feedback’s I had gained a lot of information and understanding with the other options of how our Eco-cabin’s self efficiency and sustainability could be improved. Each projects have lots of advantages and disadvantages as a whole which can still be improved on therefore while listening to each others presentation we learn from each other to improve our work. There are lots of alternative materials that I would’ve replaced to be used on our Eco-cabin design for example insulation and cladding to increase its environmentally friendly features. Over all I was pleased with the end results from our efforts working as a group from Monday it was a great way to gain experience of having an actual project with group of people with the same aim until the end of the project.

On Thursday AT students stayed in University of Brighton and the other students stayed in their colleges. Before I left Chichester College last night I ask our module leader if I can go back the next day to help Sam from Chichester to work on the model however the group needed extra hand with research and sketches therefore I stayed in the University which gave same additional time to work on the model on his own. Haroon was also helping us for further research on his precedence studies to provide good examples where we got the ideas for the Eco-cabin.

The AT students in our group continued finalizing the model and the designs for the Eco-cabin such as materials and furniture. During the day Aidan focused on costings of the entire Eco-cabin and I helped on precedents studies. Managing the costings took longer than we thought this is because we wanted to get the most efficient products and materials for the cabin. While me and Aidan are doing the research Laura is assigned on sketches and final drawings, she produced the 3D final design drawing combine with different elevations and floor plan to have a clearer understanding for the client.

Further in the day Laura and I decided to plan out a rough layout for the A1 poster due to the limited space and to ensure every details needed are presented for the client. In addition Aidan completed the costing with the references and dimensions including everything provided for the client. At the end the rough total cost of the cabin was £6100 therefore we are in the budget which is a good sign.

During the same day Sam have mostly finished the model where most of the components are placed and included to represent their individual function from the decking up to the roofing.

Later that day we still had spare time to so more work so I had drawn sections and detailing to present and add onto the poster. After all the drawings and research done Laura started putting all the information needed onto a A1 poster to be ready the next day (Friday). Laura’s presentation and layout of the poster is how I would say on point this is because all the information is provided for easy understanding which follow through the poster. From the precedence studies to costing management and to the model making.

On Wednesday we travelled to Chichester College to join the students along with the Hazelwick College students for model making. Sam and Charlie started making the model from the day before (Tuesday) on scale of 1:5 they already made the external walls, and the flooring of the model there are some cut woods provided for the roof and base/foundation of the model to be made through out the day. The MDF used for the external walls and flooring were too thick therefore we decided that it reperesents the whole extenal wall including the insulation and plaster board.

During the day the intenal layout of the cabin were finalized which was then shown to the whole group for us to work on the floor plan of the model. Laura our group leader then also drew a floor plan on scale of 1:5 to have a visual idea to have a better undertand of the plan. This helped us to establish where everything will go and other elements of the eco-cabin.

Further in the day I helped Charlie and Sam manufacturing the model while Laura, Aiden and Haroon worked on further internal layouts and additional research. Before the day ended there are some developments for the model making we managed to attach the base to the flooring which represents a concrete slab for the foundation. In addition the decking of the cabin were also attached which were only screwd in 2/3 out of the cabin to represent sliding of the decking due to the difficulty of placing the mechanism onto the model. Furthermore we were able to cut out doors and windows off the external and internal walls which were also screwed in to place half open to represent opening and sliding of doors.

Before the day ended I stayed in Chichester College for a little bit to work on the model a bit more to add some additional touches. Before I left the college the roof were ready to be assembles and the canopie parts are cut which as also ready to be made and assemble. Charlie then gave instructions to Sam on what to do for the next day this is because Charlie won’t be part of the group after Wednesday.

On the 2nd day of the design week I started the day with 2 of my group mates. This is because Sam from Chichester College stayed in college to start working on the model making and Haroon from Hazelwick College also stayed in college to continue with his 6th Form studies while working on some research for the project. In the morning I started working on the Mondays blog with my other AT group mates we decided to finish the blogs as soon as we can so we can start with the research for the Eco-cabin.

After we finished the blogs we then talked about the rough design of the Eco-cabin to refresh our minds from the day before. We then then start developing the eco-cabin with its workability and all in all perfomance as a whole. We then finalized some of the materials and mechanisms for the structure.

We then start looking at the internal layout for the cabin as a group with Laura and Aiden. While we were working on the layout we came out with some examples sketches for the floor plan however we did struggle with laying out the furnitures due to limited amount of space.

Throughout the day we develop our internal layout by looking into exisiting similar products such as caravans and camping buses in this way we can apply some of the space saving furniture layouts into the cabin for example pull out and hidden furnitures. We found the research very useful in terms of kitchen and bedroom layouts the furnitures were very compact but still have enough space and function for the occupants. We then also consider that the eco-cabin will only be used for short period of time which will probably only be for a week therefore there will be fewer items and furnitures.

Furthermore another reason why we striggled with setting up the internal layout is because of the limited space left when the furnitures are place in the cabin this is because it is required to have enough space for disabled access around the cabin. For the first step of considering the movements required for wheelchair were the doors we decided to have a double door for the main entrace which also provides lighting/ventilation in the summer and sliding door for the toilet this is because it will be easier for wheelchair users to just slide the door across rather than open a door which will need a lot of openning space.

Further in the day we also talked about the external wall and other components of the cabin. Initially it was suggested to use cork for the whole insulation of the house however after further research we decided not to use it due to high cost of the material. We replaced the cork insulation idea with Kingspan insulation with 40mm thickness which is reasonable enough to keep heat in and cold temperature out of the cabin this also gave us an advantage because it allow us to eliminate minimum amout of internal space taken away. The same insulation will be then used through out the whole cabin. The final development for the eco-cabin of the day was the external cladding our group mate Charlie introduced the group a new material called Neowood. This type of material is a recycled manufactured plastic which can be finished by the desired paint or appearance, very environmentally friendly and waterproof.

Before the day ended we then finished the internal layout for the cabin. It allow enough bathroom, kitchen and bedroom space considering the wheelchair space requirements.