BACKGROUND
In the past few years, many countries in the world went through several huge power shortage events in rural places due to the lack of electricity. Influenced by the pandemic, the main resources that could produce 70% of the electricity in developing countries—charcoals—are limited since it could not be imported on time. While the rural places are suffering from power shortage, mega cities are still celebrating night light events. The contrast between these places are critiqued by citizens.
Design Brief
After looking at the news about the power shortage due to the lack of charcoal, I shared my thoughts with my family. When my grandfather was young, he used to be a minimum wage coal worker in the mine. From his experience , I noticed that coal workers had to suffer from diseases and high death rate. The harsh working environment and the value of charcoal inspired me to create an installation design that could raise people's awareness about protecting electricity.
​
ThereFoRe, in my design, I would like to emphasize the contrast between coal mine and cities. I decided to build charcoal mound with a cave. Inside the cave, there would be a city. The city's light would be on only if people light up the charcoal mound. Based on this concept, I named my project FADE.
Ideation
I sketched out the charcoal mound, in order to create the interaction about lighting up the mound would light up the city. I decided to use wax as part of the mound. The sketch define the shapes of the mound in future prototyping.
Prototyping
In my first round prototyping process, I used candles to build the mound. I was struggling about how to represent the city in the cave. Therefore, I built several shapes to test it out.
3D Modeling
In my second round prototyping process, I decided to design a 3D model on Blender. In this process, I choose to use acrylic sheets to present the city. When the lights are on in the cave, the acrylic sheets could reflect the light, emphasizing the night light environment in the city.
Technological Testing
I used Arduino to mimic the lighting process of the city's light. In my original design ideas, the lighting of candle would raise the surround temperature. The, the LED light would be on after the temperature sensor detecting the candle light's temperature. In my testing code, I set the temperature to 28 degree celsius—if the room's temperature is higher than 28 degree celsius, the LED light would be on. The temperature sensor detected that the room's temperature was higher than 28 degree so that the LED light was on.
Prototyping Process
Final Model
