Physical Kick-off: Part Two

"To create, you must first destroy" - Prometheus

It all began quite innocently. The team had been getting along really well. When we began formulating ideas for our physical model, we all had many ideas, and all pursued them simultaneously. We grabbed construction paper, glue, string, foam core, and markers. Some people began crumpling newspaper and finger painting. Maps of Palo Alto and bus schedules were cut up and pasted. Heinrich went to the site and grabbed grasses, leaves, and pebbles; his most eyecatching find was a piece of a palm tree. We all supported whatever the other team members were doing, but we weren't communicating. After several hours, we ended up with this:

There's a lot going on here...

When we stepped back and looked at how all of our well-intentioned creations looked when assembled together, we were a little confused. One of our coaches, Andy, entered the room and looked puzzled. "What does it mean? Is it a boat?" he asked. He didn't offer many suggestions, but he offered this remark: "There's too much love."

A little dejected, Team Bedouin got together and decided that the model needed some paring down. We began by removing the detritus from the platform:

We kept removing more and more of our individual creations. We knew that the palm needed to be a central component, but we were slowly realizing that the palm was what really conveyed the model's meaning to all of us.

After removing yet more elements...

When all was said and done, we were left with a very minimalist model:

Model, Version 2

At this point, we all felt something was now missing. The dynamic trajectory of our design process, the concept of layers, and connection to the site were all present, but we were missing trust and reciprocity.

Braided strings had been included in several elements of the original model. For example, they were interwoven in Salvador's front section (below).

Salvador's piece of the original model

We decided to incorporate these strings into the Version 2 model by tying them around the palm and draping them onto the foam core platform to imitate roots. We felt that this symbolized reciprocity. For us as a team, coming together with our ideas. For the site, a nexus with many stakeholders.

The finished product