The original concept was made by Celeste. She wanted to make a shelter that could re-create the same feeling she had when she listened to her music. This involved an enclosed shelter that had mirrors hanging from the top. When we started conceptualizing and looking at the budget we had, we saw that the original idea wouldn’t be possible. Especially with our time constraint. So instead, we tried to make the new version of our shelter as similar to her original idea as we could. In the end, even though the final structure wasn’t what we had originally planned, we were still able to create the feeling that Celeste had wanted people to feel when sitting in the shelter.
We used almost the entire budget when we looked for supplies. Most of the money went towards the cups that we got from a restaurant supply store for $18. We didn’t want to buy a bunch of tiny mirrors since it would have been too expensive, and we also didn’t want to have to buy a big mirror and shatter it. The next best thing we could think of were the glitter paint that we used and the tiny jewels we glued onto the cups. Celeste was able to bring the jewels from home so the only things we needed to buy was the glitter paint which was about $6 or $7 at Hobby Lobby, and the glue which was about $3.
The workload was fairly equal. It was hard in the beginning to actually meet up together since our schedules never lined up, so instead of meeting up at the same time we decided to just come in whenever we could. We figured that it would be better to at least get some of it done so that we weren’t waiting week long intervals before we could make any changes. When we were able to meet up together, no one ever just sat there and did nothing the entire time. If anything two of us would work while the third took a break and then we would switch off. Even when we were only using one glue gun the third person would be either helping with keeping the cups in place or sorting the cups out so that we knew which ones went where.
The strength that I added to the group was when we were conceptualizing. Celeste and I did come up with an idea to hang the structure since the material was light enough for string or rope to carry, but the problem was the shape. Since it was Celeste’s idea, I didn’t want to pitch anything that could take away from her original idea, so I thought about the concept of the structure hanging. I felt like it would be difficult to not only create the pyramid, but to also have it hang from a tree while there were tiny mirrors hanging inside. This was when I drew out a cylinder shape and asked Celeste whether or not that could work out for her vision. This is where we got the idea to focus on a cylinder shape for the shelter. My only weakness in the group was my availability. My classes kept me from being able to come in during the week, and I’m scheduled to work every weekend. So I couldn’t meet up on a regular basis. Getting together was our biggest problem since all of our schedules differed so much, but even then it didn’t really get in the way of finishing up the shelter. Whenever we were able to get together we would always be able to knock out a good chunk of the shelter and finish it up, even with our conflicting schedules.
Roles weren’t really a big thing for our group. We all shared the work equally and we all had input on what the final shelter would look like. If there were any roles within the group Celeste was the coordinator because it was her vision. Whatever Gabe and I knew was just whatever we had sketched out or what Celeste was telling us about her shelter concept. Even then, it wasn’t just me or Gabe putting the structure together while Celeste told us what to do. There was never a point where one person was doing all the work. We would switch off if someone wanted to take a break, or all three of us would work together in gluing the cups together and putting the all the parts of the shelter together.
The best advice that I could give to the next group of students is to think about how possible it is to create the original shelter idea, and to make changes accordingly in order to meet the requirements. When we were throwing ideas back and forth, we thought about having a pyramid that hung from a tree. Then, we would have mirrors hang from inside the pyramid, or at least something that could shine or have a reflective effect. Obviously our final shelter was far from our original idea. Instead of focusing too much on what we originally wanted it to look like, we focused on what would have been manageable. This is why the final structure looks so much different than what Celeste originally wanted. Since cups took up most of the budget, we had to think of something that could replicate the glimmering effect that we expected from the mirror. That is when we decided to use tiny jewels and glitter paint rather than mirrors. It was a lot more manageable to do and it had met our budget. It’s better to create and finish a shelter that is similar to the original idea, than stressing out over re-creating an original idea that may not even be possible to do within the given restraints of the project.