Image via flickr.com

“There exists a dynamic exchange between the life of matter and the matter of our lives.”

-Reiser and Umemeto

Each material has its own unique way of acting and reacting with its environment. As designers we are responsible for creating the appropriate expression for each condition. Whether this is executed through scale, patterns, joinery, or structural articulation depends on the nature of the material itself. However, the complexity and sheer volume of today’s innovative products can make it seem like we need to be scientists to understand the behavior of many contemporary materials. This entry is part one of a series on unraveling that myth. As a designer by day and aspiring materials scientist by night, I hope to give some insight into how new materials behave and inspire ideas about how we can express these behaviors through design. In lieu of the 45th anniversary of FRCH, I thought it would be appropriate to start by taking a look back at the history of traditional building materials, and what was primarily available to work with when the firm started in 1968.

Ancient civilizations built primarily with primitive ceramics, wood, and various textiles. While the possibilities and options of ceramics grew through the centuries, this palette remained relatively similar until the industrial revolution and the refinement of steel. Only within the last century were other metals such as aluminum  introduced to buildings, as well as polymers and many of the composite materials that we work with as a vital part of the construction industry today.

image via uuldesign.com

Ceramics, specifically fired clay and stone, were the building blocks of many ancient civilizations. With the development of concrete and glass, the world of ceramics continues today to be a very important range of materials that we can choose to build with. Use of ceramics in traditional construction came with massive load bearing walls that were the primary structure as well as an environmental barrier. The type of layered construction that is typical in buildings today is a large departure from these traditional methods. In most cases stone, brick, and other ceramics are used as facing or veneer materials that give the appearance of traditional construction methods, but fit within our contemporary layered systems.

There are several metals that were used in ancient times alongside ceramics, dating back to the discovery of bronze in 3500BC, and the discovery of iron in 1500BC. However, the significant use of metals in the building industry started with the refinement of steel and the industrial revolution. In 1850, the Kelly and Bessemer processes were discovered as a way of removing impurities from steel. This new and improved material allowed designers to span great distances that they had never dreamed of with the limitations of ceramics.

image via americanstudieslaur.wikispaces.com

During the 1800’s there were several industrial experiments and applications of natural polymers such as that of Charles Goodyear and his Goodyear tires. However, it was not until 1908 that the first truly synthetic polymer was developed; Bakelite. Through the early 1900’s several different polymers were developed such as Neoprene.  Many of them were used initially as materials in the field of industrial design. Slowly but surely, polymers began to infiltrate the construction industry through detailed products and finishes. Polymers, more than any other material class, have sprung from materials science research. The rapid development of polymers and their proliferation into almost every market describes “the sustained drive for new materials during the last 100 years and the indisputable evidence of the irreversible symbiosis between scientific research and the commercial enterprise.” (Fernandez, Material Architecture, Emergent Materials for Innovative Buildings and Ecological Construction. 23.)

image via www.trendir.com

Polymers have been some of the first materials developed by scientific research to be widely adopted into mainstream culture, but they will not be the last. Smart materials and systems continue this trend of research driving the innovation and creation of new materials. However, these materials are not as straightforward to work with as our traditional building materials. Looking forward as designers we need a basic understanding of smart materials and systems, what they are, how they work, and how to utilize their properties and capabilities for each unique design challenge…..

To be continued.

Advances in computer technology stand out first.  1968 saw the first public demonstration of the  computer ‘mouse’ by self-proclaimed “country kid” Douglas Engelbart.  The year also saw the introduction of the first computer with integrated circuits, “windows”, object linking, video teleconferencing and the invention of RAM (Random Access Memory); all while the first hand-held calculators were being perfected.  By the end of the year, large advancements had been made in the computer industry to allow for a more accessible, user-friendly and personal interface that would soon lead to the invention of microprocessors in 1971 and not long after, the almighty personal computer.  Interestingly enough, FRCH became the first architectural design firm in the Cincinnati area to use Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) in the early ’80′s; proof that even 30 years ago, FRCH was staying ahead and incorporating the latest in design technology.

Technology related progress was seen in other industries throughout the year.  The first bank ATM machine, the maiden flight of the Boeing 747, the first vehicle airbag systems were developed, and the 911 national emergency telephone service was established.  And this is just a short list.

Perhaps the most fascinating story of 1968 is the amount of progress that was made in those 12 months on NASA’s Apollo space program.  A total of four Apollo missions took place in 1968.  January saw the launching of Apollo 5, the first unmanned flight of the new lunar module and the first time a ‘throttleable’ rocket engine was fired in space.  On April 4, the same day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, Apollo 6 became the final unmanned Apollo mission and continued the testing of the  lunar module.  Apollo 7, launched in October, was the first manned mission of the Apollo program.  And finally, December 1968 saw the first manned Apollo mission to leave Earth’s orbit and see the dark side of the moon, of course named Apollo 8.  Speaking of technology, the Christmas Eve broadcast from the Apollo 8 command module to Earth was the most watched television broadcast ever at the time it aired.  It is estimated that a quarter of the people alive at the time saw the transmission, either live or delayed.  Some even watched on their new color television sets although the broadcast was in black and white (1966 saw the first network conversion to color for all new television programs and color TV sets were gaining in popularity in the late ’60′s as the prices became affordable).

It’s amazing to me that within just one year, the Apollo space program went from unmanned tests to global television broadcasting while orbiting the moon.  Within just 7 months the world would watch the first lunar landing with the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969.

FRCH was founded in a year that saw great turmoil and upheaval throughout the world.   But in the midst of the cultural and social changes that were rapidly occurring some huge advances in technology were taking place at the same time; many of which helped to shape our industry and continue to effect the way we work and live our lives today.  As a design firm, technology plays an ever-increasing role from the tools we use in our craft to the way people interact with the environments we create.  As we did in 1968 and for the last 45 years, we will continue to stay on top of these rapid changes and seek out new ways that technology can change our lives, and those of our clients, for the better.

The concept and familiarity of a super hero is what initiates interest, but it’s the intelligent storylines, fun and dramatic action sequences and, of course, brilliant design strategies that come together for a truly compelling and enjoyable viewing experience.

Where’s the brilliance in design you may ask? Let’s run through a few key design elements that make these super hero films fantastic: first, fashion. Academy Award-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming collaborated with The Dark Knight Rises director, Christopher Nolan, to bring sophistication and practicality to these fictional characters that not only makes them seem more relevant to us today, but strangely realistic (relatively speaking of course). Forgetting about the status quo and retrofitting these characters’ costumes to work for the character actually makes the costumes seem less like costumes. For example, take a look at the new approach to fashion design for Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals. The character Bane left his wrestling uniform at home and opted for the more practical camouflage, bulletproof armored vest and shearling coat while wearing a muzzle-shaped, medicinal mask that distinctly adds to his gorilla-like presence. Catwoman, on the other hand maintains her sleek and appropriately dark uniform, however the elements of her costume that have traditionally been so pointless are now suddenly useful and sensible. Those aren’t cat ears you’re seeing but adjustable night goggles. And throughout the film, her razor-sharp, 4-inch metal heels come in quite handy when fighting off trained killers!

The sharp attention to design by no means ends with a character’s uniform. Engineers, digital designers and industrial designers are playing vital roles in these ambitious films. Do you expect The Avengers to travel coach on a commercial airline from Germany to New York in time to defeat the evil villain, Loki? Of course not. To solve this predicament, visual effects companies, Industrial Light & Magic and Weta Digital designed the “Helicarrier”. This flying aircraft carrier features two stacked carrier decks and modular engines capable of operating in space. The engineering detail of these digital graphics does justice for comic author, Stan Lee’s imagination.

Quality reaches nearly every aspect of this new generation of super hero films. 2013 will bring us Man of Steel, Ironman 3, and Thor: The Dark World, all of which include superior production artists and writers. While 2012 set the bar incredibly high, I’ll be looking forward to another year full of exciting design…. brought to us by some of the most talented directors, producers and designers Hollywood has to offer.

The typical lantern support on a standard Baldwin Locomotive Works boiler is a bit of an odd 19th century detail.  To recreate a version of it I used steel shelf supports and cut them down to the proper size and shape.

The box of the lantern was next.  1/2 inch birch plywood, glue and nails make up the overall form.  Details like raised panels are made from solid material and the lens frame was turned on the lathe.

The top of the lantern was cut from a single piece of Poplar and the whole assembly was painted Fire Engine Red.  Pin Striping was later added using a specialty tape.

The stack was re-designed and turned on the lathe, then faux painted bronze.

Re-purposed hardware, in this case a casement window latch, was perfect for the side door that will allow for light bulb and electrical maintenance in the future.

Since we had ONE nice day so far this year, I decided to take the Sand Dome assembly outside and paint it.   Traditional black with a Fire Engine Red center cylinder.  Graphics to come later.

And so concludes part 1.5.  I need to have a temperature of 65 degrees or warmer before I can move the boiler outside for its paint job, so no telling when that might be.  Maybe August.  The cab construction will begin soon.  If you’d like to read up on one the best known Backyard Railroads and how it inspired a Theme Park, check out this website and head to the store section where you’ll find “Walt Disney’s Railroad Story”, 3rd Edition, by Michael Broggie.  Happy Rails.

The one we’re going to build is considerably  smaller, but inspired by the great railroads of the past.  So with that slightly clumsy, but effective segue, let’s start building.

We’ll be using a combination of engineered wood products, metal and pvc to construct our locomotive.  While a faux steam engine, it will be ridable and pushed by a tender equipped with an electric forklift motor running on a 24 inch gauge track with a 20 pound rail.  Like with every design project we start with a Sketch-Up model.  This accurately built model will provide all the dimensions and details needed for the project.

We are going to need a lot of perfect circles, so the first step is to get cutting.  This locomotive will operate outdoors on nice days and therefore will need a certain degree of waterproofing and moisture protection.  All the pieces have been primed and sealed inside and out.

The way we make perfect circles is by roughing them out on the bandsaw and using a circle jig on a large disk sander to true them up.  By using the same radius point, we get identical circles.

The shell of the smoke box and boiler will be wrapped in two thin sheets of heat-treated hard board.  The first layer is glued and screwed and the second layer is secured with contact cement and screws.

Assembly continues down the boiler with iron rods and wooden strapping reinforcement.  Plumbing for smoke effects is also added to the structure.

Wrapping of the boiler jacket is next.  All the seams will be hidden by decorative brass strips.

We can now start adding details that will take our boiler to the next level.

With faux painting, texture and the addition of our Number Plate, the smoke box is looking pretty believable.  The bell is a narrow gauge reproduction from Brassbell.com.

The Sand and Steam Dome bases are a tricky connection that required scribing and quite a bit of sanding and fitting before they are perfect.  All wooden parts will be sealed inside and out prior to installation.

Other parts like the Steam and Sand Dome cylinders were finds in unlikely places.  You probably didn’t know that T.J. Maxx and Bed Bath & Beyond are good sources for locomotive parts if you know what to look for.  A couple a steel bowls and some lobster pots do the trick.

Details like the official “Freer Locomotive Works” Builder Plates were constructed using laser cut letter forms and cast in a durable resin.

With the Smoke Stack and lamp assemblies underway, we’ll end part one.  Part two will cover the paint finish on the boiler and the construction of the lamp, running boards and cab.  Happy Rails!

This year FRCH celebrates its 45th anniversary. If you put those years in reverse you could watch how this company has evolved through ownership, name changes and office spaces. You would see the breadth of its creative power and you would see how this company helped shape the careers of hundreds of employees. And then you would arrive in the year 1968. Though most of us have a general sense of history, and can assemble in our minds an approximate timeline of major historical events, I would think it hard to name specific dates . . . even years. And the question is, who would really care? What good does it to recall our history? Better yet, what is so important about honoring certain dates, in this case, an Anniversary? If we can use the birth of FRCH as a microcosm, the answer may lie in understanding context.

I knew the sixties were a period of social revolution and experienced unimaginable turmoil. I also knew it fostered some great cultural achievements. But, not having lived in the sixties, I wanted to look back to see what specific events occurred in 1968 and get a semblance of what it must have been like to start a business. Here is what I found:

1968 witnessed the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy. The Vietnam War reached a boiling point with the North Vietnamese launching the Tet Offensive. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of South Vietnamese General, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, executing a Viet Cong prisoner was captured. Women’s Liberation groups joined in a massive demonstration targeting the Miss America Contest. African-American athletes at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City demonstrated by performing the black power salute during the National Anthem. Nixon was elected the 37th president of the United States. The Beatles recorded and released the White Album. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered in theatres to initially mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. And in the last days of the year, the first image of Earth from space was photographed during the Apollo 8 mission.

Having looked back I can only imagine what it must have been like to live during such a tumultuous time. The guts it must have taken to pursue a dream when dreamers, it seemed, were dying all around you. I imagine our founder, Mr. Jim Fitzgerald Sr., at the moment he decided to act on that dream. I imagine him as courageous and determined, optimistic and fearful, genius and brash, rebellious and forthright.

This blog series will look back on this consequential year to give perspective on how far we’ve come as a company and culture, and celebrate our achievements from both the past and present.

Images via: Nasa, Associated Press and Warner Bros.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, right? Well I’d like to bury that bone with all of the others. I don’t ever want to be considered an old dog who is too stubborn to learn new tricks. As a matter of pretty unfortunate fact, I have a larger sweet tooth for learning right now than I ever while did in school. Ever since I have become more accepting to broadening my horizons, I am finding that my plate is already full and the figurative dim sum cart keeps passing with more delicious opportunities.

As I’m sure is the case with many others, for the past three years I have spent a good 2 hours or so creating a New Year’s resolution lists for myself. I strive to have them consist of a broad range of categories such as Physical, Spiritual, Financial, Psychological, etc. just to stay well balanced. My overarching goal is to achieve a status a rung or two higher than “Jack of All Trades” which would be known as “Renaissance Status.” This not only allows me to develop outside of work. It also keeps me a well polished employee here at FRCH because my mind is always open.

It is a far reach, but it would be great to be in the company of Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and dare I say, Steve Jobs and Oprah.  But, what is really fueling me is learning about more modern renaissance men and women.

James Franco, actor in 127 Hours and the Spider-Man trilogy, is also an accomplished painter, writer, and teaches a class at NYU.

Ewan McGregor, most notably known as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars episodes I-III, is also largely involved in charity. He is also an accomplished vocalist, and has organized and undertook two record breaking motorcycle trips involving UNICEF program visits. On Long Way Round he and Charley Boorman rode their BMWs from London to NYC. On Long Way Down they rode from John o’ Groats, Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa.

Meryl Streep is not only a very decorated actress, you might be inspired to know that she learned to play the violin for Music of the Heart, by practicing 6 hours a day for 8 weeks. She is rumored to be able to memorize lines after one reading.  She was named an Officer of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and can speak Polish and German fluently.

Brian May, Queen’s lead guitarist has degrees in math and physics, and was working on his PhD. when Queen finally took off. He left schooling in astrophysics to follow the path of a rock star. He later completed his PhD. in 2007. Now he is the chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

Viggo Mortensen, who we know as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, is not only an actor. He is also a professional artistic photographer, an abstract painter, and an acomplished poet. He is fluent in 7 languages, and has founded a publishing company.

Opportunities to grow are everywhere. There are multiple avenues to take here at FRCH. But, there are so many tutorials easily available on YouTube, and so many educational Podcasts out there. I want to become multilingual, play another instrument, pick up another hobby… the problem is deciding where to start.

My friend Gene Wilder says it perfectly in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

“We have to get on! We have to get on! We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that. Reverse it.”

We wish you a Happy Holiday and colorful New Year full of creative inspiration.

Happy doodling!

-FRCH

With a sea of booths stretching 1.1 million square feet, I focused my time in the Brand Zone in search of innovative packaging. Ecologic, Greiner Packaging and Fabri Kal were the top three vendors that captured my attention:

Ecologic (see images above) creates a sustainable packaging product that consists of an outer shell and an inner pouch. The outer shell is made from recycled cardboard and newspapers and the inner shell, which holds the liquid product, is made from plastic. When the consumer is finished with the product, the outer shell can be recycled and the small, inner pouch is disposed of. What an innovative way to minimize waste!

Greiner Packaging, an innovative company from Austria, was all about convenient, on-the-go solutions. Adding a spoon to the lid of the yogurt or parfait packages provides an easy and memorable experience for the consumer.

Fabri Kal is well known for their innovation in cups. Their booth contained sustainable solutions for multi-ingredient products, such as chips and salsa or yogurt and granola. The plastic inserts hold the additive ingredients and a single lid encloses both the insert and the cup.

Pack Expo was a great experience and I highly recommend the show if you are looking to source vendors, purchase equipment, find inspiration, or if you just want to learn more about packaging. The 2013 Expo is scheduled for next fall in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The sets are conceived of and designed in the traditional way we are all familiar with as designers.  Concepts are developed, architectural drawings are made and models are built before construction begins.

Paper models helped the film makers and production designer understand what needed to be physically built and what could be added in digitally.  Plywood, plaster and scaffolding make up the majority of the set material.

Meticulous detail went into each set and color was used to identify characters and Houses within the school of Hogwarts.  Some items were made and others were purchased at flea markets and auctions and then altered to fit into their fantasy settings.

Large scale props were constructed and some made to function using animatronics technology.

A puppeteer would control a creature with a remote control console and “act” through the puppet.

Outdoor sets were well represented and built to last the duration of all 8 films over a ten year period.

The design process, much like our own here at FRCH, involved understanding every detail of a space and setting up key shots where the actors could perform, setting the stage for all the action.

After months of concept design and drawing, sets were ready for final construction and dressing.

In addition to the concept, design and architectural phase, an extensive graphics package was created that included store signage, product packaging, bottle labels and book jackets, all created to make this magical world as convincing as possible.

The grand finale of the tour showcased the exterior model of Hogwarts used for long shots and flyovers in the movies.

The main tower was as high as 20 feet and the model took many months and over 80 builders to complete.

All great themed events must end with exit retail.  A huge variety of merchandise from cheap and cheezey to high-end and collectible were made available in the gift shop.