Semi finals

The group review went well. Two ideas got picked (ours being one of them) and we combined with another group to refine it for today so that we could pick our final design. So that's basically a weeks worth of work again in two days. Working over the weekend didn't go great, but better than I expected. I was working in studio as much as I could, but about half of my group members didn't seem to make this project a priority. Not a lot of work got done on Saturday, and Sunday there was some heated discussion but we finally got some good ideas out. Unfortunately, both were late nights.
However, there were some noteworthy incidents. On Saturday night, one of my classmates got a phone call from her roommate concerning what she thought was a giant spider in their house. Apparently she was too frightened to deal with it. So, another one of my classmates (a very sarcastic person and someone who enjoys the limelight) took the phone and spent the next half hour attempting to walk her through killing the spider. He tried several techniques including the tough love while everyone in the room was laughing hysterically listening to his side of the conversation. At the end, it was very disappointing when she refused to go through with it. Lots of work getting done that night.
Anyway, today was a scramble to get our presentation drawings and model ready. Both presentations went well I think, but I guess our professor was expecting more digital modeling and representation, and more thoughts on how the joints work and how things get anchored to the walls and ceiling. He decided that both groups needed another week to produce the digital model in Rhino and work out the details. This was very disappointing. Especially considering all the issues with our group members who refuse to move their schedules around. I'm worried that this whole next week is going to be as stressful if not more stressful than this past weekend, and I really can't function for long periods like that.

On another note, I'm really worried about the amount of good ideas I'm able to come up with. Last night was probably the best design experience I've had. I was working with only a few other people and I was actually contributing the discussion rather than just being someone who can do the work, but I still wasn't coming up with ideas of my own. Anything I came up with was just a critique and maybe an alteration on someone else's idea. I guess that's important too. I just feel like I'm not contributing enough new ideas to the group, and I think that's my biggest problem when I work on my own. I'm hoping that for this next part, I can really dig in and get invested and come up with some kick-ass stuff.
Here are the promised pictures:


An example of expanding pattern.


One of my many failed attempts.


The pattern my group eventually went with. I was sort of responsible for the s-shape, but that ended up being too complicated for thicker material.


A close up of the pattern in action.


The other variation on this pattern that we considered (and I preferred). It was decided against because it was too fish scaly.


The close-up of this pattern.


The floor plan we first presented.

I, of course, forgot to take pictures of the stuff we did today so it seems I will be a post behind again. I will update them soon. Some photos from my other group members can be found here. The lighting really brings the pattern to life.