MA Architecture

At the end of last year, an MA Architecture student, Jemma Chapman came in to the museum to explore the use of waste plastics.  We talked about a variety of concepts and objects including Greenbrick's building blocks.

Large blue brick, Greenbrick, AIBDC : 008795.3

Since meeting with Jemma, she has gone on to develop a rich and evolved proposal called CoPEar - The Centre of Plastic Education and Research, in which MoDiP became a key component.

Here is the short version of her proposal which will form part of MA Architecture Degree show from 29th June.

We, at the MoDiP, really enjoy supporting student researchers from AUB as well as those who visit us from outside out home organisation.  What makes our jobs really special is seeing the results.

Louise Dennis

Curator of MoDiP

Turner Museum of Glass

Earlier in the year I had the most fabulous ‘school trip’ to Dundee to visit the Plastic: remaking our world exhibition at V&A Dundee.  To get the most out of the journey I had a look at some other museums that I could visit on the way.  The best fit was another university collection focusing on a single material /material family.  That collection was the Turner Museum of Glass at the University of Sheffield where I met with Emily Green, Interim Head of Special Collections, Heritage & Archives and University Heritage Collections Manager.

The core of the Turner Museum collection is 20^th century art glass which was acquired by W.E.S. Turner, Professor of the Department of Glass Technology, through his personal contacts with glass producers and designers in many parts of the world from the 1920s to the 1950s.  Many pieces were made especially for Turner or while he was watched.  In 1943 Professor Turner donated his collection to the University of Sheffield to inspire students and researchers and serve as ‘a counterbalance to the technical activities in which the department is engaged.’  The collection continues to be added to as the museums acquires work from contemporary artists in glass.

Some of the cases showing the collection including some of the early glass.   Image credit: L Dennis

These case show glass from around the world including pieces created by contemporary artists.  Image credit: L Dennis

I wasn’t expecting to see a dress made of glass.  The blue fibreglass dress, handbag, shoes and hat were worn by Helen Nairn Monro on her marriage to Professor Turner in 1943.  The dress was designed and made by Messrs Pettigrew and Stephens, Glasgow and the fabric was created by Glass Fibres Ltd of Firhill, Glasgow.

Fibreglass dress, 1943, made by Messrs Pettigrew and Stephens, Glasgow. Image credit: L Dennis

I really enjoyed my visit to the collection as it reminded me of my time at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery which has a fabulous collection of early glass, and I am very grateful to Emily for taking the time to talk to me about the collection.

Louise Dennis, Curator of MoDiP

Design for Disassembly

The concept of Design for Disassembly was first introduced in the early 1990s. It advocates for the environment by recommending products be designed in such a way that they can be easily taken apart at the end of their useful life, with parts then either reused or recycled. In practice this could mean designing with as few materials as possible or using non-permanent fastenings, and these considerations also provide the possibility for self-assembly and repair.

The dental floss container is a good example
of a design that can be easily disassembled.
Image credit: Katherine Pell

 
A good example is the Wisdom dental floss container (refer image above), which has a single moulded, clam-shell case made from polypropylene (PP), and utilises living hinges to fold into shape. The nylon floss filament is wound onto a bobbin that slots onto an attachment in the centre of the case, whilst the metal cutting blade slots into a grooved depression at the top. Everything is held in place when the snap-jointed case is assembled and all the components can be quickly removed when no longer needed. Interestingly, despite floss containers ably illustrating this sustainable design principle, they are typically not openly promoted for their recycling potential.
 
 

Myelin cycle helmet, AIBDC : 009452
Image credit: MoDiP

 
The labour-intensive process required to separate all of the mixed materials often found within cycling helmets usually results in them being destined for landfill at end-of-life. The Myelin (refer image above), designed by POC, has been specifically engineered to be deconstructed and is made using 50% recycled plastics materials. Built with as few parts as possible, it has a polyester fabric outer shell that covers the expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam liner, adopts interlocking parts that hold each other securely in place (avoiding the use of adhesives) and the chin strap runs through the entire helmet, removing the need for several separate anchored sections.
 
 

Bird headphones, AIBDC : 008193
Image credit: MoDiP

 
Dutch company Gerrard Street, now renamed Repeat Audio, was set up in 2015 to produce a modular headphone with parts that could be easily replaced and upgraded. Offered through a subscription service, the headphones are designed to be sent through the post for easy assembly at home. As individual parts get worn or broken, customers can return the obsolete components for replacement, free of charge, with 85% of this e-waste being either reused or recycled. This circular design model allows the company to maintain full control over production materials because it retains ownership of the product. It also provides the incentive to produce durable headphones in order to maximise income through extending use cycles. MoDiP’s pair (refer image above) are refurbished.
 
 

Nike ISPA Link trainers, AIBDC : 009459
Image credit: MoDiP

 
Using glue and other bonding elements to cement shoe components together typically causes problems for recycling and usually results in the entire shoe being shredded, an energy-intensive process with limited application for the recyclate. Released in 2022, the Nike ISPA Link trainers require no glue in their construction but instead have modular parts that are held together through tension. The single material, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), sole has a series of pegs that slot into openings in the recycled polyester upper. This enables the shoes to be easily disassembled at end-of-life to replace worn parts and recycle materials.
 
All of these objects can be viewed in the museum on request.

Katherine Pell
Collections Officer

Playing Well with LEGO

On a recent trip to the Museum of Design in Plastics, I was reminded of my first visit to LEGO headquarters in Billund, Denmark. I have been lucky enough to work with LEGO over the past eight years, producing games for their new LEGO sets. My first project was updating the mobile game LEGO City for the Christmas 2017 season, and the development team from Amuzo in Bournemouth got to visit LEGO HQ to see the toys before they were in the shops.

As if getting to play with “secret” LEGO was not exciting enough, our LEGO Company contact asked if we would like a visit to the LEGO Museum, and the mythical LEGO archives, of course it was an unanimous “Yes please!”

 

The LEGO Museum, formally the Christiansen family
home and carpentry workshop in Billund, Denmark
Image credit: Nick Roberts

The LEGO Museum in Billund is actually the original house and workshop that Ole Kirk Christiansen, the founder of LEGO, lived in with his family from 1916. He was a carpenter, making tables and chairs, before a lack of orders through the Great Depression forced a business rethink. On 10th August 1932 the workshop was dedicated to making wooden toys.

Christiansen continued to struggle in business, enjoying a brief period of success with yo-yos, setting his staff to making the two yo-yo halves in bulk. When the yo-yo market also dried up and left him with many circular wooden pieces, he needed an idea to use them up – wheels. The carpenters set about making pull-along trucks, cars and animals. These proved more popular. One of the first toys was a wooden pull-along duck – and there it was, sitting in a glass case in front of me.

Early wooden toys created by the Christiansen workshop before discovering plastic.

Image credit: Nick Roberts

Toys were the future for the Christiansen family, and they held a staff competition in 1934 to come up with a new company name. The winner was “LEGO” – derived from Leg Godt, Danish for “play well”.

It was an overseas business trip by Ole Kirk’s son Godtfred in 1947 that would set LEGO on a pathway to global domination of the plastic toy market. They had recently purchased one of the first plastic moulding machines. The first plastic tests LEGO tried were small teddy bear figures, mainly because this was the mould that came with the machine! The definition in the plastic was a delight. Godtfred realised that this was the future of toys – products that could be designed and mass produced, each one identical to the last. No more carving wooden ducks for LEGO. But the toy buying public still preferred wooden and metal toys. LEGO needed a new product.

 

The first tests in plastic for a fledgling LEGO company – small teddy bears
were a mould that came with their first plastic moulding machine.
Image credit: Nick Roberts

Building sets of trucks and houses made of plastic were already on the market, but sold as individual toys that were incompatible with each other. Godtfred had a conversation with a buyer that inspired him to turn the building sets into a LEGO System, made up of building bricks that were reusable and universal. Small plastic bricks that could be mass produced in multiple colours, then sold in sets – the beginnings of LEGO as we know it today. Indeed, the early LEGO building sets proved very popular, there was just one thing that was not quite right – the bricks did not ‘click’ together. A light breeze, or disgruntled little brother, could easily send a LEGO building tumbling to the floor. There had to be a solution.

An early LEGO system set, before the locking LEGO brick was invented.
Image credit: Nick Roberts

The boffins at LEGO knew that somehow they had to make a LEGO brick that would hold firm when attached to another, but also be able to disconnect to allow the child to make a new model when they chose. Many experiments took place on the best way of connecting the bricks – dots in the plastic, criss-cross patterns, studs and holes, tiny pinhead connectors. Eventually they settled on the classic circle and stud pattern LEGO 8-stud brick we know today, a design that is simple but very effective, and went on to be the foundation of every LEGO set since. As that is the joy of LEGO, any set will connect to any other set. The minifigure people will always slot their feet onto the LEGO studs and stand proud.

 

The experiments the LEGO company did into lockable building bricks,
eventually patenting them all to stop the competition stealing their idea.
Image credit: Nick Roberts

LEGO were savvy though – not only did they patent the 8-stud brick, but they also patented all of their other experiments, to keep the competition from copying their building brick idea. LEGO sets would soon dominate toy shops all over the world.

So what about that LEGO archive I teased you with? What a treat and privilege it was to visit. Underneath the LEGO Museum is a basement hidden from public view. Large metal shelves are all crammed together, but turning a giant handle moves the shelves along, revealing each year of LEGO toys from 1950 to the present day. The kid in me took over and I was soon holding the LEGO Circus Train set I had for Christmas 1988 in my hands!

Nick Roberts, 28th April 2023