Time Capsule (2)

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Ideation & Prototyping

3 min readOct 26, 2021

This week we have to build a prototype for the time capsule. Considering shape, material, interface, we could come up with the best way to fit our stories and objects.

My Time Capsule

Prototype

Although a time capsule usually has to be a well-sealed container, I want my time capsule to be part of the story, not just an unrelated container.

Why a Sundial

Thus, I came up with an idea combining the sundial and the time capsule together: the chopsticks would be the gnomon of the sundial. I want to emphasize the time in my story and tell people to seize the time being with their significant ones.

Other Thoughts About the Time Capsule

I was thinking about different kinds of shapes, what kind of relationship between the time capsule and the object, how people find it, and how they interact with it.

Different kind of sketches about the time capsule

3D Fabricating Process

I began with sketching which helped me to develop the structure of the time capsule. I studied several kinds of sundial such as universal ring sundial, vertical sundial, equator sundial, etc. I finally chose to make an equator sundial and did some math to calculate the exact angle to make it actually functional.

Rhino

While planning the structure of the time capsule, I divided it into 3 parts:

Ring: the time in a day
Ring: the latitude of the location
Base

There was a detail that how the ring could hold the chopsticks.

The design developing process of sundial

Laser Cutting

Assembling

Reflection

During the ideation process, I tried to make the time capsule itself match the core value of the story. The time capsule as an interface influenced the way how people interact, think and feel about it. Thus, the design is not just about the content itself, but also how we present it. I realized that besides the object itself, the related elements are all devoted to conveying a completed meaning.