Inspired by summer play patterns revolving around camping experiences and the wonders of nature and the night sky, Kemeya Harper and I teamed up to develop Sky Bub for our Toy Design final project. Sky Bub is a fantastical half-dome planetarium in which whimsical representations of celestial elements such as stars, planets and atmospheric gradients are conjured up by combinations and variations of sound created from a drumming circle consisting of three drums within the dome. Each drum controls a different celestial element. Sky Bub encourages children to experiment with the sounds created by each drum and collaborate with each other to produce a rich, musical, visually-captivating immersive experience within the dome.
In concept, the Sky Bub will utilize a new technology called Lumalive, a breakthrough light-emitting fabric developed by Phillips. Phillips is currently preparing for a full-market launch of the material in May 2011. For our prototyping purposes (as the Lumalive fabric is currently unattainable), we will use projections to simulate the experience of the light-emitting fabric.
//Prototyping
//Dome Construction
//Testing
