During my first module, Visual Communications, I have been assigned for the first task to work in a group and make one crazy golf hole which will be later used to create a full crazy golf course.
The Brief
For our brief, we have been asked to focus and explore both public artworks and public amenities as a means of visually communicating an idea. To complete the brief we as a group we must research, design, construct, play on and record a crazy golf course which will not just be a fully functional game but is also themed to visually communicate “Aspects of Sheffield”. The deadline for this project is 3.00pm on Thursday 5 of October 2017.
The Design Process
Research
As a team, my group (Jacob and Nick) and I researched public art, amenities, entertainment and famous people from Sheffield using our own common knowledge, the internet as well as names and places given to use by friends and family. This research allowed us to identify well know aspects of Sheffield and create a basis for ideas for the physical aspect of our design exploration and development. We also looked briefly at possible materials week could use as Mark Beachell insisted we tried to just use scrap materials for our project. As part of our research, we also looked at other crazy golf courses and their features to get a better idea of what additions we may need to add such as ramps and tunnels to make the course run better as well as make it more fun and interesting to play.
Development
As a team, we were given an hour and a half of a lecture session to produce a mind map showing the results of our research as well as selecting and developing sketches and drawings to illustrate ideas how they would function practically.
This allowed us to further develop ideas may be used for our final designs, once we had narrowed down our ideas to a final.
These ideas were a snooker themed hole, Sheffield Steelers hockey theme, a famous Sheffield pub theme and Park Hill themed hole complete with the “I Love You” art feature. Nick presented our mind map and ideas to the other groups and to Paul Clarkson and Mark Beachell. After presenting we discussed the which ideas would work the best and as a group made the decision to develop the Park Hill Themed Golf Hole.
Park Hill is a council housing estate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built between 1957 and 1961, and in 1998 was given Grade II listed building status. Following a period of decline, the estate is being renovated by developers Urban Splash. The renovation was one of the six short-listed projects for the 2013 RIBA Stirling Prize.
Construction Development
The first development of our idea was a pretty straightforward course design. The ball would run up an ascending ramp and across the main feature that we wanted to involve, the “I Love You” art on one of the bridges that connect two flat blocks together. The ball would then simply run down a second descending ramp towards the hole.
We then further developed our idea to include other icon features of park hill such as the silver spiral staircase which the ball would roll down and around at one end instead of the descending ramp. We also added alternative routes when playing in case you couldn’t make it up the first ramp, you would instead have to go underneath the two flat buildings towards the hole.
Aerial View of Park Hill Flats
We then advanced our development by the looking at the actual shape of the Park Hill Flats more closely and realised how from an aerial point of view the flats curve in shape and so we tried to incorporate this curve shape in to our design in order to make our course more realistic and true to the original design of Park Hill.
After considering changes to the shape we also thought about how the golf ball would move along the course and added a gradient to our idea so the ball would either 1: be hit up a ramp and then roll on a downward gradient towards to a replica of the silver spiral stairs and towards the hole, or 2: go through an alternative hole through the first building then be navigated around “Tent City” (an area where there are people living in tents next to the flats) and then through the second building and towards the hole. We also looked at adding other small details such as adding people, making the buildings look of both like the “old” and “new” outside decor as well as adding park-like features that were in the plans of the grounds.
Once we had a basic idea of how the course would look after more developed drawings we then also made blueprint like drawings giving an idea to how each of the sections may be built and a paper model as a better representation of how the course may look.
Production
On the week before deadline week, we began to construct our crazy golf course. Construction was fairly easier, to begin with as the first “old/original” section of the building was the same shape as a cardboard box when we unfolded it and angled it. For our materials, we stuck to cardboard which was being thrown out by the college kitchen, a cardboard moving box I had and tape to hold the course together. We also worked together to build the course keeping everyone in the group involved but would also individually word on small parts such as the bridge and ramp while the rest of the group would also build parts and tape parts together to contribute.
Start of construction
Once we had the basic shape of the first building done we then worked on creating the ramp that leads up onto the bridge as well as the bridge itself. These also were fairly easy to create by cutting the middle of fruit boxes out and slotting the sides into each other.
Building and connection the ramp and bridge to the first building
We began to struggle when it came to making the second part of the building after the bridge as we found it much harder to create a seamless curve of buildings that also dropped at a low enough gradient for the ball to roll but not too low that we couldn’t include the spiral. We tried sticking various boxes together but they were unstable and too different in shape. We then tried using large thin cardboard sheets that were easier to manipulate shape wise and then looked at the possibility of rolling the ball over the top, on a path in and through the building or through a tube in the building.
We decided after testing all our ideas by running a golf ball through the course we built so far to create a tube out of connecting 1L lemonade bottles together that adds curves matching those me made in the cardboard sheets.
As part of our development designs, we also wanted to add an alternative route instead of going over the bridge. As we adapted the shape of the building we had to slightly change the way our alternative route was going to look, we added a single tube through the first building on the left-hand side to allow users to go through the building and then under the bridge.
New alternative hole/route
Visual Development
After we had the construction and shape of our course we moved onto thinking more about the visual design of our course. We thought about printing out a photograph of how the old flats look to go on the front of the building but we decided it would be more economical to spray paint the building. By spray painting the top, back and sides black it adds to the dilapidated look of the old flats.
Nick and Jacob made a stencil and used the remaining spray paint to create the look of windows and balconies on the front of the first building to resemble how the “old” Park Hill Flats.
We considered printing and sticking a photo of the “new” flats to the second buildings that we made but then decided to use another media and paint the colours that resemble the new flats onto white paper we can then stick onto the cardboard.
We then added small characteristic details such as a washing line, graffiti by Kid Acne as well as other random tags and tents.
We then recreated the park built by the flats and decided to make it into an extension of the course so the ball runs drops down the silver stairs and is then directed into a tube underneath the park setting, complete with benches, tree, burnt out car and youth with a knife. We added this as the main feature rather than “Tent City” as it fits better with the course layout. Jacob took charge of creating the spiral and after several prototypes, the most effective solution was to make a tube the ball can drop down through and warping sliver foil around the outside to give the illusion of a spiral staircase.
Finally, we added a cardboard wall that bent around from the staircase exit to direct a golf ball to the park obstacle. This wall was drawn upon with a suited environment including trees, roads and even a person wearing a Sheffield United football shirt.
Evaluations
Production Evaluation
As a team, we worked well together from the beginning to the end of this project and everyone contributed effective ideas and solutions. When building the course we worked fast and efficiently which allowed us to finish our course in a few days and well before the deadline. The small details we could add once the course was made such as the graffiti and washing line gave the course much more character than just having two buildings that looked like the restored and unrestored buildings at Park Hill.
Practicality Evaluation
The course worked really well when testing it. We found players had to Hit the golf ball with enough and right force in order to get the golf ball to travel up the ramp and continue over the bridge as well as then down into the next block of flats. If the ball was not hit with enough force ball would possibly roll back down the ramp or get stuck on the bridge. By competitive needing to hit the ball with the right force it makes the course a bit more difficult but also makes players concentrate more and feel more competitive which in turn makes the course feel more fun to play. The walled section that leads the ball out of the stairs and to the park shows a comical and stereotypical side to people that have a reputation for living in the old flats but more importantly helps guide the ball towards the park. The alternate route also runs smoothly and allows plays who struggle to get the ball up the ramp and better chance.
Visual Design Evaluation
The stencil made to decorate the “old” flats was really effective and was done with materials we had to hand. The black spray paint on the brown card enhanced the look of the flats and coincides with the dull and derelict appearance of them in real life. The “new” flats are clearly represented by the bright watercolours on the white paper which gives them a bold and recognisable contrast against the “old” flats. The Sliver staircase also helps to represent the newer flats as well as adding another media and texture to the design.
Improvements Evaluation
Improvements that would need adding to the course would probably make the joint between the bridge and the “new” building more smooth to stop the ball from getting stuck on that part. Other improvements would include spending more time trying to get more materials as this would have helped improve the overall look of the parts such as the wall and park as they were made fast with leftover card and cardboard and look overlooked by the rest of the course. It would have been really great to have finally been able to make a silver spiral staircase that a ball would acutely roll around in a spiral and down but we really struggled to come up with a design that would hold the weight of a golf ball and that wouldn’t be expensive to make.
Evaluation of how the course was in action
Our course looked great set up outside not long after a strong breeze took its toll and the “new” flats building kept blowing over. The balls which we had been provided with were also too big for our course as it was designed from golf balls and not soft tennis balls, this led to the balls getting stuck and as a result having to break apart some of our course to retrieve them. Overall had good fun with this project and learnt that our golf course was defiantly not weatherproof!
Natalie Rose 