Assignment #6 (Nico Gomez)

I started the design problem by thinking about my daily activities, from the ones that happen in my apartment, to those that happen in studio, and even to those that happen on the go. Without a doubt, most of my time is spent working in studio in my laptop, therefore I decided to focus on possibilities to make a more ergonomic and comfortable working experience. I have noticed that my arms and tendons tend to get sore and tired after a few hours of working in my laptop, so I immediately knew that this CNC project would allow me to create a simple and elegant solution to this.

I began exploring structural ribs that would give my laptop a more comfortable angle for me to work on. In terms of form, I played around with very sharp and angular forms but then concluded that a wavy and expressive curve would fit better ergonomically, so I used the slopes and angles of my linear-angular exploration and applied them to the final 3 rib design. These ribs are friction fit with the desk to help with firmness and stability.

Looking back to the choice of materials, I would have probably chosen a thicker wood than the 1/4" thick wood that I used because the ribs would have felt sturdier, although the thinner wood does give it a more streamlined feel.