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Name: Rebecca Stevick and Kristen Long
Title: HandyHouse: Not Just Another Dollhouse
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Thesis:
The HandyHouse will be an experimental dollhouse that incorporates functional components into a well-designed play space. The construction will include circuitry, sound, graphics, and sensors, and be documented through both a construction manual and blog.
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Format:
The project will have three components: the physical house, a written manual, and a cumulative digital blog. The manual will be a guide detailing how to construct your own HandyHouse, and the blog will be a visual documentation of our experiences and techniques building our HandyHouse.
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Description:
The HandyHouse will be an investigative venture to create a functional, sustainable, affordable, and revolutionary play space that redefines the stereotypical dollhouse. In order to make the HandyHouse functional, we will integrate the use of circuitry, sensors, and construction techniques. Operational components will include hinges, an elevator, a spiral staircase, trap doors, opening windows, curtains, a porch light, lights in the windows, a fireplace, sound effects, and a doorbell. These attributes will be built using circuits, Arduino programming, sewing, soldering, carpentry, sound design, and wiring. The processes used in construction will be documented through video and still photographs, and published on the blog. The construction of the house will also be written up into a comprehensive and understandable manual that will be published and made available to the public. As a result, others can refer to this manual to learn these techniques and build their own HandyHouse. The HandyHouse will also include typical components, including a kitchen, beds, couches, and living spaces. The end result will ideally be an enjoyable tool that can be played with and further built upon.
In an increasingly environmentally aware society, efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle are emphasized. In accordance with this trend, the HandyHouse will be made entirely from previously used and discarded materials. We will visit various junkyards and scrap warehouses in attempts to find interesting supplies for the construction of our house. Efforts will also be made to minimize our use of additional supplies, and we will use donated or scavenged materials whenever possible. Essentially, we will be conscientious builders and wary of making any extravagant supply purchases.
Since the HandyHouse is targeted toward families with children who are perhaps on a limited budget, every attempt will be made to keep it as an affordable project. Most of the construction materials will be recycled so the HandyHouse will be a very cost-efficient endeavor. Idealistically the entire project may be accomplished under $75. Furthermore, we will only use tools that would be available in a typical home. As a result, the HandyHouse will be a feasible project that any family should have the means to complete.
The compilation of salvaged materials is sure to create a unique new image for a play space in the HandyHouse. Various functional components will be suggested by the manual and there will be explanations on how to install all the necessary items but the majority of the design will be left to the user. Such freedom to create the HandyHouse as each family sees fit allows for great customization to satisfy the personality of the family. Additional effects such as sounds and lights which are not customarily included in doll houses will be an integral part of the design of the HandyHouse. Lights in the rooms and on the porch and sound effects for doors, floors, a doorbell, and plumbing will make the HandyHouse more realistic than a typical doll house and thus stand out from mainstream designs. The HandyHouse embodies elements of feminism with regard to the fact that it will be acceptable for either boys or girls to play with rather than favoring girls and displaying a typically feminine design.
This general format will ensure efficient distribution and communication of our project processes with the public. The written manual is a more permanent and easy to follow guidebook to the project. This way, anyone anywhere can use it as a how-to guide in order to create their own HandyHouse. The blog will serve as a real-time documentation of our own adventure building a HandyHouse. Various videos and pictures will help convey the skills and processes that we use to build our house. Lastly, the final HandyHouse that we present will be a model for others trying to construct a play space of their own.
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Skills and Tools:
Constructing the HandyHouse will require the application of common “handyman” skills and do it yourself techniques including welding, soldering, gluing, carpentry, and wiring. Building the mainframe of the house and rooms necessitates cutting wood and metal and welding or gluing the materials together in a specified manner. To configure the lighting we will need to employ circuitry, soldering, and programming. The sound effects will depend upon our ability to synchronize preset sounds with sensors for different actions to be completed in the HandyHouse such as doors slamming, floors creaking, the doorbell ringing, a shower or faucet running, and a toilet flushing. Recording and editing the sound effects will also need basic sound mixing and editing skills.
We already possess some of these skills and have access to most of the tools that we will need to use. In order to acquire the remaining skills we will watch instructional videos and read articles to inform ourselves of how to install construct any of the functional elements which we do not already know how to build. YouTube and the DIY channel will prove to be invaluable resources as we explore the concept of building a gender neutral play space within the constraints of an affordable budget.
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Sharing the Work:
Both Kristen and Rebecca will participate in constructing and wiring the HandyHouse, but each will have her own responsibilities in terms of documentation. Kristen will be the primary author and compiler of the written manual and Rebecca will work predominantly on the digital blog. With regard to the construction of the HandyHouse, Kristen and Rebecca will meet consistently to buy parts, assemble components, and test the functionality of the house as a whole.
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