Yiwen Wu
Engineer · Designer · Baker · Traveler
"Motor City" Musical Instruments
September 2013 - December 2013
Two Team Members
My team partnered with Focus:HOPE, a non-profit in Detroit, and initiated design projects to inspire a sense of community in Detroit. Through human-centered design approach, I developed an empathy for the Detroit community and aspired to help the community regain hope for a better Detroit. We designed and prototyped a "Motor City" Music Space, which included key wind chime trees, scrap metal xylophones, and truck brake drum sets. By transforming discarded materials into interactive and engaging musical instruments, we aimed to both encourage community interactions and rekindle hope for the city among community members. The design will be implemented in a future playground, currently a vacant parking lot, in Detroit.
Inspiration
Visited various sites in Detroit to develope insights into the past, current, and future of the city.
Developed empathy for the Detroit community through interviews, participant observations, and field research.
Created a visual to illustrate my understanding of Detroit and its current situation.
Places visited during one of the field trips to Detroit
Some photos from the field trips
My thoughts:
This photographic mosaic of the Renaissance Center, the most prosperous area of Detroit, is in fact made up of many small pictures of abandon places in Detroit that I took during my visits. If I have to use only one word to describe the city, it will definitely be the word "HOPE". I see Detroit as an extremely complex city, a mix of opportunities and angsts.
Some additional thoughts:
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I grew up in Shanghai, China and knew almost nothing about Detroit before this project. My parents and I visited Orlando, Miami, DC, New York and Chicago during my sophomore year winter break, but I didn't dare to take them to Detroit even after my dad suggested "checking out the big city nearest to my school" because of all the negative things I heard from Michiganders. However, through the field trips and interactions with the people there, I was able to develop my own perspective.
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I think the most disastrous problem in Detroit is not the economy but people's indifference and neglect. If people who live in the city hate the city, it means that at least they care about the city. However, most of them, in fact, don't even care about the city and just give up. Therefore, I am motivated to help Detroiters rekindle their hope for their own city, without which any external efforts to help the city and the people would be futile.
Ideation
Developed a point-of-view statement and generated "How might we" questions for brainstorms.
Utilized rapid prototyping to convey design concepts and obtain feedback.
Consulted professors from UM School of Music on musical instrument design.
Consulted professors from Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning on public playground design.
Created 3D CAD models of the key wind chime tree and scrap metal xylophone designs.
Rapid prototype of the xylophone concept using colored paper
3D CAD models of the key wind chime and they scrap metal xylophone
Loops for hanging keys
C major scale C-D-E-F-G-A-B, from the longest bar to the shortest bar
Implementation
Obtained unclaimed keys from the UM Key Office, scrap metals from the school machine shop, and truck brake drums from a local junkyard.
Created prototypes of the musical instruments to demonstrate functionality.
Documented the design process and presented to Focus:HOPE and community representatives.
Created and delivered detailed manufacturing plans and assembly manuals for all the instruments to Focus:HOPE for construction in the designated playground.
Discarded truck brake drum I found in a local junkyard
Before and after being sandblasted.
Prototypes of the scrap metal xylophone, the key wind chime, and the truck brake drum
I cut a scrap aluminum plate into bars with equal widths and different calculated lengths, placed them on two pieces of scrap wood bars, and used a screw, a aluminum rod, and a wood stick as mallets.
I hung the unclaimed keys onto a scrap perforated aluminum angle using fishing string and placed the assembly on two plastic blocks.
I sandblasted a discarded truck brake drum and used a scrap wood bar as mallet.
