When I began this project, I had in mind an idea of Entrapment. I wanted to express the feeling of being trapped inside the worlds that we create about ourselves, and hopefully show others that they too are in fact trapped. It began with a vision of a box in empty space and a single person floating (dancing) inside that box. The box is symbolic of our individual worlds and walls and the person floating inside is the creator of that world with its walls.

This idea began the list of requirements. "The Box" must be safe for the individual. That means that it must be sturdy, solid, rigid, and no sharp corners or objects. Secondly, "The Box" has to be on the scale of 9 cubic feet so the person inside can move with out being to inhibited. Another aspect is that "The Box" must be portable so many different people in different places can see this idea in the form of dance and a box. Under the portability requirement are weight, the broken down size, and the time that it takes to set up or break down "The Box." Finally, the cost requirement is $100 due to the college student status.

The final design came along way from where it initially began. The original concepts included a verity of different shapes and over all appearances. But in each shape, there where more specific concepts to make it fit the requirements. Such concepts include the use of wood, steel pipe, aluminum pipe, scaffolding, hinges, brackets, holders, sleeves, overlapping corners, non-overlapping corners, nail plates, nails, glue, pins, and a verity of other ideas. But of all of these concepts, one prototype was made using a combination of ideas. This decision came from the analysis of the House of Quality, Morphological Chart, Functional Analysis, Detailed Descriptions, Decision Matrix and a verity of CAD drawings. Each is outlined and shown in the following report.

The final design consists of the framework for a 9-foot cube with 4 diagonals running from top to bottom. The structure is connected using nail plates on flush corners and holders at 45 and 90-degrees for all removable parts. The entire box is then put under tension by running two 45-foot cables through the diagonals.

The final prototype worked as expected except for set up and take down time which is 20 minuets and the final cost was pushed to $160. Each of these is still acceptable but could be improved upon in future designs. "The Box" can support a 200-pound person at any point in any weird or contorted position. And, the broken down size is 9-feet long and 4-feet wide. It fits on top of a car or in the back of a truck very easily.