Boston-based design and digital fabrication firm Radlab, Inc has sent us an exceptionally cute example of robo milling: a baby crib with a twist.
Here's the project description from Radlab, Inc:
Eli's Crib
Client: Jose and Ashley Silva
Location: Cambridge, MA
Date: 2011
The hybrid crib and youth bed was commissioned with an interest in creating an alternative to the standard crib: solid instead of slatted, low and partially open rather than high and closed off, compelling and integral as opposed to generic and alien. Our response, in an effort to provide a framework for processing these pragmatic and aesthetic concerns, was to explore an interplay of conceptual dualities: dark and light, hard and soft, thick and thin, solid and void, analog and digital. At its core, the project is a simple expression of the convergence between overtly additive and subtractive processes, the building up of many layers of material meeting the excavation of many layers material. The relationships registered in the final product are revealed through the juxtaposition between that which has been robotically milled, and that which has not.
Credits: Matt Trimble, Jared Steinmark, Esko Heilner
All photos courtesy of Radlab, Inc.
Fig 1: additive and subtractive transformations
Fig 2: plan and elevations
Fig 3: reclaimed plywood
Fig 4: stacked plywood being milled by six-axis robotic arm
Fig 5: stacked plywood being milled by six-axis robotic arm
Fig 6: all planar/un-milled surfaces were finished with a water based onyx stain
Fig 7: corner detail
Fig 8: front view
Fig 9: Eli and Mom
Fig 10: Eli and Mom
9 Comments
What was the overall objective? Create a baby crib that would exchange the baby's safety and the functionality of traditional cribs for a cool looking wave-like art piece that could fit a baby in it? I can't believe the designer could be so naive and ignorant. Cribs should be open, not closed so that you can supervise the baby... what happens if it is having a seizure or choking and you happen to be on one of the three closed sides? Cribs are also tall and have vertical guards so that the baby can't climb out of the crib and fall on its head! Cribs also avoid having sharp, hard edges so that the baby wont fall on them and crack its head open! For crying out loud.. a baby isn't a freakin art piece, its a baby! Obviously the designer has never cared for a baby and the person who commissioned the "piece" thinks her baby is an object and not a living being that needs to be cared for.
Well I see your point vis-a-vis Western Panic Culture, dustinunrau, and your thoughts were my initial thoughts to this design too, but millions of babies around the world don't have cribs at all and manage to survive.
This is a lovely piece of furniture as an object. Whether it's a good crib or not is the clients' call, I think.
probably want to do something about the glue and formadehyde off-gassing also.
I'm all for digital fabrication, but right now this looks too much like a one liner...and technically, this isn't even a crib, it's a toddler bed which many retail cribs turn into when the child gets a little older, but back to the original point...to simply say, "we're going to make a wavy surface on one side, and leave the other side flat, and paint it solid black" - seems like they stopped designing too soon, especially with access to a robotic arm where you don't have to worry about flipping the piece as on a 3-axis mill. It seems like you could take the idea of an organic surface and combine it with issues like transparency, surface levels, corner conditions, etc...and come up with a much richer piece...nonetheless it's a good start.
Now all of this is assuming there wasn't a client who was like, "hey, i need a crib next week, design and fabricate me something!"
Its not Western Panic Culture Donna, my comments come from my previous experience looking after babies (in a third-world country in fact). Compare infant mortality rates around the world. Ah! maybe they don't all manage to survive after all!
I get the feeling these guys don't actually have kids. In twenty minutes, my daughter would have bumped her head about six times, completely flipped around (hint: babies have no concept of front and back), and probably fallen on her head (or at least have been crawling all over her nursery). Not too mention, the slats are there so the baby can breathe if its head gets wedged between the rail and the mattress (babies can't lift their heads before 4 months) - SIDS anyone? Product design at its worst!
And "western panic culture"? I'm surprised to hear that coming from you, Donna. Parents live in a perpetual state alternating between panic and guilt. It's part of being a parent. I don't need an artsy-fartsy crib contributing to my anxiety.
fail
I have a child. I panicked that he would stop breathing if I wasn't looking at him every second, too. Western culture makes us feel we can buy away our fears.
won, the point is YOU don't have to choose this bed. You can choose whatever you feel is safe for your kids, so in your case just don't buy the artsy-fartsy crib. (Also, SIDS isn't related to a baby's head getting wedged in the mattress. SIDS just happens. Other babies do die due to crib/mattress/bunting problems, yes.)
Though as tagalong says, this is really a baby and toddler bed. Infants can co-sleep (which has both huge benefits and dangers, but is also common across the globe).
And seriously dustin: access to clean water and nutrition and medical care is why infant mortality rates are higher in parts of the world where they don't have cribs. Please.
If we removed "CNC milled" from the title, would anyone care about this object? CNC mills are great, but this is smoke and mirrors. Why did they need a CNC mill to make this? Incredible (and expensive) technology -- lack of innovation. Also, it looks like a LOT of wasted material, but I can't tell where the cut is starting. The "artist statement" is obnoxious too. We architects use "big" words to sound impressive and make up for a lack of something. Sorry. It's Friday. Everyone have fun!
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