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IED New School Locker

By Mark Zhurauliov | S Design a new school locker

Overview Instructions

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That thin metal box at school where you cram all your stuff? Lockers aren't designed for students today. In fact, the design of lockers hasn't changed since the days of your great grandparents!

But in the School of the Future things could be different. Reimagine the design of a 21st century locker you would need as a Maker. A locker you could use to keep all of your stuff for making!

Let's get started on the challenge to redesign your school locker.

The goal of this project is to design a new school locker that will be comfortable, affordable, and efficient.
Today's school lockers cause the dissatisfaction of many students. First, we defined the problem. The school lockers were too small and inefficient to use. Also, the locker was plain and undecorated. Then, we brainstormed all of the possible answers to the above problems. By brainstorming ideas, we came up with a design for a school locker. The new locker will be a different shape and will be more efficient than our current school lockers. Finally, we made the prototype. By following the steps of the design process, we developed an efficient, decorated, and easy-to-use locker.

Comments

Please briefly explain your decision making and how you came up with the final design. Include a little bit about each stage of the process.

By Tressa16, Educator at 10:41 am, 15 March 2012

Collect Instructions

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Gather more information about your existing school lockers by taking photos, sketching, conducting interviews, or doing additional research.

Think About

  • What is the purpose of a school locker?
  • How has the way you use a locker changed since you first started school in kindergarten, for example?
  • How many times do you visit and open your locker each day?
  • Do teachers or school administrators have any safety or security concerns about lockers?  What are they?
  • What types of materials is your locker constructed from?

Try This

  • Take photos of a row of your school's lockers.  Open your own locker and take a photo of what's stored inside.
  • Make a list of all the features your locker currently has. (Examples: hooks, air slots, etc.)
  • Make a list of all the items you currently keep in your locker on a typical day.
  • Next to each item, make notes about what 'needs' that item has.  (Examples: my sweaty gym clothes need to kept away from my other things; my iPod needs electricity to be charged; my winter boots need a place to drip dry)
  • Make a list of all the items you wish you could store in your locker, but don’t have room for.
  • Measure the length, height, and depth of your current locker.
  • Measure the length, height, and depth of your backpack, books, coat / shoes, and other large objects you typically keep inside your locker.
  • Measure the width of your school's hallway.  How much of this width is taken up on both sides of the hallway when students stand in front of their open lockers?
  • Read this Washington Post article to learn more about some of the complaints students have with their lockers today.
  • Visit the websites of a few manufacturers to see various types of lockers currently made.  What do you like or dislike about these examples?

Mark Zhurauliov's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
We viewed and listed all of the current features of our school lockers. Then, we measured the dimensions of a school locker and described its problems and constraints.
Our current lockers have three hooks, eleven vents, and an old combination lock. If you use one of...
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The current dimensions of our lockers are 14 inches in length, 9 inches in width, and 24 inches in...
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Currently, we store heavy books, backpacks, binders, and personal items (lunch bags, gym clothing...
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Our current school lockers are made of metal like steel. The acute points of the locker can cause...
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Brainstorm Instructions

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Develop sketches or models to help you puzzle through new ideas and solutions.

Think About

  • Make a list of all the things you like about your current locker.  Ask several friends for their opinions.
  • Make a list of all the things you dislike about your current locker.  Ask several friends for their opinions.
  • Think about your locker not just as a metal box, but as another type of container.  What other types of containers do you use each day to store stuff?  (Examples: containers for food, clothing, household items)
  • Many animals, insects, and plants use containers to store things (Example: bees use honeycombs).  Check out some of the images in the Inspiration Gallery for other ideas of strorage units.
  • Keep in mind that your newly-designed locker will be one of many along the hallway.  How will these individual units all fit together?  How will several students use their lockers at the same time without bumping into each other?

Try This

  • Based on the information you collected above, brainstorm a list of special features you’d like your new locker to have.
  • Make lots of sketches to get your early ideas down on paper.  Learn from each different idea. 
  • Consider what materials the locker will be made from.  What materials will be durable against the wear and tear of student use over the years?

Mark Zhurauliov's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
Upon determining the constraints and needs of a locker, we brainstormed different ideas to address the problems. First, we brainstormed the shape of the locker.
Many students complained about the difficulty and inconvenience of opening a lock on a locker. In...
5 comments
These are typical lockers found in the 900 hall of our school. The rest of the school has lockers...
2 comments
In nature, bees use honeycombs to store honey. Usually, honeycombs are made in a hexagonal pattern...
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This is a regular octagon with radius r, and side s. An octagon has eight sides and its volume is...
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Develop Instructions

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Now's the time to take what you've learned from the steps above and develop your own solution for a new locker.

Try This

  • Use recycled cardboard to make a full-scale or half-scale prototype model of your locker.  You can't really understand if the locker will hold all your stuff, until you make a quick study model.  Don't worry about making a fancy finished model at this time. Instead, use cardstock, scissors, and tape to quickly create the large 3D form. See how it looks. Break off different sections, add new pieces, and try new ideas. Take photos of your model.
  • Sketch or use software such as Google SketchUp, AutoCAD, or Revit to put your ideas on paper.

Mark Zhurauliov's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
When we examined the old school locker, we noticed all of the problems associated with the design of the school lockers. Then, we used brainstroming to solve each problem individually.
This is our new locker design called "PolyStore," named for its extensive space. This new...
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Final Instructions

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The final step of the design process is to create a more finished model that communicates your ideas to others.

Try This

  • What color or colors will your locker be? What colors have inspired you?  Add colors to the digital model of your locker.
  • What materials will your locker be made of?  Choose materials and details to add to your digital model.
  • Include a human figure in your final locker model, so we can see how big your locker really is.
  • Upload additional images of your finished locker model to the slides for your project.  Write short captions explaining your ideas.
  • Congratulations on solving this design challenge!

Mark Zhurauliov's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
We made our prototype. Almost everything that we wanted to include in our locker worked well in our prototype.