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Project L

By Omar28 | 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 Overall idea of this project is to create a locker out of High Density Polyethylene which is composed of plastic and make a more eco friendly and flexible locker. Lockers have a lot of useless space and so i wanted to find a way to use up this space. I decided to divide the locker into three parts. The first is a top shelf that is 1ft in height. This is where books are meant to be stored. The center will be 3ft in height and will be an area to hang things such as jackets, umbrellas and other things that require hooks. The bottom part is sort of a drawer that will be 1ft in height where athletes can store small equipment, shoes, bags, etc. There will be a lid on this drawer that could be raised and lowered. The material for this locker has so many benefits such as easy removal of decorations and easier maintenance.

Comments

I like how you focused a lot on the interior of the locker because that is such a main part of the locker and how everything is divided up into sections. I would not have thought about diving lockers up into sections that are used for certain things as you did. I want to know will there be any exterior designs on the locker? Like, what decoration would be put onto the locker?

By Terrance13, Student at 06:08 pm, 16 March 2015

The locker will be one solid color. The decorations that get placed outside will depend on the owner of the locker and the school administration.

By Omar28, Student at 05:05 pm, 17 March 2015

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?

Omar28's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
I went online searching for information about materials that are used for making lockers and found an article about High-Density Polyethylene lockers.
This is the price of the average metal locker.
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This is the price of the average High Density Polyethylene locker.
1 comment
This was the original inspiration behind the design of Project L. I wanted a locker that would be...
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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?

Omar28's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
It is important to collect information when building something for a client or in this project, clients.

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.

Omar28's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
One of the main issues that I was trying to tackle in this project was the amount of "useless" space. Locker have 4ft of space that most of the time is just there.

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!

Omar28's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
The final design of my locker stayed pretty similar to the original sketch that I had created. The top shelf was split into two parts.
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