Over the next (and last!) few weeks of CAD, we’ll be working on our final projects. My project proposal is going back to a concept I worked on in Spring 2020, but I never got to fully realize and fabricate due to the start of the pandemic.
Final Project Proposal: Tactile Map
In Spring 2020, I was in the interdisciplinary Museum Accessibility course led by the NYU Ability Project and part of an IMLS grant between NYU and the Intrepid Museum. My group project members and I were assigned to address the challenge of “Places People Can’t Go” at museums and historical sites. We consulted and worked with three museums and historical sites to develop potential solutions for creating more accessible visitor experiences.
One of these historical sites we worked with was Fort Ticonderoga, home to an 18th century fort in northeastern New York (the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga was the first American victory of the Revolutionary War). However, the site encompasses over 2,000 acres of land that is challenging for physical access. How do you bring visitors to a place they can’t physically go to? One way we thought about bringing the experience of a vast landscape to a visitor was to create a tactile map that depicts the topography and geographical features. The tactile map could also incorporate smaller reproductions of infrastructure or buildings in the area.
This map was just one of several ideas we had for creating tactile objects for a museum exhibition. At the time, my group suggested constructing these maps with a Swell Form machine. However, halfway into the semester, COVID disrupted our ability to fabricate anything, since the class went completely virtual and we had no access to the shop or tools at ITP, the Ability Project, or the Intrepid Museum.
Two years later, in my contemplation of a final project in Fusion360 and potentially using a milling machine, I thought that perhaps it is finally time to try and create this tactile map – but by using the newly learned tools of CAD and CNC.
Inspiration
In researching topographic and tactile maps, I came across some that were 3D printed or made with solid wood. For inspiration, I found images like the one on Instagram below, YouTube videos, and Instructables on how to CNC or 3D print a topographical map.
Development
I still have to think through my approach for the tactile map design itself: do I use maps as my canvas and then use the sculpt feature to create the terrain? Is there data I can import to create the model? Do I focus on a specific region (such as the fort and immediate surrounding areas) or showcase the entire 2,000 acres of the site? What topographical features are most important to carve out and be able to feel?
In terms of physical fabrication, I’m leaning towards milling this map out of solid wood with a CNC.
A 1758 map of Fort Ticonderoga (known as Fort Carillon at the time).