Laser Cutting: Seniors Rebuilding the Dolls House

 

We posted about this previously detailing how we are wanting to use our technology to apply to practical tasks to engage our students.  A group of senior students are working with our large scale laser cutter.

We recently identified a Dolls House, that was destined to be thrown out and we wanted to look at the viability of restoring it using our technology and then making it available to our junior school students.

After the cleaning and the wiping down of the house the students started to examine it, in more detail.   The main base wood that has been used to construct the house was chipboard, and there are parts of the house where it has been wet, causing it to loose structure.

While the students working on this wanted to keep as much of the original house as possible this needs to be balanced with turning it into something that is functional and useable.

The senior students sourced some images of vintage houses for inspiration and begun the process of using Sketch Up to start to design the sides for the house.

The first completed replacement piece is shown here.   The windows and the shutters have been designed with hinges and work, the size of the end is designed to work in conjunction with the existing base of the house.

The shutters and windows are designed to match, the detailing at the end of the wall was created by using a range of smaller rectangles and squares and gluing them onto the base of the design.

The students need to consider that the design has been produced using MDF.   This typically isn't the most durable of design wood and will need to be stained or sealed to further protect it from the elements and from students in the new entrance classroom.