SI17 Box

Jian and Gersande ft. Carmen and Chae

SI17 Lootbox

Description

The SI17 Lootbox developed by Jian Haake and Gersande Schellinx with prototyping input by Chaeyoung Kim and Carmen Gray is a 2D/3D container and play-mat box part of the XPUB Special Issue 17. It hosts the SI17 game(s) in a playful and challenging manner.

The box's design resembles one of children's playmat and is only connected by a custom-made tape. The user cannot tell what are the top/bottom or sides of the box when trying to open it. Once a tape is removed some additional information about the publication is revealed to the user, which can motivate them to further disassemble the box, for the information and to access the game(s) inside. Once the box is dismantled (or partly dismantled) the user will find some game(s) and a new set of tapes, more playful one (the original one has a more practical look) to use in order to close/assemble the box again as they wish.

The Box

Early Sketches

• 
• 
• 

Acrylic: Laser-cut and Assemblage

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Acrylic Box Reference

The Stickers

Stickers inspired by parcel logos and unfolding boxes. The illustration are abstractions of boxes being opened, unraveled, discovered. This feature of the box is what makes it unique to each individuals. Once the original vinyl tape (.4) is removed, each player can use their set of stickers (there are two sheets in each box) to put back together their box as they like it best. With the new stickers composition, the design of the box becomes unique to its player.

Early Sketches

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sticker Trial

Final Stickers

.1 .2 .3 .4

Cut with the Cutting Plotter in the Publication Station

Sticker Reference

Marc David Spengler

Pictograms on parcels

Research

Acrylic Box Research

https://de.makercase.com/#/basicbox

Format

Research: Size, Color, Material, Thickness, Throughness

Material Supplier STOUT
Size: 2030 x 1520 mm x 3mm (can be cut by provider)
Price between 49,10 € excl. BTW to 71,70 € excl. BTW per square meter

• 
• 
• 

Glue

Chae and Jian tried this glue, but its not strong enough and also you can see the crystals once its dry https://www.gerstaecker.nl/Ruderer-L530-kunststoflijm.html

Recommendations
from Mitsas architecture friends: Weld-On 3 or Acrylic Cement<brW from Supis architecture friends: Plastic Cement Weld Glue Perspex Acrylic

Hobby Crafts DIY 250 ml Styrene ABS: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01I5ORS1Q/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_7BA6C6PPBH0P8W4HJ7SC?psc=1 or TENSOL 12 Acrylic Adhesive, 50ml Bottle/Perspex Bonding Glue Cement https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07G4Z1PFT/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_WDH4D6J2GEXCJH8Z7H7D

Sample from STOUT (still leaves a visible residue)

Tape

Basic tape for the box should be a practical looking box, recognisable packaging tape like the one below.

Sticker

Lid

A lid could be a simple solution as it would hold it back together with no effort and be easy to put back on, maybe we could find an elegant way to do that (magnet?) without too much fuss, and avoiding a mushroom look (exuberant lid compare to the walls of the box). It be great if from the outside there is an ambiguity as to how to open the box.

Acrylic is not as versatile as cardboard and wood, as the cuts can only be made in straight angles, sanding is a very limited option. We could still look into wood-cuts to engineer a box and try to simplify the mechanism to suit the Acrylic.

A sliding system could be considered, but this would also imply the use of glue, which we find a bit sloppy.

Other kind of system without tape (or that could combine the tape and some more engineering)

Website with a lot of Acrylic boxes example: https://www.sanait.com/product/acrylic-box/ More secret boxes: https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/wooden-secret-box/bn_7114597380

Features

2D/3D box

Box falls flat when opened but can be closed again.

As such the box also works as a play-mat, when opened the player(s) can use the 2D box as a play-mat to use the game(s) within the box. As soon as the box is closed it becomes a container again to contain and transport the game(s).