[Vanhackspace] human powered party railway - brainstorming TOMORROW

[dan anderson]

Ripped from the facebook event:

July 18, 7-11pm
eatART Lab: 577 Great Northern Way
BYOB & potluck

Come to the eatART Lab to help brainstorm in the possibilities for
creative "railway platforms" within the city, and to reveal
opportunities to promote clean technologies, alternative modes of
transportation and play.

The vision is to design and build a number of these contraptions that
can connect to one another and form a "party train", complete with a
human-powered engine, human-powered DJ sound system, and lots of
seating and standing/dancing space. There will also be "stations" that
we'll move between to pick up and drop off passengers and "engines".

The combination of human-power, renewable energy and sculpture has led
to a partnership with the eatART foundation, bringing our Jam ideas to
life. We want to play! eatART will be hosting a few workshops
pertinent to the building of these vehicle prototypes at their lab at
Great Northern Way Campus (welding, angle grinding, materials
salvaging etc.).

So sharpen your brains and mark your calendar!

This is going to be amazing. :)

Here's the plan:

Come prepared with a few ideas to share. Don't worry if you don't have
an idea or don't have time. Your creative feedback is just as good!
Everyone will get a chance to present their idea(s) for 90 seconds per
idea. Each idea will get sketched out and put on the wall. Then we'll
mashup the best of all the ideas through a fast-paced brainstorming
process that results in TWO final prototypes that we'll build (in the
coming weeks). We'll split into two teams and have a friendly
competition to build the best prototype!

Design Requirements:
- moves on standard width rail tracks
- human and/or renewable energy powered
- artistic elements
- seat at least 2 people, ideally 4
- made of low-cost, sustainable materials
- able to stop quickly and safely

Bonus:
- clever ideas for mounting and dismounting rails
- clever ideas for transporting the vehicles when not on rails

Many thanks to Industrial Artifacts for donating lots of cool materials!

RSVP today! Please also RSVP through this Google Doc form so that we
know the various skill sets people are bringing:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=ck15bURTQ1dRU2swWVZlYVdEZWhTWkE6MA..

- VDN

For more info, visit our wiki at
http://vancouverdesignnerds.wikispaces.com/Pedal+Powered+Railway+Parade