💼 Set Designer
📂 UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
🛠️ Blender
🕶️ Uma Supatra

It was an exciting challenge when I learned that the task was to create a singluar object that could have multiple functions. The object had to function as a ladder, a cot, and a coffin.

Process

1. Sketching in Blender with a to scale 6ft model.
The colorful blocks represents 3 smaller blocks.

2. Sketching on paper 

The concept for the final piece surfaced after thorough sketching and after committing to using two blocks. The constraint of a singular object asked “What is a ladder? What is a cot? What is a coffin?”. When simplyfing the ladder as a three-step-stair and the bed as a rectangular block, a jigsaw piece emerged.

3. Cardboard protoype to scale

4. Fabrication using mdf, cnc, glue.

The Ladder-Cot piece had to be carried three times in the duration of the 40-minute musical which asked for finger digits. The prop has minimal, circular finger digits on the short faces of the ladder portion to make lifting easier.

UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television | Macgowan Hall