Student Showcase: Tamati of Wellington College

Tamati
Wellington College
Year 13 Technology
Teacher: Matthew Lane

In his Year 12, Tamati had worked on a project with neighbouring St Mark's Church School, and for his Year 13 project, he decided to continue this relationship. His main clients – then Principal Christina Leach and the Head of PE – welcomed the opportunity and asked Tamati to come up with an innovative new piece of sporting equipment suitable for Year 1-8 students to use in their small school playground.

After discussing possibilities with a student selected to be his consultation client, Tamati decided to explore ideas around tennis or patter tennis. Tamati had played patter tennis at his primary school using a net set up between concrete-embedded poles in the middle of the playground. Such a solution was not viable at St Mark's because the area was used for a wide variety of games.

Given this, Tamati's problem was to devise a net that was long enough to act as a court divider (five metres), robust enough to withstand Wellington's winds, and could be easily removed and stored away when not in use. His first concepts involved a volleyball-style net between two freestanding poles, but he found this set-up would not cope with the wind. In the end he decided on developing a movable metal frame filled with wire mesh or heavy-duty cord – basically a fence on wheels.

When investigating materials, costs had to be balanced against strength and durability. A wide range of heavy duty and lockable wheels were available, for example, but were expensive. Tamati tried to keep costs down by using the cheapest materials he could find in other areas, which led to the use of fencing material. "Balancing these key factors does change your thinking and innovation," he says.

In his design, Tamati also considered safety issues including OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) requirements for playgrounds – his 'fence on wheels' had rounded edges to avoid injuries to students running around in a crowded, busy playground.

In making the final product, Tamati met with a few challenges. The joints were initially screwed together with an Allen key but failed to hold securely and required welding. He had to spend considerable time deciding on the best ways to attach the rolling wheels, eventually drilling holes through the crossbar galvanised 50mm steel tubing of the frame to secure them.

Time constraints were an issue, as too much time was spent at the beginning of the project deciding on the project idea.

Tamati enjoyed working with his young client because he'd gone through the same experiences and had a similar life-style and thoughts at his client's age. The client was quite shy at first and found discussing the opportunities a bit tense; however over time he relaxed and got on well with the designer.

Tamati is pleased with the final outcome although he feels there are a few things he could have done better, such as time management, and the welding of the joints. He tried to keep the costs well below budget, but in the end just managed stay within it.

Tamati says he has always liked technology, both at school and home where he'll face a problem, such as a rattling window, sticking door, or television aerial and work out a solution. He enjoys the innovative thinking – finding a solution to a problem and then the physical aspect of implementing it. "Technology is an everyday sort of thing which allows you to think in a different way with a 'hands-on' perspective," he says.

Tamati has gone on to study Industrial Design at Massey University in Wellington.

Related links: Size is No Object case study