Untethered by Jess Corr

UNTETHERED

JESSICA BETH CORR

Untethered 5th Year Thesis project by Jess Corr Advisor: Ansgar Killing California Polytechnic State University, College of Architecture and Environmental Design B.ARCH Thank you to my family, friends, and mentors who told me anything is possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 6

P re l u d e

Ab s t ra c t

Ve l l u m

U n t e t h e re d

CURRENT STATE

VISION

MARKET RESE ARCH

USER RESE ARCH

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

E ARLY IDE ATION & PROTOT YPING

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

SPECIFICATIONS

PRODUCTION & L AUNCH

Reflection

R e f e re n c e s

PRELUDE

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Fig 1: Pitching at ‘Demo Day’

Fig 2: 2019 Summer Accelerator

Image Credits: Fig 1-2 : Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

PRELUDE

MY TIME AT CAL POLY I like things that don’t pair together. Peanut butter with a tortilla, pineapple on pizza, and creating opportunity during a global pandemic. Why? Because to me, things that don’t conventionally work together are some of the most interesting and radical combinations. For the past five years, I have navigated college equipped with both a directional and disciplined attitude towards building myself as a thought leading professional, as well as an open-mind and a creative free-spirit towards bettering myself as a designer.

PA S T P ROJ E C T S AC C U M U L AT E T O N OW What I have found from my college experience thus far is that I have a voracious appetite for variety. Through navigating the last 5 years of design projects at Cal Poly, I have now converged on my varying interests at the intersection between design, business, and technology. Although this intersection could yield to many different career paths, my next step is diving into the world of product as the place to start my career.

Growing into myself as a diligent doer and a creative freethinker is credited to Cal Poly’s rigorous Architecture program as well as my own multifaceted, entrepreneurial initiatives to seek out new experiences and be in a constant state of new learning.

STEPPING INTO ENTREPRENEURSHIP In my second year at Cal Poly, I found myself jumping into a new, and quite foreign world of entrepreneurship. What began as just a weekend “build your first company” event, turned into a yearlong journey of starting and launching an e-commerce company to make it easier for consumers to locate and purchase environmentally friendly and ethically responsible products. Learning everything under the sun about entrepreneurship and product development was an incredible experience that forever changed the trajectory of my career path. I realized how passionate I am for building digital products and being placed in high intensity and collaborative environments.

Cal Poly’s architecture program has strengthened my ability to spend dedicated hours on design projects, taught me to manage my time effectively, and inspired me to apply my ambition towards pursuits outside of my coursework. Above all, I have learned to problem-solve through an iterative and handson process. My ability to architect ideas and solutions to real-world problems through a methodical, self-disciplined process, paired with my fascination for the user experience, is the value I bring to any team effort and is the fuel for my thesis project this year.

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Fig 3: Early ideation of SUMMR 2020 website

Fig 4: Sketches and models of ELEVATE

PRELUDE

T H E O P P O RT UN I T Y O F C OV I D - 1 9 P RO D U C T AT AU T O D E S K In the summer of 2020, I lost my architecture internship due to COVID 19. I felt incredibly shocked and full of grief that an amazing opportunity had just been ripped away from me. In a time of great uncertainty and adversity, I made the choice to create opportunity for myself; SUMMR 2020, is a self-started internship to foster exploration in my instinctual interests that go beyond the realm of my coursework at school. Through conducting informational interviews with 50+ product professionals and industry leaders around the country, and designing and building my own website, SUMMR 2020 was the first glimpse into my budding interest in the digital product space. This also set the foundation for my next, product-oriented design project at Cal Poly, ‘ELEVATE.’

By the time next summer rolled around, I was ready to formalize my experience in product. This ultimately led me to landing a product management internship at Autodesk where I became enthralled with all things related to Autodesk products. My job was to learn everything about the product manager’s role including the processes they utilize to design and build amazing products. To my surprise, the overlap between the processes that I learned at Autodesk and the design process that I followed at school was significant. Tasks like creating prototypes, identifying stakeholders, looking at precedents, and holding design charrettes, were nothing new to me. But the corporate world of product also introduced to me new tasks to help build better products like conducting user interviews, looking at competitors, utilizing data E L E VAT E analysis, and creating use cases. I could see the value that these things brought to the table in ELEVATE was my first deep dive into the world of terms of better understanding our stakeholders product design where I was able to conduct my and optimizing the user experience. I thought own timeline, metrics, and create a product from to myself, “Why don’t we utilize these strategies a market opportunity that intrigued me. I have in designing architecture too?” There was become deeply fascinated by human behaviors something about the fast paced and iterative and communication in a post pandemic world. world of product that felt like a great fit to me, I was able to pull from my experience in the and so my plan was to bring over things I got world of business, along with the help of my from my product internship into my Thesis entrepreneurial spirit, to create ELEVATE. This project this year. project deeply nurtured my fascination with emerging technologies too.

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Fig 5: Double Diamond design thinking process sketch

Fig 6: Case Study of user flow for proposed feature at Autodesk

PRELUDE

A N OT E O N D E V I AT I O N I see my deviation from the conventional realms of architecture as exciting and with continual room for innovation. My own design process comes from not only the mindset of an architecture student, but also that of an entrepreneur, and a product manager. Designing in this way leads to a deeper understanding of your customer and stakeholders, all while creating beautiful and functional products. What I will always carry forward with me from architecture school is the importance of the iterative design process: having deep customer awareness, churning out prototypical models, doing lots of hand sketching, being comfortable with ambiguity, and bringing a sense of beauty and optimism to everything I do.

ABSTRACT

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Fig 8: Abstract sketches

Fig 7: Final Abstract artifact

ABSTRACT

THE WORLD OF PRODUCT My first task within the world of product was to look at all the products on today’s market and what are the design processes behind those products. In addition to learning more about existing products, I had a thoughtful inner dialogue happening on how I define what a ‘product’ is and essentially how architecture also belongs in that definition. Most likely this dialogue started because over the last year, while deep into self-discovery projects, I received a lot of criticism that my work in product was not architecturally relevant. This fueled my fire to prove, as someone with a cultivated perspective in both the world of product and the architectural realm, both things are intricately related and can be defined in the same ways. Of course, there are things we do as architects that don’t get done as product managers, and vice versa, but at their cores they are both materialized solutions created for specific audiences. Architecture is a product, and products are architecture.

M Y D E F I N I T I O N O F ‘ P RO D U C T ’ A product is a materialized solution born from an intentional and iterative design process which aims to answer questions or address user problems. A product can be physical or digital; It has a life cycle, and it can be produced once or many times over. Products do not have to be site specific, but who is to say they cannot be? Products can be manifested through asking questions, identifying user problems, and recognizing market demand. By this definition, on an average day we encounter thousands of products: from the utensils we use, the clothes we wear, the furniture we make for Vellum, and even the buildings we occupy. What can products teach us about the way we design and understand architecture?

Through a playful experiment and amalgamation of seemingly completely different products, at the center arrives a formal and justified definition of a ‘product’ to which we know architecture can fall under too.

VELLUM

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Fig 9: Concept 1, 'Box'

Fig 10: Concept 2, 'Ladder'

Fig 11: Concept 3, 'Folding'

VELLUM

DIVERSIONS LE AD TO NEW ROADS GETTING LOST AND BEING FOUND

was safe yet to come out and show itself, being something very different from what I had been designing for the last five years. It’s the exact product space that I love to be in.

The next weeks were a challenge as I became buried in my complex inner dialogue around the relationship between architecture and product, and essentially how I could use my internship experience with product, to design something meaningful for Thesis and backed by product design methodologies. The silver lining came forward when I was not expecting it. What started as a chance to create respite from my work with Thesis, actually became the driver for the product space I wanted to design for.

UN T E T H E R E D During my product internship, I had the luxury to work from anywhere at any time. Apart from team meetings, the work I did was on my own time, and the ‘remote’ aspect of the job allowed me to travel and adventure as I pleased. I was able to take my work with me to the mountains, and so I could hop in the lake between meetings and build prototypes from the comfort of the cabin deck: soaking in the sunshine and feeling the cool breeze of the outside air.

Vellum is a chance for students to either expand on their ideas for their Thesis or use it as a chance to escape from Thesis and just build something for themselves. Initially I wanted it my Vellum piece to conceptually connect to Thesis, but I couldn’t figure out how to do that. So instead, I decided it could be my escape and I could use Vellum as a place to unwind from ‘figuring out’ what Thesis will be. As soon as my mindset shifted, and I took the pressure off myself, it became abundantly clear not only what I would create for Vellum, but also that this was not an escape from Thesis, it was the exact product space that I had been wanting to design in. It had been sitting at the bottom of my belly, refusing to surface because it didn’t feel it

Since that last summer, I have been inexplicably interested in designing my life so I could continue to live and work with such freedom and adventure. For Vellum I decided I would design a product that could help me to work remotely while traveling, or in this case, adventuring on the road. With my Subaru Crosstrek at the perfect site, I designed a liminal product, bound to its site of the car but to no place in particular, as a folding and sturdy multi-use table to host meetings and dinners all in the same way.

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Fig 12: Visulization sketches

Fig 13: Vellum construction sketches

VELLUM

Fig 14: Prototyping process photo

Fig 15: Vellum table process photo

Fig 16: Vellum table connection detai

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Fig 17: Final poster for Vellum show

VELLUM

here for new ways of working and bringing our lives more freedom, flexibility, and adventure. When I did my remote internship and I had that freedom, it got me thinking about how other people may want this freedom too. In fact, I think this freedom and constant connection to a more mobile lifestyle should be available to everyone. For my independent study last year, I started to scratch the surface with this by creating a kinetic home office to better suit those who work from home. Now I want to take that a step further, and a step outside.

P O S T V E L LU M R E F L E C T I O N For Vellum, I used it as an opportunity to explore something that deviated a bit from the heavy research around my Thesis project. Instead, I wanted to design within a space that’s been on my mind since the outbreak of the pandemic: furniture to better enable us the freedom and flexibility of working remotely. So, I solidified on designing for myself a table that easily stores and folds out from the back of my Subaru, aka my vessel for exploration and adventure.

Having spent many hours of my time multitasking on the road - playing and working - I want to find a more permanent solution to continue to do this for when I graduate. I’ll have a 9-5 remote job, and I want a space that is well suited for my lifestyle. And it’s not just me, the van life movement has been exponentially growing since the pandemic so there is a ton of room for innovation and a large customer base in this arena.

The Vellum process from design to construction felt like a respite from school. What ended up happening was that my Vellum project heavily influenced the trajectory of my Thesis project. For Thesis I became engulfed justifying that my two worlds: that of architecture, and that of product, are more similar than the general audience understands. I found out that I was mostly right about this sentiment, although I didn’t know what the use case for this conclusion was quite yet. I felt a little lost as to what the actual design project might be coming out of my thinking.

I want to design a mobile and minimal space that accommodates the remote worker and digital nomads to take their 9-5 to the road. Not quite a tiny home or an Airstream, but somewhat of a cross over between these spaces. Early on I thought about themes with modularity, mobility, and beauty too.

I decided to revisit an old, but strong sentiment I have about designing for our post pandemic world. I wondered what opportunities were

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Fig 18: Vellum 'car table' in use

Fig 19: Vellum 'car table' in context

VELLUM

I think some great first steps for me to start exploring this is to get out there and get to know the problem space. My first step has been to take a trip! I have tried living out of my car (with my new Vellum car table piece) and document my process including what I need, what’s missing, what’s nice to have, etc. More importantly, I need to conduct extensive research on what’s out there in the market. Lastly, of course, talking to my ideal customer base. Going to van life group settings and learning more about why they prefer this lifestyle, what their issues are, and what challenges and obstacles prevent people from living and working on the go. How could I help people make the transition? These bread crumbs helped me hit the ground running with a schematic design by the start of winter quarter. I also sought to have also to have some product leaders and designers to help me see this project through. These mentors could help me to follow a product-oriented methodical process in addition to an architectural one.

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C U R R E N T S TAT E

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Fig 20: Digital nomad doing work

Fig 21: Digital nomad dwelling in her van

Fig 22: Graph of financial compensation of remote workers verse non remote workers

Image Credits: Fig 19: 19 : https://wanderingwheatleys .com/van-life-tips/ Fig 20: https://www.forbes .com/sites/kaeliconfor ti/2020/07/25/3-things-no-one-ever-mentions-about-being-a-digital-nomad/?sh=3853c494181b Fig 21: https://www.payscale.com/research-and-insights/remote-work/

CURRENT STATE

PROBLEMS TURN TO OPPORTUNITIES What does home mean to us? Where will home be when we graduate? Is home always in one place? Is it a feeling that you get in different places?

time, I was able to travel greater distances and free myself from some of the lesser wanted routines and permanence that comes with in person responsibilities. Most recently I’ve landed a full-time remote job for graduation in which I’ve found myself pondering some big questions about what home might look like to me, and how remote work can help me to make it reality.

There is no doubt that during COVID-19 we were all faced with tremendous difficulties and uncertainties. Nevertheless, in the face of adversity, we have found incredible opportunities for innovation: for new ways of looking at how we do things. Throughout all this uncertainty, one thing remains true; the pandemic has changed the trajectory of how we conduct our professional and personal lives.

According to Project Untethered, 17 million people recorded having aspirations to become closer to this digital nomadism lifestyle. With millennials and Gen-Zers making up the majority of people launching into this new way of life, there is now an opportunity for more upcoming graduates and young professionals to take hold of this kind of independence and free-spirited living - not to mention remote jobs are paying more than non-remote jobs.2 What I’ve found thus far is that it’s easier said than done.

Though we lost much of the in-person communication with our friends, our co-workers, and our peers, we also were able to find silver linings within this new “remote work” world. We have been able to cancel our commutes and mute those meaningless meetings (with all their bureaucracies,) to make more time for doing whatever we want with it.

While remote work has already freed many new graduates from traditional expectations of a 9-5 job, these young professionals are still unable to fully transition toward working anywhere at any time because of logistical challenges, expense, and feasibility.

This paradigm shift towards digital nomadism has grown by 50% over the last year with over 4 million people flocking to adventure and untethering themselves from the stuckness that has become so relatable to everyone over the course of this pandemic.1 People are taking advantage of remote work, by creating their own, more mobilized, ideas of what home and work can be. I too am not privy to this opportunity as I worked remotely at Autodesk as a Product Management intern last summer. During this

This is the space that I’m exploring for Thesis, and I’m curious to employ my role as both a student of architecture and upcoming product manager, to ideate solutions to address these misfits and nomads that just want to find a new way home.

1. Smith, “These Remote Workers Road Trip and Camp with Full-Time Jobs.” 2. “2021 State of Remote Work Report.”

VISION

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Fig 23: Final render of Untethered

VISION

THE VISION Even though over 4 million people in the US currently partake in digital nomadism, another 17 million recorded having aspirations for living like digital nomads.2 Sure, it might just be that people don’t put action behind their words, but I spoke to numerous individuals who are currently living from the road or aspire to, and dove head first into research to really understand what some of the challenges are with digital nomadism.

needs. It’s assembly takes less than a day yet it can remain on any site for weeks to months at a time. When adventure calls elsewhere, easily disassemble walls and fold up the floor plates onto a trailer, hitch it to your car, and drive off to wherever is next.

H OW M I G H T W E Q U E S T I O N S How might we make it more accessible, affordable, and feasible, for young professionals to transition to living on the road (digital nomadism) while working remotely?

Take Taylor as an example, who partook in van life initially for vacation and recreational reasons. Even though his remote job as a software engineer allowed him to be anywhere at any time, he did not feel that his camper van was equipped with what he needed to get his work done.

How might we design a trailer or outdoor living space that accommodates for and enhances a remote working space while lacking complete permanence?

What if Taylor was able to have the comfort of his home, proper setup for work, and could still live lean and lightly for maximum mobility and convenience?

How might we capitalize on the opportunity of remote work by designing solutions that enable people to combine their work life with a life full of adventure and travel?

Untethered is a kit of parts that lies at the intersection of comfort and mobile convenience, allowing a person to be at ‘home’ anytime, anywhere. Relying on lightweight materials and flexible means of construction, Untethered allows the user to layout their floor plan and wall components to accommodate their individual

How can designers address and empower the younger generations looking to create their own version of ‘home’ that is mobilized, independent, and untethered? How can we combine the mobile convenience and compactibility of modern day camping solutions with the architectural quality and beauty that makes us call something ‘home’?

3. Mitch, “15 Digital Nomad Statistics and Curious Trends [*2022 Update*].”

MARKET RESEARCH

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Fig 24: TAM SAM SOM analysis

Fig 25: Matrix of survey respondents

MARKE T RESEARCH

IDENTIF YING THE MARKET It is no secret that the pandemic has spurred a huge influx of remote workers and that this new way of working remotely is here to stay. In fact, by 2025, it is projected that there will be 36.2 million Americans working remotely.3 As remote work has become a more feasible option for people, so has the opportunity to travel, work, and adventure at the same time: since 2019 the digital nomadism movement has grown by 50%.4 Furthermore, dozens of companies have popped up that serve this ‘digital nomad’ community with retrofitted sleeper vans and big RV park conglomerates.5

force of 36.2 million Americans. ‘Digital nomads’ is a term that is widely used and understood as those who are working remotely while traveling and adventuring. In the US just over 21 million people identify themselves as such. My service addressable market (SAM) would be the sum of current American remote works that aspire to partake in digital nomadism at 21.8 million Americans. Lastly, the service obtainable market, which will act as the first market segment I would like to go after, is 44% of today’s digital nomads that are millennials at 9.6 million individuals.7 Since millennials make up the majority of the digital nomadism movement, they will be the first market sector that I will aim to capture.

In an effort to employ my skills as an entrepreneur and product manager, I wanted to employ the commonly known ‘TAM SAM SOM’ method to size the market that I seek to serve.6

So the logical next step after recognizing and sizing the market, is to get a more intimate TAM SAM SOM is used to approximate a market understanding of who the stakeholders are opportunity for innovation in a targeted space by and start asking the right questions to validate breaking down the different levels of submarkets some of our assumptions around the problem. that exist within the greater markets. TAM is the Additionally, being able to size the market largest market, and SOM being the smallest. This opportunity like a real product manager would strategy informs us of which submarkets should bring much more depth and validation to any be captured first. The first market to capture is future design decisions. the service obtainable market (SOM) first, then processed to the service addressable markets In an effort to discover my specific target market (SAM), and lastly aim to capture the entire TAM, and early adopters, for my primary research I or total addressable market. Shown in the sketch sought to conduct a series of initial discovery is a breakdown of my numbers. interviews. This helped me to better understand the van life and digital nomadism atmosphere My total addressable market (TAM) is the high and the spectrum of individuals involved in this level view of the market of everyone that could lifestyle, and therefore, how the problems will be captured by my product in the long term differ for them all. In doing this initial round of future; In this case it is the lengthy goal to interviews I am better able to identify exactly eventually capture the entire remote working who my buyer persona is. 4. “Statistics On Remote Workers That Will Surprise You (2022).” 5. Smith, “These Remote Workers Road Trip and Camp with Full-Time Jobs.”

USER RESEARCH

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fig 26: Character persona - Fred

fig 27: Character persona - Taylor

USER RESEARCH

TALKING TO STAKEHOLDERS In order to conduct these interviews I needed to brainstorm the best places to find these people. Some of the places I used to look for these potential interviewees included the Cal Poly Van Life club, researching and contacting a variety of big and small “digital nomad” influencer's on Instagram, LinkedIn, and by word of mouth.

I N T E RV I E W S T RU C T U R E Some of the major themes I sought to understand around remote work and van life were how possible they are for these individuals including what the biggest challenges are and what the relationship is between remote work and van life (if at all). Here’s a general flow of what the initial interviews looked like (which of course changed and adapted as a normal conversation often does) Tell me about your set up or your “rig”, what brought you to this lifestyle? What’s the hardest part about that lifestyle for you today? What’s the biggest hurdle initially getting into that lifestyle? What do you do for work? Have you considered remote work? why/why not? Why the van / why not a trailer? Did you consider other builds? What’s your dream work & living set up? How do you define home?

Identities of interviewees have been altered for confidentiality.

NICCI Nicci is a second year student at Cal Poly. She couldn’t get an internship as a freshman and so she expanded upon her growing interest with van life by buying and building out her own van, ‘rig’ as it’s often dubbed.8 Not only did this build her resume, but it also allowed her to live rent free and constantly go on adventures around the San Luis Obispo Area. Her biggest problem with her set up was all the maintenance and constant problems that she ran into while living in the van. “Home is about having a comfortable place for you. For me, that’s my van.”

TAY L O R Taylor initially bought and built out his first van because he wanted to use it for backpacking, climbing, hiking, and surfing excursions. The longest trips he ever took at a time was two weeks before he had to rent out an air bnb to finally get a shower! Taylor expressed his desire to capitalize on his new remote job as a software engineer by working full time out of his van but he just couldn’t do it because the van is an inadequate set up to fulfill his job. He

6. “The #Vanlife Business Is Booming - The New York Times.” 7. How to Calculate Your Startup’s TAM, SAM and SOM.” 8. Mitch, “15 Digital Nomad Statistics and Curious Trends [*2022 Update*].” 9. “Buying & Building A Rig.”

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”

“I WOULD LOVE TO LIVE AND WORK FROM THE ROAD BUT I NEED A LONG TERM AND FUNCTIONAL SET UP TO PROPERLY RUN MY BUSINESS.”

“ I D O N ’ T WA N T T O S AC R I F I C E C O M F O RT A N D B E AU T Y T O L I V E O N T H E R OA D.” “AN RV IS TOO EXPENSIVE AND MY TRUCK ISN’T COMFORTABLE.”

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USER RESEARCH

needs consistent wifi and dual monitor setup for starters. He also mentioned that vans are expensive and timely to build. Not to mention how permanent they are! Taylor think a big reason people hold off from van life is the decision to buy (and often build out) a van is a huge commitment. He eventually sold his van with no use for it while living in the big city of New York. He hopes to get back on the road at some capacity soon as he loves the freedom and flexibility that accompany the ‘van life’ living.

Crosstrek like a bed, storage, and curtains. These bare necessities allow him to day multi-day trips out in the wilderness, but he can’t be gone for too long since he doesn’t have everything he needs in his Crosstrek to survive. He mentioned how cramped the Crosstrek can be and how quickly everything gets dirty. He doesn’t know for sure where he will be living in the next 6 months. Even though he thinks the remote lifestyle isn’t for him, his variety of wilderness jobs require him to live on site, and his Subaru has become the answer for that.

“Home is wherever you are comfortable. It’s a fluid definition, not place bound. Everyone’s experience is so individualized.”

“Home is a place that I haven’t found yet. My adventures and new experiences are going to help me find it.”

Biggest hurdle for full time van life and remote work is that he needs all the components: shower, cooking, cleaning, sleeping, working space, etc.

JOSE Jose is a van life veteran. He’s already on his second build out and has a fully functioning kitchen, toilet, showering, and sleeping space with heat and AC! What luxury for a van lifer! Jose was very quickly inspired by this free and independent way of living especially after dealing with enough headaches with landlords in San Luis Obispo. Jose expressed some of the difficulties in his experience are number one being the cost and time commitment that building out a van takes. He’s a mechanical engineer so thankfully designing systems in

CAL Cal was inspired at an early age to join in on the roadie lifestyle when he saw his mentor living in such a way. He realized that it was completely feasible if you are okay with not having all the luxuries in the world. You can get started right away! Since then he’s been taking steps to slowly build out components in his Subaru

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Fig 28: Survey responses - type of work #. Sur vey results

#. Sur vey results

Fig 29: Survey responses - car camping interest level

#. Sur vey results

Fig 30: Survey responses - digital nomad interest level

USER RESEARCH

his vehicle was easier for him than most. His biggest concern right now is figuring out how to support himself financially, he would love to work remotely while living out of his van but he fears that as a mechanical engineering graduate, all the jobs offered will be in person only. “Home is about having the freedom to go anywhere. I can go anywhere, easily take my bikes out... I have everything I need here.”

S U RV EY I sought to understand more about the desires and challenges around van life and digital nomadism in my more immediate community. I created this survey to learn more from 30+ millennials in San Luis Obispo and their thoughts on living and working from the road. When asked about the challenges of living and working from the road, 37% of respondents said that a camper van is not equipped with what they need to get their day job done. Another 34% said that getting a remote job is their biggest hurdle to partaking in digital nomadism. When asked about the benefits of remote work, 62% of participants said the “ability to travel and live in different places” was the most enticing benefit to remote work and 19% said the biggest benefit to them was the “flexible work hours.” 9

10. “Remote Work & Travel.”

needs more

COMPETITIVE A N A LY S I S

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#. Sur vey results

Fig 31: Value Matrix diagram

COMPE TITIVE ANALYSIS

E XISTING SOLUTIONS L ANDSCAPE An important step as a product manager is to carefully examine existing solutions and identify where they do not serve the gap in the market. The most popular solutions that currently exist for a space to host living and working from anywhere at any time are vehicles, and campers.10 This can range from camper vans, RVs, travel trailers, towables, or any combination of them. Another viable option is people traveling around the world and staying in hostels, hotels, and Air Bnb's while working too.11 Before getting into why these solutions are not serving a unique segment of the market, I will lay out a more formal definition of existing solutions. Here is a breakdown of the existing solutions for life on the road.

T OWA B L E S Towables are classified as either a “bumper pull” or a “haulable.” This sector has a ton of variety and has had a lot of innovation in this arena over the last decade.12 Here’s a bit more about he breakdown:

BUMPER PULLS There is a ton of variety with bumper pulls from tiny trailers that can be pulled by motorbikes, to structures that weigh over 4,000 pounds and up to 40 feet long and can only be towed by the selective powerful trucks.13 The most popular solution in this category are Teardrops, Pop-up Campers, and Travel Trailers.

M OT O R H O M E S

T E A R D RO P S

Motor homes come in three classes, A, B, and C. Class A motor homes are the huge drivable RVs that you often see on the road that look like big buses. Class B are the classic ‘van life’ sprinter vans. These can be bought, built out or customized if the owner chooses too - though it is really expensive! These vehicles have been nicknamed camper vans. Class C is sort of a hybrid between classes A and B, it looks like a cross over between a van and a bus.

A teardrop trailer is one of the smallest camper types and one of the lightest. They typically weigh between 500 and 3,000 pounds, but the average is closer to 1,500. Some camper trailers have a gross vehicle weight rating as high as 7,000 pounds. What has intrigued me the most are the trailers because they allow for more flexibility and less permanence and maintenance that a converted

11. “The Pandemic Pushed More Americans to Try out van Life.” 12. “Digital Nomads Find the Perfect Solution to Work and Live Remotely While Traveling the Globe.” 13. “Ultimate Guide To RV Types.” 14. Only, “What Are the Different Kinds of Trailers?”

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Fig 32: Timberleaf Classic

Fig 33: Earth Traveler T250LX

Image Credits: Fig 32: 32 : “Classic Teardrop Trailer | Offroad, Lighweight , Overland Trailers .”digital-nomad/?sh=3853c494181b Fig 33: “EARTH T250L X — Ear th Traveler Teardrop Trailers .”

COMPE TITIVE ANALYSIS

van requires. What I have yet to find is if one of these trailers is tailored to the remote worker and has enough space for the person to be comfortable, equipped to do their job, and inspired by the space they are in. I will give the most credit to travel trailers, especially teardrops, because they offer the versatility are relatively affordable. Here’s a few examples.

nuCamp Tab 400 Teardrop Camper The nuCamp is remarkable because it is able to pack everything you need into a relatively small space. It comes fully equipped with a kitchen, sleeping, and even a bathroom and ‘wet room’ space which is remarkable for a teardrop trailer.16

Timberleaf Classic This trailer comes fully insulated and the design allows for a lot of storage and cooking space as well as a luxurious sleeping space.14 Although there is no place to conduct your remote job or room for another guest, I appreciate the intention and simplicity behind this design.

Although there’s no way my ideal customer could conduct their work, or take a shower inside of a haulable, it is worth noting these solutions because they can be paired with other solutions. I have seen these used to get closer to living and working full time from the road. This includes truck bed systems, cargo carriers, and rooftop tents. I think of all of these as accessories to using your vehicle as your main place of dwelling. Though they can offer a lot in terms of storage and a place to sleep, they are not sufficient to completely live off the grid. After a thorough investigation of the current existing solutions on the market, I needed to get more specific on why these solutions were insufficient to solve the problems of the stakeholders that I interviewed.

H AU L A B L E S

Earth Traveler T250LX This trailer definitely comes at a premium that would probably be out of the price range for my ideal customers, but what I appreciate about this design is how incredibly light it is. This is quite suitable for those who already have a solid vehicle that they would want to continue to use such as a Subaru but require something lighter for towing capabilities.15 I really appreciate about this design the appendages that create shading devices or new programs from the main body of the trailer.

15. “Classic Teardrop Trailer | Offroad, Lighweight, Overland Trailers.” 16. “EARTH T250LX — Earth Traveler Teardrop Trailers.” 17. “TAB 400 Teardrop Campers – The Largest Teardrop Camper.”

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Fig 34: Residential experiential precedent

Image Credits: Figures 34: 34 : “Atelier for a Sculpture Ar tist / Maximilian Eisenköck Architecture.”

COMPE TITIVE ANALYSIS

BRING BACK THE BE AUT Y T H E C A S E F O R B R I N G I N G B AC K B E AU T Y

Motorhomes are way too big, expensive, and permanent of a solution for my ideal buyer. The teardrop trailers are the most feasible and affordable solutions however they currently take 15-20 months wait time to get one, can still easily cost thousands of dollars, and don’t necessarily cater to the remote worker with a lack of a workspace setup. Vans seem to have better potential for workplace set ups yet vans themselves run into huge issues with maintenance and are extremely expensive to buy built out or take the expertise and time to build out on your own. As a busy remote worker, my customer isn’t going to have time to learn how to build out their own van - nor do they want to do that. But it shouldn’t cost upwards of 40,000 dollars to get the same basic needs met.

With many of the existing solutions on the market, it is easy to see how function was heavily prioritized over form. In many of the interviews I conducted with potential stakeholders, I learned that people don’t want to sacrifice the natural beauty and luxury in their homes, to be living leanly on the road. Frankly, I don’t think that’s a sacrifice any one should have to make - especially when you plan to live in one space for weeks to months at a time. If you have ever been inside of an RV or travel camper, they aren’t the most inspiring spaces. They’re often cramped, confined by the physical boundaries and limitations of the width of the road, with little to no relationship with the outside world. The whole point of traveling on the road is to enjoy the natural beauty of the outdoor environment, why shouldn’t our dwelling spaces reflect, and emulate that beauty too?

Untethered lies at the intersection of mobile convenience and comfort. It is a space that combines the functionality and beauty that we love in our homes today, and applies to it the value we get from camping: minimal set up, flexibility, and lightweight materials. Untethered would have all the amenities and features of what we require from our homes to keep us comfortable. Furthermore the space must allow us to do our remote jobs, while also equipping us to face every day as an adventure and opportunity to be wherever we want, whenever.

Maximilian Eisenkock Architecture designs ‘Atelier for a Sculpture Artist’ for artist Ms. Monika Rienoessl, who, wanted Maximilian Eisenkock Architecture to design her ‘dream home’ with a minimalist, white pavilion home as a place to display her work. The vision for her home was that it be constructed with as few

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Fig 35: Trailer precedent CABN exterior

Fig 36: Trailer precedent CABN interior

Image Credits: fig # : “An Australian Tiny Home / CABN.”

COMPE TITIVE ANALYSIS

T OW I N G C A PAC I T Y

materials as possible and with a low budget.17 The result is a structure that appears as light as air, never disrupting the beauty of the sculptures that lay within it. Furthermore, the open floor plan allows for maximum flexibility of the interior spaces, not confining the user to use any space in a specified way.18 I drew heavily from this precedent, both in its exterior lightweight and aesthetic qualities, as well as its versatile and simplistic interiors.

Since some of these solutions I looked at required vehicles with high towing capacity, I thought it made sense to consider which are the most popular vehicles used today by digital nomads and those that would fall in my customer segment.20 The following are the most popular outdoor vehicles and their towing capacity (TC). This helped to drive what weight my total structure could be based on the vehicles that my current customers are using.21

I also wanted to see if anyone out there had made an attempt to make a travel trailer solution more beautiful and “homey” feeling. CABN’s “An Australian Tiny Home” does just that. Situated on a 271 square meters mobile trailer, this tiny home can be plopped onto almost any site.19 This travel trailer is set far apart from its competitors because it actually feels like a home. The materials have been chosen with great intentionality to allow a person to dwell and connect with nature, not simply to survive against it. Although this travel trailer is quite massive and weighs far too much to be towed by your average vehicle, it serves as precedent that beauty and mobility can go together when form and function are considered in synchronicity.

Subaru Outback, TC: 2,700 to 3,500 lbs Subaru Crosstrek, TC: 1,500 lbs Jeep Wrangler, TC: 2,000 to 3,500 lbs Acura ILX, TC: 2,000 lbs Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk, TC: 6,200 lbs

18. 19. “Atelier for a Sculpture Artist / Maximilian Eisenköck Architecture.”sdfsf11 20. “An Australian Tiny Home / CABN.” 21. Digital Nomads Find the Perfect Solution to Work and Live Remotely While Traveling the Globe.” 22. “The Best Cars For Outdoor Enthusiasts | EchoPark.”

E A R LY I D E AT I O N & PROTOTYPING

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Fig 37: Section sketches

EARLY IDEATION

MATERIALIZING FORM One of my favorite parts of the design process is when you begin the earliest stages of ideation and brainstorming. You don’t have to say no to any ideas that come your way, and you also don’t have to get too attached to any particular solutions yet either. As a product manager, I have thoroughly sought to consider the business case, validating the market for this product, as well as talking to a variety of customer archetypes, validating the problem space. Now, as an architecture student, I bring forward a variety of strategies for early ideation. After such a logical lens to this problem space, I sought to rely on a more sculptural, and free-thinking approach to explore a variety of forms for Untethered. Untethered, as a product, lends itself to being functional with effective engineering and an intentional use of limited space, but it does not leave behind beauty in doing so. My interwoven beliefs about complexity, beauty, and simplicity were formed around a variety of architectural and philosophical conversations.

contrary, argues that architecture becomes more interesting as it increases in complexity. 22 Breuer brings forward a point about what he calls “honest architect,” architect that doesn’t come together by a selfish visionary but rather answers a problem in a straightforward manner. He goes on to say that architecture doesn’t need to leave reality, but rather, allow the beauty of innovative technologies and construction to speak for itself. This sentiment around simplicity and beauty deeply resonated with my intentions from Untethered. Although I initially felt that the scope of my project was small (and maybe too simple), I think Breuer would agree with me that there is plenty of beauty to be had in a smaller scale project like this one. I believe everyone should have access to a beautiful space, a space that invigorates their inner explorer, and equips them to live comfortably in uncharted territories.

SIMPLICITY AND COMPLEXITY One of these conversations was a dialogue between Marcel Breuer and Robert Venturi In ‘Simplicity and Complexity.’ Breuer urges for architecture to be stripped of its ornamentation and rather focus on simple volumes with technological advances, and Robert, on the

23. “Chapter 1 - Simplicity and Complexity - REFLECTION I DISCUSSION INTRODUCING ARCHITECTURAL THEORY.”

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Fig 39: Early folding concept model

Fig 38: Early concept models

EARLY IDEATION

P ROT OT Y P I N G

and easy to set up, and so this helped to drive my design for Untethered to evolve in the same way. At first, I thought the floor plans might fold out from some kind of a trailer, and that the home would assemble in such a way that it sits on top of this trailer. I later realized that it became a much more interesting concept when it folded out in its entirety, not just a folding platform for something to sit on, but rather a living, breathing, changing, organism. Furthermore, for the home to be elevated off the ground is to suggest that it can land on any territory and stay there for however long it wants. There’s a special experience for us humans when we are slightly off the ground; Like a treehouse, or a cozy front porch, we feel safe and at home.

Another important facet to my design process is creating quick, iterative, prototypes to flesh out different ideas. My main medium has been cardboard and chipboard to get ideas out quickly, but to also not get overly attached to any idea. In this way I’m able to focus more on communicating the idea itself, not to get caught up in the details. These were models that took a lot of beating from being carried to and from my house and school, throwing in backpacks, being ripped apart (on purpose) by my peers and my professor, and being drawn over, rearranged, and made better. The chipboard model image shown was one of my most pivotal models. What is shown by the model is the relationship between the vehicle and the structure, two components that must work together to make Untethered possible. I did not want a person’s car to be extraneous, but rather be an integral part to the product where one component can’t exist without the other. The car table that IU designed for Vellum operates in the same way, it cannot be set up without the car being available for it to latch onto. Furthermore, from Vellum, I became fixed on my fascination for folding hinges, and the like. I thought about how the folding makes my car table so light, compact,

DESIGNING IN SECTION After defining my own intentions around simplicity and beauty, part of the 5th year curriculum encouraged us students to design through sections. I have found this strategy to be quite successful in previous projects, and so I got out the trace paper and chipboard and began to rapidly produce sketches, models, charcoal drawings, and whatever else I could to spit out ideas. The sculptural approach came first for this project in broad stroke ideas for what the overall gesture of the architecture could

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Fig 40: Section show poster

EARLY IDEATION

be. Drawing from high quality remote residential projects, other innovative travel trailers, and completely other projects like temporary disaster relief shelters, I wanted to emphasize beauty in simplicity and simplicity in ease of construction. By exploring and designing in section, I was able to get a sense of the different interior spaces, consider the thresholds between inside and outside, and developed an aptitude for a simple elongated rectangle shape for the body of the structure, with one bold move on top: a slanted roof structure. I went through a series of iterations on what that bold roof move might be, and eventually landed on a butterfly structure as it best divided up the interior space, creating exciting progression through interior spaces, and offered an immense amount of sustainable and thermal opportunities for its occupants. In section this structure does look like a butterfly, not only with its roof shape, but as it lands onto the ground, and splays out its wings to rest. Building components are thin and lightweight, but incredibly strong. Untethered can easily fold up its wings and prepare for takeoff to the next location.

out of its shape. Essentially, it became vital to not leave behind the car when designing the architecture. I really appreciated this comment and moving forward would like to better define the role of the ‘car’ in Untethered. This will be a challenge since the car belonging to each nomad may be different from the next. At minimum, I thought it made sense to utilize the car in the assembly process. Not only does the vehicle tow the trailer from location to location, but it could hitch up to wall panels and pull them out to aid in the setup process. Since the panels are relatively light, the user can assemble much of the product him or herself too.

FIGURING OUT FOLDING Upon my fixation with folding and notes from Qualifying Review, I spent time sorting out how Untethered folds up including what it looks like when assembled, and what it looks like when it’s in transportation mode. When in transportation mode, this shape is constrained to the dimensions of the road, I looked to conventional trailer sizes to get those dimensions. Then I had to consider appropriate and proportional dimensions for floor, wall, and roof components which all have different functions, loads, and are set at different angles. A challenge here was getting the height of the space I wanted, without compromising an awkward trailer with huge panels. It’s a balance game.

Q UA L I F Y I N G R E V I E W One note that I received from a qualifying review that really stuck with me was to consider the role of the vehicle in my design and to continue to refine the ability for my product to fold in and

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Fig 41: Untethered folding diagram and model photos

EARLY IDEATION

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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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Fig 42: Programmatic spaces early sketches

PRODUCT DE VELOPMENT

SPACE & PROGRAM P RO C E S S I O N O F S PAC E S

What are the different components needed to fully live and work in a mobile space? Something I heard throughout interviewing different folks was the necessity for all things survival in their outdoor living space as well as a space that could be better suited for remote work. This is something that is not currently catered to with existing solutions on the market today.

IIt was important in my design process to primarily focus on three main spaces: the sleeping space, the living and working space, and the utility space (think bathroom, gas, power, etc.). I wanted to design a procession through these spaces that accounts for how loud each space will be. To maximize use of space I also had to get creative with placing adjacent programs that require similar needs such as kitchen and bathroom space both need access to water. Oftentimes in our designs the bathrooms, or other utility type spaces are afterthoughts.

Some people I interviewed loved to surf, and so they designed their vans with optimal space for boards and places to hang wet towels. Similarly, another interviewee loved to mountain bike and so a significant portion of his van built out has a carved-out space for his bikes. But what if an outdoor living space was designed specifically for the remote worker in mind? Some of the most critical programs to account for in Untethered include sleeping space, working space, eating space (cooking, cleaning), bathroom & utility space for power, storage space.

For a digital nomad, this space is essential, so I wanted to design the utility space in a thoughtful way. I designed the utility space as the center “core” to the program instead of shoving it in a corner where we can forget about it as the designer. By placing it in the center, all programs get access to what they need and there’s a divider between more loud and shared spaces with the quieter sleeping spaces. Additionally, since this is the heaviest program where water and gas will need to be refilled it made sense to place these statically on the trailer. In the diagrams shown you will see how the ‘louder’ spaces equated to the eating / living / community spaces and the more private

Of course, every van build out is individualized and caters to different needs depending on the individual. Therefore it has been important for me to get really clear on exactly who the person is that I am designing for. Although this build may not have a ton of space for boards and bikes, it will be designed with a different, less catered to but critical need of the digital nomad: getting shit done!

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Fig 43: Floor plan

1:4

Fig 44: Unfolding & floor plan diagram

Fig 45: Early floor construction model

PRODUCT DE VELOPMENT

3,000 pounds so it can be towed by a variety of popular outdoor enthusiast vehicles like a Subaru Outback, and most SUVs and trucks.23

spaces being the sleeping space. The working space was tricky because every individual has different preferences. They may prefer to work in complete silence with no visual disturbances, versus other people who enjoy working close to windows, or near some pleasant white noise, like how people choose to get work done in coffee shops. In this way the open floor plan allows for the user to pick where they might dwell day to day and how they might customize their space to meet their professional and personal needs.

IN A WORLD OF HINGES Through a more technical exploration, I arrived at a double hinge to allow for folding wall, floor, and roof components to fold flat at 90-degree angles, and at 180-degree angles depending on its intended function. I did a mockup of how this hinge might work and needed to figure out how it connects to panel pieces and, later, how a flexible, fabric type of material may attach to it to create an enclosed space.

T OW I N G C A PAC I T Y & S Q UA R E F O OTAG E An important design consideration is how heavy this product might be and if it is getting towed, by which vehicles will that be possible. This had a significant impact on square footage, however, I also wanted one of the main selling points of my product to be that you can triple the amount of square footage and double the height of spaces once this product is fully assembled. When folded up as a trailer, this thing sits on a trailer that’s less than 8’ wide and 9’ long. Once the main structure is unfolded, the footprint becomes just over 200 square feet. The space becomes much more habitable as a long-term home and a proper working space. Due to the lightweight materials and simple construction, my target weight class for this product is under

24. “The Best Cars For Outdoor Enthusiasts | EchoPark.”

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Fig 46: Double hinge model

Fig 47: Floor construction early sketch

Fig 48: Tongue & groove wall section sketch

PRODUCT DE VELOPMENT

Fig 49: Detail show model - showing cut list

Fig 50: Cut list sketch

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S P E C I F I C AT I O N S

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Fig 51: Detail show model

Fig 52: Gooseneck & Boom detail

Fig 53: Detail and material identification sketch

Fig 54: Aluminum framing from Rexroth

Image Credits: Fig 54: https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/us/products/product-groups/assembly-technology/topics/aluminumprofiles-solutions-components/

SPECIFICATIONS

KIT OF PARTS ASSEMBLY Product managers are often responsible for producing what’s commonly known as the product specifications, or, the ‘specs.’ A Product Specification is an important aspect of product documentation in which the spec outlines key requirements for building a new feature, functionality, or product.24 As an architecture student, the specs refer to what materials I can use and how those materials are constructed, paying close attention to a variety of unconventional, product-oriented precedents along the way.

strong. Another example where you might see an application for a channel of titanium is in a lacrosse stick.

PA N E L S

The main panels are foam which are framed with aluminum. Inspired by a San Luis Obispo local architecture firm, Virtrvianbuilt, these panels are incredibly rigid and extremely light.26 In fact, I did a full scale wall assembly mockup made up of foam panels with tongue and groove connections to see just if my customer K I T O F PA RT S could really lift and handle these panels - they can! Furthermore I explored our college’s Untethered isn’t an ordinary building, but rather architecture library for some lightweight cladding a product-engineered piece of architecture made possibilities. up of a kit of parts. The ‘kit of parts’ that makeup this product may be compared to the materials FLOOR PIECES in a blueprint or to the ingredients in a recipe. Although the main structure for the floor is also the foam panels, I wanted to allow a user to add S T RU C T U R E a different material to the floor to make them feel at home. Inspired by temporary street dance The primary structure or ‘bones’ of this project platforms, I searched for a product that could consists of using Rexroth aluminum and titanium be assembled as an elevated floor system, each Unistrut framing members. The company Rexroth piece smaller than 3’ wide and that come in a produces these c-channel framing members variety of colors and styles to make you feel right all the time; you often see them used to set up at home. The Marazzi group makes a raised floor temporary structures like a concert performance. system for rapid applications, flexibility, high 25 They can also have more unconventional levels of personalization, and low cost : perfect!27 applications since they are incredibly light and

25. “Product Specs.” 26. “Aluminum Profiles - Solutions & Components.” 27. “The Vitruvian Building System.”“The Advantages of Raised Floors | Marazzi.” New Atlas.” 28. “The Advantages of Raised Floors | Marazzi.”

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SPECIFICATIONS

GLAZING & FILLING To minimize the size of the trailer in transport, I sought for as few rigid pieces as possible. In the cross section you see how the rigid panels unfold into the primary shape, but to enclose that space, the rest of the ‘walls’ became inflatable glazing, or “pillows.” The inspiration for these pillows came from a few precedents including the Beijing Olympic swimming pool which utilizes their own inflatable glazing system known as the ‘Ice Cube.’ Another more recent technology made by Airclad is inflatable glazing that can be both opaque or transparent and has easy setup and a variety of applications.28

CONNECTORS The connections between the glazing pillows and the framing elements of my product are what I call “gooseneck zippers” On a sailboat, the boom attaches the mast by a swivel connection known as a gooseneck, it works similar to a zipper by fastening two different materials together via a sliding mechanism.29

29. “Airclad X - Fast Architecture That Lasts.” 30. “Gooseneck (Sailing).”

Fig 55: Ulm Church interior Fig 56: Ulm Church exterior Image Credits: Fig 56: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm_Minster

DETOUR TO GERMANY

MOVING FAST & UP Our class field trip to Germany was both fantastic and exhausting for me. Since we only had one week for the trip, we went sightseeing at a pace that was challenging to keep up with. Yet the plus about this was how much we got to see all the way from the northern tip to the southern parts of Germany, traveling by bus, train, and plane, to see some of the country’s most interesting cities including Stuttgart Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, and more. I think the pace of the trip reminded me of the quarter system culture at Cal Poly: it’s a lot, and it moves very quickly, but in this way, you get a lot out of it. Only at such a fast pace were we able to hit so many cities and see such a diversity of architecture and culture within one country. One of my most memorable experiences from the trip included the tour of the Ulm Church. Certainly, one of the oldest buildings we saw in Germany, I found myself astounded by the incredible feat in height as well as technological advancements for its time. Furthermore, I was impressed with the dedication by the public and city to keep this building restored. The experience inside was quite grand with its massive flying buttresses, elaborate works of stained glass, and incredibly detailed woodwork in every corner of the cathedral.

To my surprise, our tour guide took us through an old overlooked wooden door, hidden off to the side of the building. We took to a long spiraling staircase certainly not up to building code which made it all the more fun. We eventually ascended to the inner body, or the heart of the building and I got to see what a flying buttress looked like from the inside out. The history and materiality of the building was quite fascinating but truly what I will never forget was how special and unordinary it felt to travel into the body of the beast: to see how the original masonry workers and priest, and the “insiders” would move through the building and what they might see. It truly took you back in time to see this. Just when I thought it couldn't get crazier, we were funneled through tiny trap door and suddenly found ourselves dangling off the side of a 500+ feet building looking down on tiny people and shops below us. The Ulm Church was a breathtaking and educative experience.

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PRODUCTION & L AU N C H

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Fig 57: Detail construction model

Fig 59: Night render of Untethered

PRODUCTION & L AUNCH

Fig 58: Render of construction model and 'gooseneck' detail

REFLECTION

5 YE ARS & COUNTING I’m deeply grateful for this studio experience and being in an environment where my unconventional ideas around architecture were encouraged. A few summers ago, when covid hit and I lost my internship, a lot of things I thought I knew about myself were turned on its head. After a whole year of discovering and building skills in tech, business, and other things that strayed from what I was learning in school, I was nervous about returning for 5th year and figuring out a way to connect all the dots.

process. I think the storytelling, along with the depth of my user research and interviews is what makes Untethered such a compelling and believable solution. I look forward to carrying on these strengths and I’m interested in seeing how they may unfold in a new industry of tech and digital design. Conversely, I think some challenges for myself will be to know which information is the most important to be shared and trying to be as succinct as possible - especially in the world of innovation and design where every stone of an idea needs to be turned over.

I have found a lot of joy in interweaving my multifaceted experience as a designer, an entrepreneur, and a soon to be product manager in my final Thesis year here at Cal Poly. I think only in this particular studio environment I was able to really push the boundaries of what architecture can mean, and covid created a really interesting new set of problems to tackle and design solutions for. Untethered has been an accumulation of my special skills and interests that I have collected over the last 5 years. I have always had an affinity for strong narrative building, producing quick sketches and models, and excellent process documentation. For me, beauty is not in the destination, but is in the

REFERENCES

SOURCES CITED Payscale - Salary Comparison, Salary Survey, Search Wages. “2021 State of Remote Work Report,” September 14, 2021. https://www. payscale.com/research-and-insights/remote-work/. “Airclad X - Fast Architecture That Lasts.” Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.aircladx.com/. Bosch Rexroth USA. “Aluminum Profiles - Solutions & Components.” Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/us/ products/product-groups/assembly-technology/topics/aluminum-profiles-solutions-components/. ArchDaily. “An Australian Tiny Home / CABN,” February 7, 2021. https://www.archdaily.com/900282/an-australian-tiny-home-cabn. ArchDaily. “Atelier for a Sculpture Artist / Maximilian Eisenköck Architecture,” November 15, 2021. https://www.archdaily.com/950679/ atelier-for-a-sculpture-artist-maximilian-eisenkock-architecture. Diversify Vanlife. “Buying & Building A Rig.” Accessed March 14, 2022. https://diversifyvanlife.com/buying-building-a-rig/. “CHAPTER-1 SIMPLICITY and COMPLEXITY.Pdf - READING I REFLECTION I DISCUSSION INTRODUCING ARCHITECTURAL THEORY : DEBATING A DISCIPLINE Edited by: Korydon | Course Hero.” Accessed June 9, 2022. https://www.coursehero.com/file/43634742/ CHAPTER-1-SIMPLICITY-and-COMPLEXITYpdf/. Timberleaf Trailers. “Classic Teardrop Trailer | Offroad, Lighweight, Overland Trailers.” Accessed June 6, 2022. https://timberleaftrailers. com/classic-teardrop-trailer/. Airbnb for Work. “Digital Nomads Find the Perfect Solution to Work and Live Remotely While Traveling the Globe,” January 20, 2021. https://www.airbnbforwork.com/resource/digital-nomads-find-the-perfect-solution-to-work-and-live-remotely-while-traveling-the-globe/. “EARTH T250LX — Earth Traveler Teardrop Trailers.” Accessed June 6, 2022. https://www.earthtravelerteardroptrailers.com/pro. “Gooseneck (Sailing).” In Wikipedia, February 20, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gooseneck_ (sailing)&oldid=1073077987. TechCrunch. “How to Calculate Your Startup’s TAM, SAM and SOM.” Accessed March 14, 2022. https://social.techcrunch. com/2022/03/09/how-to-calculate-your-startups-tam-sam-and-som/. Mitch. “15 Digital Nomad Statistics and Curious Trends [*2022 Update*].” Project Untethered, January 15, 2022. https://www. projectuntethered.com/digital-nomad-statistics/. “Product Specs.” Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.productplan.com/glossary/product-specs/. Google Docs. “Remote Work & Travel.” Accessed March 14, 2022. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffeXZNZ_ FjzqhrjB8SOl1Ns6lDQtGnxd-b7CgaoG5nyK9D6A/viewform?usp=embed_facebook. Smith, Jen Rose. “These Remote Workers Road Trip and Camp with Full-Time Jobs.” Hipcamp Journal - Stories for Hipcampers and Our Hosts, February 3, 2021. https://www.hipcamp.com/journal/camping/work-from-camp-remote-workers-road-trip-camp-with-full-timejobs/. Apollo Technical LLC. “Statistics On Remote Workers That Will Surprise You (2022),” January 16, 2022. https://www.apollotechnical.com/ statistics-on-remote-workers/. nuCamp RV. “TAB 400 Teardrop Campers – The Largest Teardrop Camper,” September 2, 2021. https://nucamprv.com/tab400-camper/. “The Advantages of Raised Floors | Marazzi.” Accessed June 10, 2022. https://www.marazzigroup.com/soluzioni-architettura/pavimentisopraelevati/i-vantaggi-del-pavimento-sopraelevato/. “The Best Cars For Outdoor Enthusiasts | EchoPark.” Accessed June 6, 2022. https://www.echopark.com/blog/2021/may/7/bestoutdoorsy-vehicles.htm. The Economist. “The Pandemic Pushed More Americans to Try out van Life,” June 5, 2021. https://www.economist.com/unitedstates/2021/06/05/the-pandemic-pushed-more-americans-to-try-out-van-life. “The #Vanlife Business Is Booming - The New York Times.” Accessed March 14, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/03/technology/ the-vanlife-business-is-booming.html. New Atlas. “The Vitruvian Building System: Green, Cost-Efficient and Fast,” February 16, 2009. https://newatlas.com/vitruvian-green-costeffective-building-system/10992/.