Materials & Manufacturing - Cast Away Raft

Cast Away Raft Materials & Manufacturing Final Lobna Akrab Interior & Industrial Masters May 2020

Cast Away Raft My raft is a miniature copy from the raft Tom Hanks used to escape the island in the iconic movie Cast Away with his friend Wilson the ball after his flight crashed into the ocean four years earlier.

I started by creating the floating structures on the side of the raft made by thick tree twigs and I used thread and manila rope to bind them. Then I created the surface by creating a square structure and used glue to attach the vertical twigs on it for the surface of the raft. After that I glued 4 piece of cork in the base of the raft to insure that it will float. I gave that a test first before working on the aesthetics and it worked perfectly! Then I started creating the tent on top by using a pasta cardboard and more twigs and rope. After that I added the final touches and I created Wilson from foil wrapped with tissue paper and cactus leaves for the hair.

The raft was manufactured from different materials that have various characteristics: • Wood twigs: Wood is a natural material and a natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that resists compression. There is a variety of woods in which some can float and some sink depending on the density of the wood type.

• Cardboard: It is a fibrous material that is turned into pulp and bleached to create one or more layers of board, which can be optionally coated for a better surface and/or improved appearance and it is a thick paper based material that has the properties of foldability as well as rigidity, it can easily be cut and formed yet it is strong and it has a very light weight.

• Cork: Cork is composed of dead cells that accumulate on the outer surface of the cork oak tree. It consists largely of empty space; its density (weight per unit volume) is one-fourth that of water. It’s light weight, elastic, compressible, works as an insulator, sustainable and eco friendly.

• Tissue paper: Tissue paper is also made from paper pulp, it’s key properties are absorbency, light weight, stretchiness and flexibility.

• Aluminum: It s a chemical element that is found combined with 270 different minerals. Aluminum has a very low density, it can be folded and shaped hot and cold, strong, corrosion resistant, recyclable and durable.

• Rope: Manila rope is made from Manila hemp which is a type of fiber obtained from the leaves of the abacá. The rope is very durable, flexible, and resistant to salt water damage, allowing its use in rope, hawsers, ships' lines, and fishing nets.