J.Neal Architecture & Design

Maggie Waggie

The ‘Maggie Waggie’ was a product exploration aiming to create better options for young families to encourage flexible and efficient mobility about the city without the need for mass transit or a motor vehicle.  The prototype was created from a salvaged 1979 Workmen Industrial Tricycle discovered on the roof of a Curtis Bay bicycle collector. The bike’s original use likely being for internal deliveries about Baltimore’s historic industrial complexes.

The box/child seat is made of an FSC Extira MDF product chosen for dimensional stability and capacity for a smooth milling process. The box was design with finger joints so as to avoid any mechanical fasteners. Additionally, all updated bike mechanics were custom machined. The new seat cushion is made of antimicrobial foam, which is wrapped in sunscreen fabric and assembled at a local furniture upholstery shop.  Further the design took into consideration child safety in the event of the tricycle tipping or rolling over.

The prototype has proved tried and true, well loved by our firm owner, Jason Neal, and his eldest child – namesake for the product – Magnolia on their daily rides to and from the local pre-school.

Wind Chimes

These wind chimes were a byproduct of the Cube Cubed design process, inspired when one of the cubes fell onto the concrete floor of the machine shop sending out an impressionable sound. This item was an exploration of the tonality of slotted aluminum w/ simple connections to emphasize the uniqueness of its resonance. The chimes were milled on lathe and slotted with a milling machine, all the rest of the materials for the finished product were found at the local hardware store.

X-crete Stool Prototype

The idea for the X-crete prototype was birthed out of a simple cardboard model and then developed into an exploration into digital fabrication and mold making.  After completion of the mold, there was a single but sequenced pour yielding a finished stool. This process explored the ability to fabricate modular building components with an emphasis on structural stability.

   

Lamp

Diomimicry

Artisan infant mobile created utilizing laser cut museum board layered with dichromatic film with a unique quality of reflecting a variety of colors while simultaneously casting shadows of alternate color. The mobile was modeled after the Sugar Maple, inspired by the color variations in the film, each leaf of the mobile resonates with the colors of Autumn.

The mobile was shown at the Gallery 788 in Hampden for a collaborative show with Fab Lab Baltimore entitled:  CODE Culture. The exhibit was an interdisciplinary examination of digital fabrication and design that explored the growing impact of digital fabrication and design across disciplines including; art, design, engineering, science, and education, as well as its broader social implications as evidenced in the Maker Movement. The show also examined the role of the various institutions that foster these works, from grassroots open-access fab labs and hackerspaces, to private research-based labs.