1. | 500 Startups |
Porthole Booth Prototype Project
Carey Lee & Shuqiao Song
November 5th, 2010
Total Project Time Investment: 72 work hours

2. design challenge
• build a prototype porthole booth structure
as inspired by the Huntsman group sketch
below.

3. d.process
• empathy
• define
• ideate
• prototype
• test
• iterate
• rinse & repeat…

4. empathy
• who is this space for?
• what are the needs the space should
fulfill?
• why? what are the values?
– “geeks in tune with nature”
• brainstorm on next slide…

6. empathy, cont’d…
• in talking with some of the startup teams,
some specific learnings:
– use/preserve the window view
– awkward for makers to work face to face on
separate laptops
– design for side by side dual programming
• 3 ppl, 1 screen?
– whiteboards=love; need to be heavy duty though
– custom booth as each team’s camp? nice to
“pick up where you left off” have own space of
“organized chaos”

7. empathy, cont’d…
• some thoughts/concerns:
– in addition to structure, seating/furnishing
arrangement possibilities?
– privacy?
– soundproof?
– customizable?
– how permanent? how modular?

8. define {points of view}
• (general) makers & managers need a
space to:
– break out to work in private
– chill out, eat, take a break
– have a chat with their mentor
– brainstorm with their team

9. define {points of view}
• (specific) via Enrique:
– Makers • 500S makers are talented bootstrapped
developers and designers who prefer bursts of
uninterrupted work in units of half a day but need to
make meeting exceptions when they wear a business
hat and take mini meetings to continuously develop
their product and triage bugs. They're under constant
pressure to push code out as fast possible without
enough design resources and time to experimentally
validate their assumptions.

10. define {points of view}
• (specific) via Enrique:
– Managers • 500S managers are fluid persuasive
marketers who work one hour intervals (or less) and
constantly switch from hustling for additional funding
and talent to taking speculative meetings, and
frequent business development phone calls. They
struggle synthesizing and prioritizing customer
insights into product development at the right time
and often lack a clear design process for working
with makers.

11. ideate
• split up ideation on two broad topics: enclosure & furniture
• for enclosure design
-picked top three needs and tried to merge them together
-brainstormed crazy themes/ideas
-simplified idea down because building was hard
-sketches, built some really rough paper, cage, lumber
shelter
• for furniture:
-sketched a lot of different furniture arrangements for
different points of view/purpose
-central with peripheral chairs (preserving aesthetics,
preserving space, brainstorm session interaction)

12. brainstorm of furniture arrangements;
blue = window. green = walls.

14. window side wall measurements

15. another version of the porthole booth
sketches.
tried preserving curved corners with a
shell without having to build the booth
seating (can stock with custom
furniture)

16. theme room: designed for relaxation
incorporating more natural materials and
plants in line with “geeks in tune with
nature” value

20. some wild theme ideas 
• nap room (tent or teepee filled with bean
bags )
• “hipster fireplace” setting for casual
mentor chats
• bring the outside indoors (garden patio
setting with porch swing?!)
• picnic tables for lunch

21. prototype
• major iterations + notes in photos to
follow

22. started by just marking out and
deciding how much space we wanted
to use. tried preserving column wall
space.

23. rapid prototype furniture
arrangements + whiteboard rack

24. prototype testing different materials
for modular “walls”.

25. prototype testing last sketch with
paper. difficult to build curved frame
in office space.

26. frame built with bamboo curtain as
wall. prototype testing flooring for
area.

27. final prototype: bamboo semi
transparent walls that can be rolled
up. wood flooring from IKEA. table for
4. movable white board hanging from
frame.

29. test & feedback
• know building restrictions ahead of time
– highest we can build to is 18” below lowest sprinkler
– need to use building materials that meet fire code regulations (regular 2x4s are NOT okay…)
• feedback from guys were they think that noise/false sense of privacy is a big concern
(depending on the location/nature of work)
• unclear what the space was going to be for (trying to address too many POVs with one
design)
• stationary white boards is okay (attach whiteboards behind the bamboo curtains)
• chairs should be bigger; more comfortable
• preserve view as much as possible
• if working long periods of time, awkward to sit face to face
• whiteboards need to feel stable when written on; heavy duty feel
• having a fully solid wall feel boxy when walking down the hall
• optimal dimensions of floorspace = ???
• whiteboards do not need to extend to floor (only write on boards above waist anyway)
• 2x4's not necessary, 2x2's are good enough
• do bracing and reinforcements in 3

30. rinse & repeat…
• recommendations & next steps…
– larger work surface
– defining functional use of space will greatly
drive design
– idea for sound insulation: use foam between
two sheets of showerboard
– try building with pvc/steel pipes (design for
disassembly)

31. thanks! 