Art Deco PC Stand – Main Project Plan and Alternatives

For my final project, I was deciding between making a geometric table, or making a PC stand for my computer to sit on. After doing a little thinking, I decided it would be much more feasible to go with the PC stand. Not only is it more feasible, but I feel it will be much easier to incorporate a dynamic element into the design. Originally, I was planning thinking about making a stand that looks something like the pictures below:

From Left to Right: A rolling stand design found on Amazon, A stationary stand design found on Amazon

Instead of this smaller design that simple sits under the PC, I am going to make a stand that fully surrounds the computer. By making the stand bigger, it allows me to incorporate more design elements that contribute to the overall aesthetic. The aesthetic I think I want to go for on this project is Art Deco, as well as a PC gaming aesthetic, as it is a gaming PC. I think Art Deco has some very interesting geometries that could work very well with the gaming aesthetic, as the gaming aesthetic incorporates RGB lights and sleek black designs. Some of the geometries I like are shown below:

From Left to Right: Art Deco Geometry 1, Art Deco Geometry 2

These patterns seemed like they might be a little difficult, so I attempted to get some of the same angles and shapes while simplifying the design.

This geometry might be slightly over simplified for what I would like to go for in the final product, but it was relatively easy to replicate in SolidWorks. After messing with it a bit, I ended up with the following design:

I am hoping that moving forward with this project, I will be able to incorporate more complex geometries into the front plate of the stand, as this is the piece that will be the most visible. I am planning to make the stand out of wood, as this will be the most sturdy option, which will be helpful for supporting my fairly heavy computer. In addition to the sturdiness, wood can be laser cut, which will be the easiest way to cut the geometries into the panels. After assembly, I am planning to paint the wood black to match my desk. I am also hoping to incorporate a few different types of dynamic elements into the design. The first has to do with the geometric designs on the front of the stand. Since my PC has RGB lighting and a clear side panel, I am hoping that the light from the PC will shine through the geometric patterns on the stand, illuminating them from behind. The colors of the lights from the PC can be changed via software on my computer, so I could easily change the color for different looks. In addition to this, I am considering either adding rails and a tray mechanism onto the bottom of the stand, allowing me to slide my PC in and out; or putting hinges on the front panel so I can open it up for easy access to the PC. I am not quite sure which option I will go with yet, so I will examine my options to determine which one makes the most sense.