Table of Contents
01
Introduction
logistics / status / arc / reflect
05
Projection
display system / digital templates / analog process
09
Business Cards
vacuum forming / matboard mold / hand craft
13
NYC Interviews
reflection / discussion / research
19
CNC Pen
image abstraction / misused toolpaths / precision tooling
23
Position
reaction / reflection / digital theory / criticality
29
reBARN
sigmanest / digital catalog / material history
39
Design Platforms
reflection / conceptual foundation / methods
43
Pop Panel
vacuum forming / bubble wrap / parametric pattern
47
Wood Scan
CT scan / CNC surfacing / revealing material
51
Plylight
interactive display / analog electronics / plywood
57
Lightform
mylar shade / parametric / laser cut
63
Gallery Installation
product design / commissioned work / marketing
67
Structured Practice
product / process / client / developer
71
bitMAPS
integration / variable mold / pixel
79
Radiance
cast plastic / user interaction / hearth / radial
logistics / status / arc / reflect
We work together
What is PROJECTiONE: We are a collective of four designers/fabricators/students pursuing a common question. Our project is based on a shared love of making, a pull towards new understandings of technology and a unique and uncommon design aesthetic. We have reached outside of the University through our web site PROJECTiONE.com creating a network of readers who have followed our project as it has developed. The web site has helped to brand PROJECTiONE as its own entity. PROJECTiONE.com is a reflection of our process. We take pride in highlighting our details, methods and finished work. We feel that our design is strengthened through the bold and strong communication of its history. Logistics: We work as a collective. Our design/fabrication/branding decisions are based on argumentation and compromise as any good partnership must be. However we have narrowed down our decision-making to three types: logical argumentation, passionate pursuit, and collective gut reaction. There are times when a reasoned argument is necessary to establish why a certain decision should be made and it takes a reasoned ear to hear it. At other times a member of the collective will pursue a course on his/her own to a point which the collective may latch on to or pull against. And finally but most infrequently a member will make a suggestion which is immediately agreed upon by all members of PROJECTiONE. There is no one way to document all the decisions that go into any one project and we therefore share all credit for each design detail and interactive experience. Though we have various strengths approaches to design, we are partners in the pursuit of our common goal. 1
Introduction
Kyle Perry Elizabeth Boone Adam Buente Eric Brockmeyer
Status: There is a failure in modern theory and practice to address the increasing availability of digital tools. The current theory of digital fabrication is focused predominantly on the new tools of making, CNC machines, rapid prototyping technology and BIM and parametric modeling software. We believe that these tools allow for a shift in the methods of an informed practice but do not and cannot exist without a tangible relation to the human aspect of design and making, what we call the analog. Secondly there is a growing recognition by schools and theorists that interactive architecture is inevitable and though slow to adapt, architecture will need to address the proliferation of augmented reality and reactive systems. These have become accepted across our society and the expectation is clear that our buildings must respond to environmental (background/ambient) and human (foreground/direct) stimuli. Many projects highlighted in periodicals and in academic journals are based on intangible software tools rather than the tangible constraints of making. It has been argued that CNC equipment has allowed for the development of unique components such as contoured blobs and therefore these projects do consider the realities of fabrication. We feel that such an approach is limited and forces the irrelevant digital form into a wasteful object, and is ignorant to the details which are essential to architecture’s success.
2
logistics / status / arc / reflect
Our project is engaged in the question of how digital and analog methods reinforce one another in support of a practice constrained by the realities of making. Arc: Through a series of projects, explorations and interventions PROJECTiONE investigated this question. This broad spectrum of approaches enabled a varied and diverse understanding. We started the year with an intervention in an exhibition space, performed a series of interviews with top designers and fabricators in New York City, developed product scale designs and pursued full-scale client based products. Each project can be viewed uniquely but collectively it defines the arc of our searching. Our first project Projection was an opportunity to reflect on how we worked with the digital and analog tools at our disposal. This was an introspective process allowing us to focus very specifically on how and why we made design decisions using a laser cut, three-axis CNC mill and steel fabrication equipment. In order to gain a broader perspective of how practitioners address these issues we met with a group of designers and fabricators in New York City. The interviews that we undertook during that trip reinforced our understanding of how small digitally savvy practices address making. In reflection it became clear that our approach required us to be serious fabricators and serious designers, a feat few of the firms have achieved. We discovered that a practice grounded in making must straddle the threshold between design and fabrication but also between analog and digital. Based on internal reflection and an understanding of our contemporaries’ position, we moved forward with several small-scale products. Each of these projects highlights a unique understanding of the boundaries between analog and digital and was also an exploration into how our practice can and must embrace material explorations and research. 3
Introduction
Finally we moved into the realm of large scale client based projects. This set of projects gave us some insight into the challenges of adapting our methods and practices to the needs and requirements created by a client. Again each project addresses our question on multiple scales. How can a large scale project become aesthetically unique using the analog and digital tools available? How can a client’s design and performance requirements align with our own interests in the conversation between analog and digital? And how can this project become a serious attempt at creating a sustainable practice that addresses these pressing issues? In educating our clients we were able to reflect on these questions. We have learned the value of clearly conveying our ideals to the clients through these projects. The evidence of our success and failure in answering these questions is in the documentation of our process through video, images, models, and contracts. Reflect: This project has been most valuable not because we have seen these projects in their completion but we see ourselves in each detail. We committed ourselves to each decision and process from design to fabrication and understand that our value does not lie in the sum of our projects but the sum of our experiences. This is PROJECTiONE.
4
Projection
Projection was an internal exercise, a study of our existing methods and processes from design to fabrication. It was created as a display system for our previous and future work, while in itself representing our design methodology.
Self-driven 4th floor Architecture Building, East Hall
6
display system / digital templates / analog process
Steel cut with custom templates prepared for paint
Laser cut acrylic highlights
The system was entirely made from available materials: 1� steel angle, 1/8� translucent white acrylic, stainless steel hardware, key lime spray paint, and a projector. The design began with a physically modeled construction line in space using cardboard and monofilament which was digitized by mapping xyz coordinates. The physical characteristics of the steel were added, swept across the construction line and split to provide necessary cutting angles. Templates were made for cutting and drilling the mounting holes for the acrylic, and the steel was welded, ground down, filled, sanded, and painted. Simultaneously the acrylic was modeled in grasshopper: each shape was derived from the length and angle of the associated steel member. They were uniquely heated and bent to produce their proper shape. The project was completed in four days. This process allowed us to examine our working relationships as a group and focus on our actual methods of collaboration. We immediately realized some of our faults, related to scheduling and time management as well as the necessary frameworks for decision making. This project relied heavily on eliminating variables: decisions were made by determining certain given parameters. This information was intended to help focus on our development for future projects throughout the year.
7
Projection Self-driven 4th floor Architecture Building
Projection installed on 4th floor of Ball State Architecture Building, Muncie, IN
8
Business Cards
Our cards were designed to both represent the framework of PROJECTiONE and stand out amongst a wallet of others. We recognized that many of our projects find meaning within their design/fabrication processes as much as in their final state; these cards were developed with the same mind set.
In wallets everywhere
10
vacuum forming / mat board mold / hand craft
Vacuum forming
Hand cutting finished cards
The cards uniquely combine a very precise digital process with a learned analog system [vacuum forming] producing highly individualized outcomes. While each one retains the precision of laser-cut mat board molds, slight variations within each card reference the human involvement in the process. We bought-out our local hobby shop to test sheet after sheet of polystyrene in order to develop a process for this specific application. We used a jig on our ridiculously small vacuum former and a series of mirrorimage rastered mat board molds to produce a semi-precise outcome. Some of the mat board texture transfers over to the plastic, giving the cards a paper-like appearance with a completely non-paper feel, which was originally unexpected. However the cards do accomplish an original intent: imprinting PROJECTiONE’s information on other business cards.
11
Business Cards In wallets everywhere
Rastered negatives for vacuum forming
12
NYC Interviews
These interviews took place the week of 9.28.09 in New York City, in the offices of various architectural designers, fabricators, and consultants. A diverse range of practices were selected to question the integration of digital design and fabrication techniques with analog methods. Aranda/Lasch Associated Fabrication BuroHappold Case Design Inc. DavidZachary Freecell Front Inc. Nastasi Architects SITU Studio Tietz-Baccon
Practicing Design Firms Pittsburgh, PA + New York, NY
14
reflection / discussion / research
Wes Rozen of SITU Studio on Analog and Digital “I think it’s about understanding what computers can do well and recognizing what humans can do well and keeping the human in the equation. We might create a kit of parts that has complex geometry and to cut those parts it’s great to have a CNC router knock out hundreds of things that have an intricate geometry or notch pattern. To have a human sit there with a jigsaw and cut all those out doesn’t make sense. But when it comes to assembling this on a given site for a specific program with a material that might have aged a little bit it makes sense to have human hands putting it together. Listening to plywood creak, listening to other people’s design input is what humans are best at. We wouldn’t want to take the kit of parts in the computer and run some kind of algorithm to put them together in a certain way. We don’t look at renderings of what it’s going to be, we look at the real thing.”
Eric Verboon of Buro Happold on Post-Parametric “Should architects become programmers or should they be designers? Architects should have knowledge of programming and there are some who naturally gravitate towards being a highly skilled in parametric modeling or programming. Personally I think there are a lot of questions that programming and parametric modeling can answer but first and foremost we have to be designers. I think there’s always going to be more traditionally based architects and those people who focus their skills on modeling and programming, but I think our education is leading us towards more and more exposure to the modeling. Whether we want it or not everyone is going to have some knowledge of programming.” 15
NYC Interviews Practicing Design Firms Pittsburgh, PA + New York, NY 100 Broadway, New York, NY
Many of these firms are recognized for their contributions to digital design and architecture yet responses indicated a sensitivity towards human involvement in these processes. We heard stories of a master plasterer finishing a CNC milled wall and a Native American weaver suturing two scripted components together. This attitude is emerging as an area of great interest to us and is the main focus of our research and projects.
16
reflection / discussion / research
Eric Tietz of Tietz Baccon on Analog and Digital “The projects that interest us aren’t the ones that look like they’re digitally designed. I’m as much of a victim of having done that in school as other people and I think it’s important to have done that and to know how to make the most ridiculous thing that you can because once you figure that out then you can use that set of tools to try and make standard things better or more intelligently. I think we would be ten times as thrilled to come up with a really smart SIP that goes together really cleanly, that’s completely orthogonal, but at the end of the day no one has to know that we did it using digital tools. We need to rely on our knowledge of assemblies and digital manufacturing processes to achieve this.”
Chris Lasch of Aranda Lasch on Analog and Digital “We’re working with A weaver who’s a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation in southern Arizona and with him we developed this show at the art space where we made thirteen or so of these woven constructions and for a couple of weeks before the show he came to New York and we worked here in the studio. But for a long time before that we worked remotely. We did some digital work and set up a geometrical framework to produce these laser-cut flat packed aluminum pieces, these developable surfaces so that he could reconstruct the three dimensional form by weaving together the spine of the two pieces. One piece is always acting as a diaphragm for the other and if you bring them together along the spine you can recuperate three dimensional spaces designed in the computer.” 17
NYC Interviews Practicing Design Firms Pittsburgh, PA + New York, NY
212 Forsyth Street, New York, NY
These firms represent a broad spectrum of size, experience, and expertise. Many of the younger firms we interviewed are very small. Seeking to better define their role in design and fabrication, they sometimes struggle to balance the desires to design and fabricate, falling victim to their own successes with digital fabrication tools. 18
CNCpen
This exercise was a quick three day project undertaken in order to graphically represent our research trip to New York. Since most of it took the form of interviews we thought it appropriate to represent the emotion and experience of the events. We intended each vignette to express the language or character of the individuals interviewed. A series of photographs were taken throughout the interview in order to capture this. Presented alongside was a quote pulled from the interview that highlighted a unique viewpoint of the individual, providing an introduction to our process and the firms visited.
Process development
20
image abstraction / misused toolpaths / precision tooling
This small project looks at a growing focus within our group, highlighting one aspect of design and fabrication that is important to us. We framed many of our questions around the integration of analog and digital tools and we thought it appropriate to combine them for this representation. Drawing from the inspiration of old pen plotters and drafting techniques, we developed an accurate system, using a 3-axis CNC router and a set of drafting and art pens that would draw abstracted versions of each individual. The files were created through a file translation through Photoshop, Illustrator, Rhino, and Mastercam [used to create the pocket configurations for fills]. Through rigorous tests and failures we refined a process and toolset that could provide consistent results. This consistency would be nearly impossible to accomplish by hand, yet the results retain the qualities of the analog tools used. While this process is not nearly as efficient as printing off a series of images, the results turned out to be much more interesting.
Rapidograph in 3/8� collet
21
CNC Pen Process development
CNC Marker
Process testing
22
Position
To frame our position in the fields of digital design and fabrication we are examining our projects relative to current theories and the critical positions of digital designers and fabricators. We have followed trends in digital theory and executed a series of interviews in New York City to understand what current leaders consider to be relevant to their practice.
24
reaction / reflection / digital theory / criticality
We find design potential in the areas of overlap and creative use of analog and digital design and fabrication methods. PROJECTiONE was created within this framework. New understandings of design and fabrication tools, through iterative use, reveal potential in materials and processes providing innovative solutions to design problems and expressions of craft. PROJECTiONE resides in the space between digital and analog. Over the past two years we have collaborated on a variety of projects, from exhibition installations to reactive architecture. Our work has been displayed in various print, web, and built forms, all remaining within an academic setting. This collaborative history was based on a shared love for internal dialogue and critique parallel to making and experimentation, driving each of our projects. PROJECTiONE is our collective thesis. We have chosen to examine our similarities and past methods of collaboration in order to reposition ourselves within the design and fabrication communities this year and into practice. “It is a collective which exhibits emergent behavioral patterns that are unpredictable by examining the behavioral patterns of its parts. Beyond simple collaboration, which is the result of an alignment of interests, an emergent network can create new and complex coherences out of divergent interests.� (Wiscombe 2006) We do not intend to define specialists within our group. We are not a group of individuals that coexist to form a collaborative. While we have different backgrounds that affect our perspectives, we are not completely separate parts under the label of a whole. As Wiscombe explains, this has allowed for unpredictable and unforeseen results in the synthesis of our ideas and interests. However, unlike these clear definitions of collaboration and collective, our interests fluctuate between divergent and aligned. Our ideas, skills, and interests may differ, but they also overlap toward a common goal. We do not formulate individual ideas that the group supports, rather the group reformulates individual ideas to a point where the individual is indistinguishable from the group. This is our collective. This is PROJECTiONE. Our opportunities to work together in the past have focused on using digital and analog design and fabrication tools. To frame our position in this field, we contrast that experience against current theories and the critical positions of digital designers and fabricators. We have followed trends in digital theory and executed a series of interviews in New York City to understand what current designers and fabricators consider to be relevant to their practice. Our questions highlighted their perspective on the relationship between digital and analog tools and processes. Two significant theories that have informed digital practice are concepts of versioning (parametric design) and its implications in a new industrial or manufacturing approach, neither of which accurately describes our position. Sharples, Holden, and Pasquarelli’s (SHoP) Introduction to the series of essays in the Architectural Design (AD) issue titled Versioning (Sharples, Holden, Pasquarelli 2002, 7) set the framework for this parametric theory. They describe the shift away from representational design towards
25
Position
a form of design that embeds information through the use of parametric modeling and versioning, which, “can be characterised by a set of conditions organised into a menu or nomenclature capable of being configured to address particular design criteria”. There was an emerging understanding of the model becoming rapidly adaptable and flexible based on contextual and formal criteria. This model could directly integrate with fabrication techniques, as defined in Manufacturing and Material Effects (Kolarevic and Klinger 2008, 28). Kolarevic and Klinger’s approach takes on industrial models as guidelines for a shift in practice. They claim that digital and computational technology has allowed architecture to move towards a systemized, accurately calculated method of assembly. While this can be true, it is most often not realized in products of architecture. The validity of this manufacturing mentality is in question, as this attitude is incongruent with practices of craftsmanship and the development of truly unique components, (not necessarily mass-customizable components) incorporating digital tools, handcraft, regional materials, and labor. In our New York interviews, we sought individuals who are recognized for their contributions to digital design and architecture, yet many of their responses indicated sensitivity towards the human involvement in these practices. For example, Chris Lasch of Aranda/Lasch spoke of a Native American weaver suturing two scripted components together. However, when questioned about the weaver’s involvement in creating the suture hole spacing, a parameter of the script, Lasch said that he made the decision without thought of involving the weaver. While he was sharing information with the weaver in development of the scripted components, he missed, what we find, a critical step in the process that could have been explored with a specialist’s expertise. This is not a criticism of the idea or the outcome, but of the specific relationships and process of this collaboration. A direct connection between the digital parameters of the script and the analog methods of the weaver was missing; instead the design was “handedoff” to the maker, exhibiting two skill-sets within an idea, rather than a truly informed idea created through collaboration. In an interview with John Nastasi of Nastasi Architects, he described a master plasterer who skim coated a CNC milled wall for one of his projects. What was important to Nastasi was the way in which the digital methods allowed for a streamlined process, and most importantly, a result that was “absolutely beautiful”. While this integration allowed for great results, the process remained linear. We are interested in how the plasterer’s expertise could feed back into the formal development of the model. How could the analog process change the way that the wall is developed digitally? How can this relationship and dialogue take on within a more integrated and cyclical model? Can the techniques of the artisan be implemented in conjunction with the CNC operations, not simply in preparation for finishing? The existing relationship between digital and analog tools is linear and an extension of traditional processes. The designer defines the parameters (materials and methods) while the craftsman, contractor, or assembler is charged with working within the confines of those rules. Arguments have been made for integrated project delivery,
26
reaction / reflection / digital theory / criticality
which involves these people in design decisions early on, but we are not focusing on that idea. What is critical to us is how those interactions take place, not whether they take place. When asked, some of the [digital] fabricators described analog tools as finishing tools, mainly relying on digital tools for precise shaping and surfacing. Jefferey Taras of Associated Fabrication told us, “[E]verything gets sanded on some level. It’s perfect when it comes off the mill and then it’s never that way again.” This is an attitude towards fabrication and finishing which is commonly held within the digital design community. There is little appreciation for the abilities of analog tools, yet an unyielding reverence for digital tools. Taras went on to say, “The drill press rarely gets used. We use the chop saw, we use the table saw. They’re all used for select processes, maybe to make a jig but not really as a final piece. We might use it to make stock.” We are in opposition to this perspective, reducing analog tools to a diminished status. However, Associated Fabrication recognizes their specialization in CNC tools and will send out work that requires analog tooling to traditional fabricators (e.g. large panel saw cutting). Analyzing and critiquing these firms’ view of their tools and processes has brought PROJECTiONE closer to an understanding of our own values and position on these issues. The differences have been highlighted in order to define us through negation. Some groups we interviewed, such as Tietz-Baccon, find value in the relationships of digital and analog, often using CNC machinery to create jigs for crafted analog fabrication. They exhibit their craft through the use of all tools, recognizing that creativity and precision can still occur within the analog. Others, like Gramazio and Kohler at the ETH in Zurich are exploring this relationship in a different way. Though they are experimenting with a seven-axis robot, they have no intent of eliminating the human, remaining largely integrated into the process. [West Fest Pavilion in Switzerland] In this process, the robot picks up a piece of wood and places it on a table, where a student cuts it to a CNC-specified length with a miter saw. After cutting, the robot positions that same piece of wood in a specific place, while another student secures it with a nail gun. It is a mutually constructive machine-human relationship and an integrated use of this technology. Similar to these groups, we completed a quick design/fabrication project entitled Projection that we used to analyze our internal methodologies and help define our position. Critical relationships existed throughout the project between the analog design (measurement of Cartesian coordinates) and the digital model (insertion of coordinates in digital space). This was made possible by our understanding of the required digital inputs that informed how we modeled and measured using analog tools. During fabrication, our analog techniques (steel cutting, and welding) informed the shape and information embedded in templates (laser-cut cardboard). These templates were designed to wrap around steel angles so that they could easily be held in place while marking and cutting, but also carried with them information regarding the steel pieces’ length and orientation. An interrogation of analog and digital space in this project allowed a unique and continuous transfer of information between the two. This example highlights the thinking that is intrinsic to our process, relying on an 27
Position
intimate understanding of a variety of tools, both analog and digital. This knowledge can then be applied in developing innovative relationships (coordinate mapping, and laser-cutting templates). Unlike some of the designers and fabricators interviewed, we remain open to new uses of both analog and digital tools. We don’t place any undue importance on either new technologies or traditional means, and we rethink the relationships that exist between them. Software and hardware should not just make designing or fabricating easier, streamlining the design process. They should not exist separate from the human. They should provide opportunities to change the way designers think. They should allow us to design differently, more precisely, more creatively, and with greater intent. This can be done through an interrogation of the tool’s purpose. Every tool has a purpose or material associated with it, but that purpose should be continually challenged. PROJECTiONE was created within this framework. We find design potential in the areas of overlap and creative use of analog and digital design and fabrication methods. In every project we intend to innovate. We develop new techniques. We rethink traditional techniques. We creatively force tools to do what they weren’t intended to do. Our ideas and methodologies are based on an interrogation of relationships between the individuals of PROJECTiONE and the tools of our craft. This concept is not unique to us, but its execution and results highlight our position in digital practice. PROJECTiONE resides in the space between digital and analog.
Kolarevic, Klinger, editors, Manufacturing Material Effects: Rethinking Design and Making in Architecture (London: Routlage, 2008) Sharples, Holden, Pasquarelli, editors, “Introduction,” Architectural Design Vol 72 No 5 (2002): 7 Wiscombe, Tom. “Emergent Models of Architectural Practice.” Perspecsta 38: Architecture After All (The MIT Press), no. 38 (2006): 58-69
28
reBARN
Since November of `08 we were engaged in an ongoing project, focused on innovative fabrication techniques paired with traditional materials, in partnership with the Institute for Digital Fabrication.
West Side Park Muncie, IN
30
sigmanest / digital catalog / material history
Barn located in central Indiana
West Side Park, Muncie, IN
reBarn began with a large donation of reclaimed barn wood from a local “Pennsylvania-style� barn. Working with the Muncie parks system, West Side Park was chosen for its potential to enhance the public recreational trail along the White River in Muncie, Indiana. reBarn’s aim was to provide single or multiple users with a semi-programmed platform that is suitable for a variety of uses. While its use is not specifically determined, a sense of human scale and proportions is embedded in the layout of the panels, and its form is pulled specifically from the site as it creates a third levee above the river. 31
reBARN West Side Park Muncie, IN
Pressure washing process
Variable wood stock
Our intention was to use the wood as efficiently as possible, maintain the history and quality of the material, and employ innovative strategies for its application. Rather than removing all imperfections, we decided to utilize the uniqueness of each piece and expose this on the project’s surface. In order to make milling of the barn wood viable, the pieces were de-nailed, power washed, and any area that was unusable was removed. Each board was then numbered and its species, length, width, depth, and interesting characteristics were recorded. The quantity of stock totaled 275 pieces, averaging at 80 inches long and 6.5 inches wide with a consistent depth around 1 inch for a total of about 300,000 square feet. 32
sigmanest / digital catalog / material history
This digital catalog of available wood allowed us to efficiently and precisely nest the completely unique parts into the stock. Because each board was a different size and many were torqued or bowed, a process was developed to accurately secure the wood to the bed of the router. The position of each fastener had to be carefully determined before the milling process and written into the files in order retain each part. Connections between individual wood components and panels were informed by a partnership with Zahner Metals. In order to offset the traditional material and hidden fabrication techniques, we involved Zahner in the process early on. We visited their shop in Kansas City to discuss materials, tolerances, and processes. The continued discussions with their engineers via phone and e-mail allowed our team to finalize the aluminum components, resulting in five water jet cut aluminum surface panels, and over 350 variable aluminum joints.
3 axis milling process
33
reBARN West Side Park Muncie, IN
Labeled and sorted stock
34
sigmanest / digital catalog / material history
Waterjet cut aluminum components
Panel assembly
35
reBARN West Side Park Muncie, IN
In site installation
Each wood panel is made up of a series of individual boards, connected by a continuous dovetail joint that runs around the perimeter. Panels are connected to each other by aluminum joints, embed in the assembly process. Each aluminum joint accommodates the specific angle between one panel of wood and its adjoining panel. Consideration of the sequence of assembly and fabrication was equally important as the development of the joinery techniques reBarn was installed over a seven-day time frame. We utilized a list of coordinates generated from our digital model in determining the site placement of the structural concrete elements. In order to support the shell during installation, temporary structure was needed as each aluminum component was bolted together. Because of the extensive prefabrication, installation and assembly of the panels on site took little time. In order to increase the rigidity of the shell structure, however, it was necessary to add sub-structure and cross bracing to the original design. This phase of the installation was the most time consuming, but was required to insure the longevity and safety of the project. Soon after its completion a group of ten children “stresstested� the project and proved it successful.
36
sigmanest / digital catalog / material history
37
reBARN West Side Park Muncie, IN
The project’s history is highlighted on its surface, expressed through its inherent textures and character. Some boards retain the initials of the barn’s previous owners; other boards show places of wear from animals. These features tie the wood directly to its origins – the Newton farm in Cambridge City, IN. The contrast between aged materials and the precisely patterned aluminum panels strengthens the effect of each creating a richer whole. This relationship also provides for a direct visual connection between analog thinking and digital tools. 38
Design Platforms
Our Design Platforms are a set of values and concepts that exist to further explain our thesis framework. They give insight into processes of working, designing, and thinking within our collective, providing a foundation to work from and consider throughout design and fabrication.
40
reflection / conceptual foundation / methods
*Value of Inefficiency *Digital Hangover *Loosening Precision *Post-Design Design
41
Design Platforms
Craft and innovation often emerge from time and energy intensive processes. When this concept is applied to seemingly mundane materials the results can transform them into valued pieces. The care involved in this process is evident in the final product and exposes latent beauty and subtle characteristics. This goes beyond a monetary gain in value and elevates the product into something that carries emotional or psychological value for the user and for the designer. In response to the certain digital fabrication movements, we are interested in addressing the notion that designers are able to seamlessly translate a digital model into a physical form with very little effort. It is a rare occurrence that entire assemblies “snap together� without complications, that wood which is fresh off the mill doesn’t need hand finishing, and that tectonics are developed without extensive testing. Instead we acknowledge these processes and embrace them as part of the digital analog exchange. Furthermore, digital manufacturing tools are no longer the avant garde of design. They exist at a level equal with analog fabrication processes and the understanding of their relation must now be explored. Materials often directly inform designs and the processes involved in production. We aim to allow for circumstantial results, loosening precision. While tectonics and details are often tied to materiality, a greater understanding of the material is developed by closely working with it and the resulting knowledge informs design. This approach also applies to the processes involved, as methods play just as an important role in developing design. Because we design, fabricate, and assemble there is an understanding that the design will develop as it is produced. We can anticipate certain results, but the process of making often reveals unforeseen challenges and opportunities. Post-design design is more than just troubleshooting, it is the understanding that the initial idea is flexible and will most definitely adapt. Often in our early design process unknowns are understood and expected, anticipating that a solution will later be inserted into these gaps.
42
Pop Panel
Pop Panel was an exploration in the relationship of mold creation and customization. The manufacturing of molds for vacuum forming is often the most cost intensive process, making it difficult to create mass customized objects. Bubble wrap is an inexpensive and fun material to work with that can begin to solve issues of customization. It can be popped in selected patterns and vacuum formed providing variation across a panelized system.
Self-driven Sketch Prototype
44
vacuum forming / bubble wrap / parametric pattern
Bubblewrap over custom printed templates
MDF backer mold panels
45
Pop Panel Self-driven Sketch Prototype
Vacuum formed acetate
The panels are created by vacuum forming .02� clear acetate over the selectively popped bubble wrap. A piece of MDF is placed beneath the bubble wrap to create an edge condition and allows each panel to connect to the neighboring panels. The clear acetate can be back painted, allowing for further customization. The edges of each panel fit into grooves that have been milled into plywood. Between these grooves are large holes that allow access to the panel from behind. Once the panels have been placed onto the plywood, each cavity is filled with expanding insulation foam [Great Stuff]. This creates a rigid system and allows the formed panels to adhere to the wood. The pattern tested was derived from an abstracted photograph, however, the system or idea could be deployed in a manner that users/customers could submit images and graphics that could be translated into Pop Panels. By designing a system of production and allowing others to create the pattern, we can produce a flexible, mass customized product.
46
WoodScan
We love wood.
Self-driven Sketch prototype
48
CT scan / CNC surfacing / polished finish
Reconstructed grain lines
Information about the wood was collected through a Computed Tomography (CT) Scan. This technology is traditionally used for visualizing structures within the body. The CT scan took X-rays of the wood in section using increments as small as 5 millimeters. This data was translated into usable three-dimensional information by tracing a single grain line in Rhino. The resulting vectors were lofted to create a surface which represents one year of growth in the tree’s history. This process was incredibly time consuming; over 125 sections were analyzed to produce an outcome that was as accurate as possible. Once the surface was generated it was translated into G-code using Mastercam for our three-axis CNC router. The evenly milled surface was achieved using a half inch bull nose bit with a 1/100th of an inch step over taking over an hour and half. Due to the complex nature of the grain, the milled surface did not precisely follow a single grain line as we had intended. A sanding process was necessary to remove imperfections and smooth the surface. The final piece was finished with Tung oil which protects the wood, enhances the patterns in the grain, and expresses a much richer wood tone. Although the results from the curly maple were beautiful, using a wood with a looser grain would have been a much better fit for this process. The challenge came from manually interpreting the imaging data into vectors; because the grain was tight it was easy to confuse the grains from one image to another. The juxtaposition of the natural form of the tree’s curvatures and the rigid edges of the sawn lumber makes a statement about the conflict between industrial processing and the materials natural tendencies. It reminds us of Michelangelo’s slaves; in each unfinished sculpture the curvature of a human body emerges from a large cube of marble. Although this process was tedious, the final outcome is much more valuable because of the time and care that went into making it. The only way to produce this was through a CT scan, repetitive tracing, and cautious sanding. The result is a beautifully worked piece of wood that a passersby cannot resist touching. 49
Wood Scan Self-driven Sketch prototype
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PlyLight
Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer created a vocabulary for Human Computer Interfaces (HCI) and Tangible Media in their paper “Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits and Atoms”. They describe “foreground” interfaces and “background” interfaces which are distinct in that foreground interfaces allow users to “grasp and manipulate” where background interfaces are ambient and do not require direct user interface. Plylight focuses on foreground interfaces connecting the user to their physical surroundings.
Self-driven Sketch prototype
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interactive display / analog electronics / plywood
plyLight was a rapidly developed prototype made up of 44 hand soldered circuit boards. Each board contains three LED’s, a photoresistor, a Darlington transistor, and various resistors and capacitors. By using only analog electronic components, plyLight does not require a processor to function. These boards, which are powered by 12 parallel 9V batteries, are embedded between two milled pieces of plywood. Cavities for the LED’s and photoresistors are accurately milled, leaving only the veneer between the components and the surface, appearing as a plain piece of plywood.
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PlyLight Self-driven Sketch prototype
Wiring harnesses inside milled plywood
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interactive display / analog electronics / LED’s / plywood
CNC milling of circuit board cavities
Soldering of 44 individual circuit boards
When a user swipes a hand across the surface the photoresistors are shaded and turn on the three LED’s clustered around it. These discrete interactions accumulate to leave a trace of glowing LED’s behind the hand. As they slowly fade after illumination, the effect of the LEDs resemble the visual tracers of sparklers at night or drawings on wet sand which quickly fade back to a flat surface.
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PlyLight Self-driven Sketch prototype
LEDs are illuminated behind the path of the hand
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Lightform
Lightform is a complex geometric system utilizing laser cut Mylar slip joint components. The custom scale and shape of Lightform is highly accessible because the most complex portion of the process, the geometric calculations, are automated using a script. Our intention is that these can be sold in clusters, or scaled up towards a site specific installation of many more creating an entirely unique environment.
Product Design
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mylar shade / parametric / laser cut
The profile curve of the shade is first generated in Rhino and can be customized to any shape. A Grasshopper definition interprets this curve, determines the number of components needed, and lays out each simple component with its necessary intersections. The parts are laser cut from mylar and hand assembled in descending order using a series of simple locking joints to link piece to piece and column to column. This produces a highly precise and strong shade that retains detail and ornament. Time saved in production of digital files is spent on the repeatable assembly of each piece. The development of the project has been driven by physical prototypes continually feeding back into the script in order to add more functionality.
Laser cutter
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Lightform Product Design Hand assembly of components
Cut mylar sheets
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mylar shade / parametric / laser cut
The colored diffuser is achieved by applying a gradient unique to each component, allowing each part to be read both independently and as a whole. The color was laser printed on mylar, and located before laser cutting. This technique lets us apply color(s) or patterns to any shape, increasing possible outcomes. 61
Lightform Product Design
Lightforms with compact fluorescent fixtures
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Gallery Installation
The Begley Art Source, A Division of the Evansville Museum Shop, has recently invited us to feature a selection of our work in their gallery. The Begley Art Source is a consignment gallery for artists and designers, and has consulted with area corporations and individuals to develop their art collections, heightening connoisseurship and broadening appreciation and understanding of the visual arts.
The Begley Art Source Gallery Evansville, IN
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product design / commissioned work / marketing
Plylight in the gallery space
Lightforms illuminating other artists’ work
This represents our first step towards commissioned work and development of product design marketed towards a specific user group. A new 3.5 foot by 2 foot CNC Marker composition entitle COWS was completed. Using a new technique of creating line work in Rhinoceros, the image was rendered with brown and blue marker on a heavy weight paper, stretched over a thick wood frame. The intention is that this piece would become part of a series of graphic and organic CNC Marker compositions reaching up to 10 feet in length. Five different mylar LIGHTFORMS were designed and assembled for this specific installation, ranging in size between 9 and 15 inches in height. They currently 65
Gallery Installation The Begley Art Source Gallery Evansville, IN
Site specific Bodhi Tree installation
CNC Marker Cow composition
illuminate the front space of the gallery, and are also intended to develop as a series of different colors, scales and shapes. Plylight is also featured, located in the day lit meeting area. Over a two-day period a full scale Bodhi Tree was sculpted as the centerpiece of PROJECTiONE’s featured work. The Bodhi Tree was composed of 3,000 pieces of laser cut maple and cherry veneer, and took 24 hours to assemble. Our work represents the first site specific installation featured at The Begley Art Source gallery. We hope that placing our work at this location will spark commissioned work for new ideas or adaptations of these concepts at a larger scale. 66
PROJECTiONE
CT IT ID P AI
Critical thinking is development of the original idea, program, budget estimations, and scope of work. A critical step is experimentation with materials and processes in order to create sketch prototypes. Investigation and testing includes in-depth technical research, material testing, fabrication process testing, full-scale production testing, and full-scale prototyping.
Informed design is driven by newly generated design knowledge used to develop formal and functional design decisions. The cyclical process between IT and ID is informed by physical outcomes. Production is the phase including the generation of digital files and templates, aquisition of materials and full-scale fabrication.
During assembly and Installation we coordinate and execute the staging, transportation, assembly and final installation of the finished product.
Structured Practice
We have begun to take on client-based projects, while maintaining a consistent focus on product design. Many of our early projects were internally driven in order to demonstrate our collective methods. The projects from this point on examine the client-designer relationship in order to understand how our process changes or is changed by that relationship. It is important to us that our Design Platforms are consciously integrated in this new relationship.
methods of process
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product / process / client / developer
product to client
PROJECTiONE
IT
ID
CT
P
IT
AI
process to client
PROJECTiONE
CT
IT
ID
P
seed money
PROJECTiONE
CT
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IT
ID
CT
AI
Structured Practice
We have developed our practice strategies through self reflection and trial by fire execution of client-based work. These descriptions have evolved over time and are informed by our experiences with actual clients. We have used this process as the basis for generating our contracts. It was immediately apparent to us that our work could not be contained within a single contract or practice structure, so it was necessary to develop the following client relationships/contracts. Product to Client, Process to Client, and Seed Money. These relationships are described in more detail in the featured diagrams. We anticipate that our clients may be traditional owners, fellow designers, or manufacturers looking to invest in an innovative use of material or process. Product to Client This comparison was developed as a means of best understanding the internal PROJECTiONE process. By reflecting on our process over the course of our work together we developed this set of descriptions which represent us. This thought experiment has served as the basis for the development of our client relationships and our own practice structures. The comparison is not intended as a critique of traditional practice structures, but it is a standard against which our practice can be most clearly represented. Process to Client In this structure the client is interested in a sketch or prototype previously developed by PROJECTiONE. They realize the potential of the design and would like to adapt it to fit their needs. During the development of the design, the client approves the product after the Informed Design phase before moving into the Production, and Assembly and Installation phases. Seed Money PROJECTiONE is commissioned by the client to apply design thinking/ processes to their unique problem. The client approves the design after the Critical Thinking phase and again after Investigation and Testing, and Informed Design.
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bitMAPS
bitMAPS was initiated through a client’s interest in Pop Panel, and developed as an inexpensive patterned wall system. The custom design is achieved through a developed repeatable mold and integrates multiple functions of the room. The project is intended to create a clean, complex texture that is both visually interesting and physically engaging. Interaction is encouraged through embedded switches, custom storage compartments and openings for light and air ventilation.
Private Residence Muncie, IN
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integration / variable mold / pixel
The original prototype was developed using sheets of intentionally pierced bubble wrap as a vacuum form mold for plastic panels. This idea was further refined with a repeatable High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) mold. The dimpled panels are created by vacuum forming .06” white polystyrene over the mold. Edge conditions were specifically addressed as each panel interlocks perfectly to generate the appropriate tiled effect using the hexagonal “bubble wrap” pattern. Positive, negative and flat plugs were milled and inserted into the mold based on printed templates. Oriented strand board was milled for each panel to accommodate for the negatives of the corresponding polystyrene tile, acting as spacer and providing the system with rigidity. The patterning of the panels originated from a bitmap image. Each pixel was carefully choreographed to communicate the pattern at multiple scales, tuned through a grasshopper definition; slide bars allowed for variable proportioning of positives negatives and flat pixels, as well as variations in distortion and noise. For this specific residential application, bitMAPS was applied on two walls and the ceiling of the client’s bathroom. Fluorescent cove lighting was integrated, washing the adjacent painted walls with light.
Installation of bitMAPS panels
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bitMAPS Private Residence Muncie, IN Customized mold template prepared for vacuum forming
CNC router used with a saw blade and jig to trim vacuum formed panels
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integration / variable mold / pixel
Many features of the space which would normally exist as separate components were completely integrated, resulting in an unbroken pattern. The light and vent switch are hidden behind a specific panel and function using capacitance sensing. Simply moving your hand in front of the individual dimples engages either the lights or fan. The “console� houses the majority of the bathroom’s accessories. Custom panels extrude and recess from the rest of the system, hiding the magazine rack, toilet paper dispenser, and iPhone holder within a series of polycarbonate shelves. Other considerations such as the fan vent and skylight feature perforated panels allowing the passage of light and air. The balance between analog and digital techniques was critical to this project. Because the vacuuming forming process reveals every imperfection in the mold, it was necessary that the base mold and plugs be precisely machined. The timing of the vacuum process required similar precision in order to maintain consistency throughout the project. In order to remove the excess material after forming, a stationary armature was attached to the bed of the 3 axis router, locating the part for cutting by a saw bit.
Toilet paper holder in custom console
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Magazine rack in custom console
bitMAPS Private Residence Muncie, IN
Finished panels
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integration / variable mold / pixel
This project has provided an opportunity to develop an idea into a feasible product, incorporating building systems and various functional elements while serving to define space. The integration of a unique, client-driven, pattern into this system adds another layer of meaning into the finished piece that addresses a client’s specific needs. Hopefully, this process will lead to future clients and further development of the system. 77
bitMAPS Private Residence Muncie, IN
Detail of sink and toilet with bitMAPS
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Radiance Radiance covers a standalone brick fireplace in a mid century ranch home in Broad Ripple, Indiana. The clients rarely used their existing wood-burning fireplace and wanted to change its function. We proposed an ambient lighting piece that still hosts traditional qualities of the hearth. As an artist and an architect, the clients’ liberal and eclectic design aesthetic allowed for a great degree of freedom and risk-taking during development. They considered this project as commissioned artwork rather than a client-based architectural intervention, adding to their collection in the home. Radiance is intended to exploit the qualities of the hearth by re-centering the focus of the home and providing an ambient environmental effect.
Private Residence Broad Ripple, IN
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cast plastic / user interaction / hearth / radial
Radiance within exiting context
Reaction to client at a distance
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Radiance Private Residence Broad Ripple, IN
The project was initiated through the clients’ interest in our plyLight sketch prototype, based on its subtle reactive lighting effects and human tracery. We expanded on these ideas, focusing on visual and systematic complexities of the work. By creating simple geometry and interactions at local levels we could render complex reactions and forms in the overall scheme. Though it was developed and organized through its subcomponents, the result is a continuous system which reacts uniformly. Radiance was inspired by various shelf mushrooms, based on their form, organizational structure, and component geometry. The mushroom has a distinguishing set of gills that alternate in lengths from the stem’s center point. The lengths of these gills forms a repetitive pattern intended to cover the largest surface area under each mushroom cap. This pattern has been abstracted into our system to arrange each pod, defined as a radial set of 16 plastic components with an LED placed directly behind each. The wiring for the LEDs is embedded within the surface of milled MDF, further expressing the pod’s organizational system. A Passive Infrared Sensor is located at the centroid of each pod, acting as the trigger for the parts around it. Surface area coverage was important for the project as the poured plastic components and electronics are expensive and time-intensive. The patterning made coverage of the fireplace feasible meeting both our design criteria for density and fit within our time line. A Grasshopper definition was developed to create the overall pattern and generate final fabrication files, including toolpaths for acrylic and MDF milling, as well as wire length calculations for each component.
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cast plastic / user interaction / hearth / radial
Interior Wiring
Voltage regulators and processors
We constructed a steel frame that would enclose the existing fireplace, giving us the ability to fabricate most of the project off site and assemble, predominantly, in their home. The frame bolts together so it can be disassembled for travel and reassembled on site. All hardware is recessed in the frame to maintain clearance around the fireplace, and each corner embeds set screws in order to tighten against the fireplace and level out the project without drilling into the brick. Three sides were assembled completely before sliding the piece around the fireplace. Then the fourth access wall was then assembled utilizing embedded magnets in the MDF for attachment to the steel.
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Radiance Private Residence Broad Ripple, IN
Multiple user interaction
The MDF is the structural armature for all wiring, sensors, circuit boards, and plastic components. On the front side, the main LED wiring is exposed to express the organizational pattern while the reverse side contains all sensor, power, and serial wiring. Paint is applied to this layer and masked with clear acrylic. The acrylic acts as a protective layer for the paint and brings out the richness of its color. Its milled areas catch the light of the LED’s, traveling through its clear portions. This tooling occurs in areas where the pods do not overlap, further expressing order as well as adding texture.
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cast plastic / user interaction / hearth / radial
Custom printed circuit boards
Each urethane plastic component is part of a multistep mold making process. We began by iteratively 3D printing potential forms. The positive powder prints are then sanded and coated in preparation for a two-part urethane rubber. Points in the mold were created to locate 3D printed jigs used to place a bolt and plastic spacer in each part which fastens to the MDF. We chose Smooth-Cast 325 as our poured plastic material due to its fast cure time, durability, and translucency. 512 hand poured components were created at 12-13 parts per hour with very little variation between parts. To create an ambient and subtle reactive lighting piece we found it is necessary to dim all 512 LEDs individually. To do so, we developed our own Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufactured through a third party
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Radiance Private Residence Broad Ripple, IN
Illumination at night
vendor. This PCB houses our Integrated Circuits (TLC5940NT dip-28, made by Texas Instruments) utilizing Pulse Width Modulation (PWM or dimming) on each of its 16 outputs. This allows for the individual fading of each LED. Each of our PCBs corresponds with a pod of 16 elements. These elements pulse slowly out from the center when the sensor is triggered. The Passive Infrared sensor (PIR) is controlled by allowing only a small viewing angle through the acrylic surface, blocking infrared light from all but a designated cone of space off of the surface. These viewing cones have been tuned based on the existing spatial conditions of furniture, walls, and function of the home. Pods are in groups of three and run independently off of eleven individual Arduino Pro Mini microcontrollers.
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cast plastic / user interaction / hearth / radial
There are two pulses that occur after triggering a pod’s sensor. A primary ‘pulse’, that fades to full intensity and quickly fades off, followed by a secondary ‘pulse’ which fades on quickly but dims slowly over nearly a minute. This pattern can be interrupted as new users trigger a pulse creating the dynamic lighting affect seen in our video.
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Radiance Private Residence Broad Ripple, IN
Similar to the lighting effects of fire, Radiance creates dynamic changes in intensities across it surface. This makes the piece enticing to watch and because the pulses fade in and out so smoothly the lighting is not overbearing. There is a distinct difference in the lighting qualities throughout the day and into the night as the piece becomes more and more the central component bringing warmth and light into the home. 88
support team / advisors / number one fans
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Acknowledgements a special thanks...
Our exhibit and presentation in the College of Architecture and Planning gallery
A special thanks to our professor Josh Coggeshall for his enthusiasm and support throughout this process, and the Institute of Digital Fabrication for providing us access to the tools and space required to accomplish these types of projects. We would also like to thank our advisors: Bob Koester – Director of Center for Energy Research, Education and Service Sonne Palmer – Professor of Architecture Paul Puzzello – Instructor of Architecture Donna Sink – Instructor of Architecture Mahesh Senagala – Chairperson of the Department of Architecture Dr. Carol Tiernan.
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