WIND ARCHITECTURE STUDIO 5
STEFANIE JUDD 638809
INFLATABLE ARCHITECTURE: A BRIEF TIMELINE
ANT FARM: PILLOW, INFLATOCOOKBOOK 1969-71
REYNER BANHAM AND FRANCOIS DALLEGRET: UNHOUSE 1960s
ARCHIGRAM: SUITALOON 1960s
ANISH KAPOOR & ARATA ISOZAKI: INFLATABLE CONCERT HALL
HAUS-RUCKER-CO: PNEUMAKOSM 1960S-70s
ARCHIGRAM: CUSHICLE 1960s
INFLATABLE ARCHITECTURE: INITIAL EXPLORATIONS
DESIGNING THE PROTOTYPE SURFACE
SRF U
DIVISIONS
V
DIAMOND PANELS
SURFACE DIVISION INTO PANELS
COLOUR CODING PANELS FOR SIMPLE FABRICATION
5 PANELS
20 PANELS
This is the beginning of an exploration with kites and inflatables. Starting simple, a sphere was modeled and paneled. This shape seems simple enough in its digital form, however, it is easy to understate how difficult it would be to create it out of fabric and plastic. To help with fabrication, each panel was colour coded and unrolled. As the only printer available was an A4 printer, the unrolled panels were set to a scale which could fit on A4 sheets of paper. These were the templates, which were used to cut the fabric.
UNROLLED PANELS ON A4 SHEETS OF PAPER
PROTOTYPE FABRICATION & MATERIALS
FABRIC
PAPER TEMPLATE
PLASTIC
Two types of materials were used, a light fabric, and a plastic. The fabric was found in Spotlight, and it does not allow much air flow through it, which is essential for an inflatable. The plastic is from Bunnings, and was initially intended as a table protector. The plastic is light enough such that it is able to be sewn together. Taping the templates on the plastic and fabric, rather than pinning them is essential as to avoid small holes for air to escape. A 1cm edge was left around all the templates to allow for the seam.
SEWING MACHINE
The connection between two of the polygon pieces was done by putting the two pieces back to back, sewing a seam about 1cm in from the edge, and folding the fabric back in the other direction, so that the seam was relatively well hidden.
TEMPLATES ARRANGED ON PLASTIC
INFLATED PROTOTYPE
1
3
The prototype inflated relatively well at the top, however, due to my failure to think about the connection to the air supply, the air pressure was not enough to inflate it to its full extents. The inflatable was connected to a hairdryer (fig.2) via two pieces of twine sewn into the lining of the edge of the inflatable (fig.4). This meant that the inflatable did not need to be held onto the hairdryer as it inflated.
2
4
As there were so many nodes on this design, it was quite difficult to sew together. Lining up the points was difficult, and if one piece did not line up, it would often mess up other sections. It would have been simpler to work in strips, as to avoid difficult sewing. The plastic stuck on the machine as it was sliding through, so moving forward, this plastic may not be the best option.
EXPLORATION MATRIX INFLATABLES
Here, a simple rectangular ‘pillow’ was created, which connects to a hairdryer via a tube. Experiments were done by pinching the fabric at various points and inflating it to see the effects. In the last few photos, the fabric was held together around the center and inflated to create an interesting, yet simple form.
KITE MAKING: THE PROCESS
LEADING EDGE
LEADING EDGE
2nd LEADING EDGE
2nd LEADING EDGE MAIN PANEL
TIP
SEWING ORDER 1 SEW LEADING EDGE PIECES TOGETHER 2 SEW LEADING EDGE PIECES TO MAIN PANELS 3 SEW RIBS TO MAIN PANELS 4 SEW BRIDLE LEADERS TO LEADING EDGE AMD RIBS TIPS 5 SEW TUNING LINES TO LEADING EDGE/MAIN PANELS 6 SEW TWO HALVES OF KITE TOGETHER 7 SEW THE TAIL ATTACHMENT 8 FIT BRIDLES
MAIN PANEL
TIP
The kite making process was quite difficult because we didn’t have much of an understanding about how the parts of the kites fit together. The first image is a diagram demonstrating how the pieces of the kite fit together. We begun by tracing templates and cutting out the fabric in our desired colour. We then sewed all the pieces together. When sewing the ribs this was particularly difficult, as we initially had to sew a curve, and then the two pieces of fabric would often not meet at the end, which is crucial for the kite to fly straight. When this happened, we would have to un-pick and try again, putting extra force on whichever piece of fabric was shorter.
KITE FLYING
KITE FLYING
WAYS TO ACHIEVE STABILITY 1 2 3 4 5
The kite needs a way to determine which way is up, to do this, the center of lift must be above the center of gravity. A tail applies a corrective force on a kite when there is substantial angular displacement. This allows the kite to adapt to minor wind condition changes. The tail has an affect on the lift to drag ratio. Laterally disposed drag. If you have a good aspect ratio (that is length to width ratio) then the kite will be more stable (with an aspect ratio of above 1). The longitudinal dihedral angle is important, it shifts the kites center of lift down the kite and reduces the effective pendulum length and increases the kites ability to correct itself. The angle of the line relative to the wind direction matters, the shorter the line length, the greater the angle.
WIND DIRECTION
CENTER OF PRESSURE
PENDULUM EFFECT ZERO AERO FORCE
& CENTER OF GRAVITY
WEIGHT FORCE
A OF A 90 ˚
WIND DIRECTION
AERO FORCE PENDULUM EFFECT POSITIVE CENTER OF PRESSURE
WEIGHT FORCE
ANGLE OF ATTACK LESS THAN 45˚
TYPES OF KITE RESEARCH
ANIMAL SHAPED KITES (RAM AIR INFLATED)
PILOT KITES
MULTIPLE KITES ON ONE STRING
SINGLE SKIN, SINGLE LINE KITES
DUAL LINE KITES
There are many different types of modern kites that can be made. I personally am interested in the idea of having multiple kites on one string, and seeing how the kite would fly. Would it dance around in an interesting pattern? Is there a possibility of releasing each section of kite when the one before hits a certain height? Or will it not work at all? I think it would be interesting to explore these ideas.
FUTURE DESIGNS IDEAS
TAIL MOVEMENT THROUGH THE WIND
INFLATABLE TAILS
1 2
Using the kite from the workshop with Peter Lynn as a base for the design and modify it. This will be simpler as we already have a base kite which we know can fly. Create our own design from scratch, using rules from Peter Lynn about what kites need to fly. I recently saw a kite flying with a tail, it was almost dancing in the wind, this is something I think would be interesting to explore in the future. It reminds me of ribbon twirling, which can often create a quite beautiful display. Perhaps it would also be interesting to look into designing a kite
REFLECTION
These first few weeks have been a massive learning experience, from learning sewing skills, to understanding what it is that makes a kite fly, to inflatable making. It was useful for us to create our inflatable prototypes in the first week as it introduced us to sewing, forced us to contemplate various ways of inflation, and helped us understand how pre-existing inflatables were made. Before this subject I had not contemplated the idea of inflatable architecture, and now that I have been introduced to the idea, the opportunities seem endless. What I also learned was that even though something seems simple when
designing on the computer, it is important to know the limitations of the real world. The intensive kite making workship with Peter Lynn was quite daunting at first. He presented to us a single skin, single string kite that was completely foreign. This workshop was so helpful because it not only increased our physical modelling skills, but also helped us to understand some of the physics behind what makes Peters kites fly. The tools and knowledge we learned in the workshop will come in handy for our future kite designing and making endeavours.
INDIVIDUAL DESIGN
GOALS
This section of the journal will focus on designing a kite which attaches to a pilot kite to give it lift. The kite is not intended to be flown on its own, nor does it have the capacity to do so. The kite is intended to be of simple design, such that the focus and complexity comes from its movement.
The main concept is to design a kite which captures a similar movement seen in various aquatic creatures such as the jellyfish. Through research and exploration, and through prototyping, the aim is to achieve this movement with the use of relatively simple systems within the skin of the kite itself.
This is a 3D printed dress designed by Iris Van Herpen and Daniel Widrig. The dress is called Escapism, the fineness of the printed lines of the fabric makes the design light weight and flexible. Although this dress is not crafted by hand and is not created from fabric, it brings forward interesting ideas of stretching, folding, and movement which could be further investigated and tested.
INVESTIGATION BENDING, FOLDING & MOVEMENT
FABRIC MANIPULATION YIQING YIN
COMPLEX PLEATING VIKTOR & ROLF SPRING 2014
PARAMETRIC DRESS MATIJA COP
These three precedents are interesting in the way that they incorporate movement, bending and folding into the design of the dress. Yiqing Yin uses fabric manipulation techniques such as fine pleating to achieve varying density and complexity in the fabric. On the contrary, Viktor & Rolf employ a wider, more complex pleat folded in such a way that creates clean elegant lines. The parametric dress by Matija Cop is of particular interest, as we are encouraged to design using parametrics. Much like Van Herpen’s 3D printed dress, this dress demonstrates the broad range of design that can be completed through parametrics. Some designs take too long, or are even unable to be designed without the computer, computer aided design can push us to design in a way previously thought to be impossible. The fashion presented above is inspiring and gives ideas of ways complex geometries designed on the computer can be physically crafted.
These colourful kites were presented at the Colour the Wind Festival in Clear Lake Iowa. What is interesting about these kites is their scale, colourful patterns, and overall shape. It is important to research kites so we can know what is possible, and expand on that, rather than designing and realising afterwards that it has already been done before.
INVESTIGATION KITES
SCHOOL OF KITES
SPINNING KITE
TAILS
There are so many different types of kites, and interesting ways of presenting them. The school of fish in the sky is an interesting concept, even with a very simple kite design, the complexity is demonstrated by the number of kites flying together in such a close proximity. The spinning kite is an interesting idea, as it utilises precisely cut holes in the front of the kite which force air through the center in a particular way, causing the kite to spin. Similarly, the image depicting many kites with long simple tails is interesting as it demonstrates the patterns that can be created by long tails in the wind.
Jellyfish move in a very interesting, mesmerizing way. They are graceful in their movement, and their long tentacles almost dance around as they float and are moved by the waters current. These movements are fascinating, what is interesting is the idea of translating this movement in the water, into the sky.
INVESTIGATION JELLYFISH
The Ocean harbours many beautiful creatures, often dangerous and very different to what we see on land. From the three images above, distinct variations can be seen between each creature. The tentacles such as those seen on the far right, almost look as though they are folded fabric. An investigation into the way the jellyfish forms and grows would be interesting. We would then be able to understand how the jellyfish forms, and take those ideas and replicate them in a simpler way, through the use of fabrics.
PROPOSAL JELLYFISH MOVEMENT
The aim of the kite is to capture the movement of jellyfish. The initial focus will be on the head or the top of the jellyfish, as this is where the movement stems from, the tail trails behind. As can be seen from the stills above, the jellyfish expands, allowing water to come up and under the top, and then contracts its muscles, pushing against the water, this action propels the creature forward. It would be very difficult to achieve a similar motion in the air in the same way as there is less resistance. The aim is to create this movement through simple internal systems which cause the kite to expand and contract with varying pressure.
PROPOSAL The shape of the design is a simple hemisphere with a double skin. The double skin is used so that air can be trapped and inflate the dome shape. The shape is intended to be simple, the complexity is created through the movement, the expansion and deflation of the overall form.
1
2
3
The simple design is made up of three main parts, the outer skin (1) the bottom ring (2) and the cone on the inside (3), all when added together creating a double skin which is inflatable.
PROPOSAL HOW WILL IT FLY?
The kite is designed so that it connects to a pilot kite in order to fly. It cannot be flown on its own for a number of reasons. One important reason it cannot fly is that there is no defining feature on the kite which tells it which way it up. What is meant by this is that there is no lip for wind to be caught on as it is symmetrical the whole way around, the center of lift is NOT above the center of gravity
SHEET BEND KNOT
As can be seen in this diagram, the wind comes into the pilot kite from all angles, and it is driven up to the lip giving the kite a great amount of upward lift. The ‘jellyfish’ kite only allows wind to inflate it from a very specific opening, and when it does it disperses evenly throughout the kite, causing it to inflate but not fly.
MOVEMENT To achieve movement, elastic was sewn to folded bridles, so that when the bridle was pulled out from either end, the bridle stretched to its limit. These bridles were then sewn in a grid like pattern across the body of the kite, and attached to one another in various patterns
FOLDED BRIDLE
ELASTIC
The above diagrams represent some of the many ways in which the bridles can be connected. Creating pinching and manipulating the fabric as the elastic expands and contracts from the varying wind pressure.
MAKING THE PROTOTYPE
PANELS
PANELS JOINED AS STRIPS
As the original shape was derived from a sphere, it could not be unrolled into an accurate flat surface. To get past this issue, the surface was paneled into a series of flat polygons. These shapes were then joined together in strips, and unrolled into seventeen pieces. The reason there are so many strips, is so that the spheres form is relatively well maintained.
The pieces are sewn together in a regular 5mm seam creating a dome shape similar to that of a sea urchin.
MAKING THE PROTOTYPE
In this diagram, the red lines indicate cut lines through various shapes that were too large to fit onto A0 pages to be used as a stencil. It also explains how the various pieces of the kite fit together.
THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS IS AS FOLLOWS: • The 17 pieces of the outer shell are sewn together with a half centimetre seam • The four pieces of the bottom of the kite were sewn together to create the ring shape • The bottom of the outer shell (the wider section) is sewn to the outside of the bottom ring • The four pieces of the inside cone were then sewn together • This cone was then sewn into the body of the kite along the green line • The circle was sewn into the top of the cone to block the flow of wind. • Bridles were then cut at 300mm and sewn to 10 points around the mouth of the kite and the circle on top of the cone. • Bridles were sewn in a grid pattern on the inside of the kite
MAKING THE PROTOTYPE BRIDLES
(1) MAIN OUTER BRIDLE
(2) INTERNAL BRIDLE CONNECTION
(3) SEWING INTERNAL BRIDLE
(4) DEFLATION & BRIDLES INSIDE KITE Image 1 is demonstrating how the bridle is connected to the outside of the shell of the kite, and attached to the lines of the kite. The second image depicts the bridle connections which pinch the skin of the kite, and expand when enough pressure builds up. A simple sheet bend knot was used to connect the two bridles. The fourth image is demonstrating how the bridle was attached in the centre of the kite, and the deflation of the cone that occurred when wind passed through.
PERFORMANCE FLYING ‘SO-LOW’
UP
DOWN
UP
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
The kite is on its own, not attached to the pilot kite. The kite is unable to lift itself from the ground as its shape is such that the kite does not know which way is up, the kite doesn’t re direct air flow upwards to lift it like Peter Lynn’s kite. Hence, in the images the kite is seen to be sporadic in its movements and unable to fly upwards for any length of time.
UP
UP
PERFORMANCE WITH PILOT KITE
PINCHING FROM BRIDLES
INFLATION
PILOT
KITE
FLIGHT HIGH OUTSIDE PRESSURE
HIGHER INSIDE PRESSURE
DEFLATION INFLATED
DEFORMATION
PERFORMANCE
MOVEMENT
DEFLATION
BRIDLE PINCH
BRIDLES
HIGH INSIDE PRESSURE
PERFORMANCE
As can be seen from the stills, the kite flew relatively well. The elastic bridles enabled movement as hoped, however the amount of movement was minimal, and would have been more interesting if the elastic pinched more at the fabric, creating interesting patterns on the surface of the fabric. Another issue was that sometimes the air pressure on the outside of the kite was greater than the pressure inside the kite, causing deformation in various places. This is due to the relatively small size of the ‘mouth’ of the kite, and can be easily manipulated to be more successful.
MATERIALS, TOOLS & LABOUR
WATERPROOF RIP STOP NYLON FABRIC
SEWING MACHINE
THREAD
BRIDLE LINE
KITE ROPE
At this scale, the project was relatively simple to complete. The kite was 1.5m in diameter so the sewing was relatively simple as the pieces to be sewn were rather large. The most complicated part of the prototyping process was the elastic bridles on the inside of the kite. Sewing the bridles to the inside of the kite was difficult as the kite was already sewn together at that stage, in the future it would be prudent to attach the bridles before sewing all the pieces of the kite together.
TIMELINE
This is a very simple table to represent the allocation of time throughout the rest of the semester. As there is little time left it is important that we overlap the various stages such that we are never waiting to do something and are always ready to do the next thing. As kites are dependent on the weather, the documentation stage has been given a substantial amount of time to allow for bad weather.
REFERENCES TO BE CONTINUED
http://www.dezeen.com/2016/03/10/lucid-iris-van-herpen-autumn-winter-2016-collectionfashion-paris/ http://kimberlyvillaboton.tumblr.com/post/108932622863/fabric-manipulation-inspirationyiqing-yin http://www.livingly.com/runway/Paris+Fashion+Week+Spring+2014/Viktor+Rolf/Details/ DjqqP_t5a_B https://www.notjustalabel.com/designer/matija-cop https://au.pinterest.com/pin/534521049507709723/