DIGITAL DESIGN + FABRICATION SM1, 2016 SKIN AND BONE
Chester Wong Steven Lee Alice Jiang Nicholas Collins
618157 685769 783943 758427 Amanda Masip Group 7
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INTRODUCTION 1.0 INDEATION 2.0 DESIGN 3.0 FABRICATION 4.0 REFLECTION 5.0 APPENDIX
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INTRODUCTION
The skin and bone system utilise a reciprocal relationship to take advantage of its full benefits. A step can be taken to take this relationship into the visual realm and provide a seemingly visual blend of these two elements. This unique form is used to create different effects with regards to sight and emotional impact.
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1.0 IDEATION
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The object which i chose was an umbrella and it was chosen as I thought it was a quintessential example of an object utilising the skin and bone system. The umbrella uses the advantage of a reciprocal force system between the metal frame structure and the plastic membrane. THe frame stretches the membrane outwards to form the shape and the membrane itself provides tensional stress which ensures that the form is still maintained as it is holding the frame in position. Materiality is another important factor to be taken away as it is an important factor in whether the membrane and frame can do their allocated functions. The umbrella was measured with a measuring tape. For curved parts of the umbrella, string was used instead as the tape was not flexible and the length was measured after. The umbrella itself is symmetrical, thus most of its measurements are easily obtained as they consist of straight lines and consistent angles. The sketch model I made was made out of flexible florist wires. I wanted to recreate the frameof the umbrella and at the same time explore how the system can be played with to create a sense of both order and chaos. What I took from it instead was the sense that both the skin and bone element could be blended to make one whole. 9
Due to the symmetrical nature and consistent angles of the umbrella, the Rhino model was fairly simple to make. A simgle element from the frame was created first can then it was repeated around by angles of 45 degrees. Other joints on the model were similarly done. FInally, the patch was used to create a membrane element on the model.
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These three ideas presented different ways on how personal space could be protected but at the same time provide different emotional responses. They could look intimidating or gentle. Something which was also tried with in the designs was playing around with sight. According to an article by Sommer, eye contact is one of the biggest way personal space is invaded. I wanted to play around with visibility in the designs to try to adhere to that statement. The lack of visibility could increase the level of protection felt.
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2.0 DESIGN
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During the group discussion, there were various interpretations surrounding how our sketch design should proceed, since each group member has different ways of comprehending personal space. We settled with a thought that personal space was something concentrated on the top of the body. We also wanted to play with the idea and effect of blending both the skin and bone to look as if they are one whole. The idea of emotional connection and sight is also utilised. Emotional impact was a very tricky obstacle to takle as it opened up more discussion on what should be focused on. Should it feel intimidating? We chose at first to go for a more unconventional style and explore the emotion of intimacy. Compared to other initial design ideas, this one stands out as it attempts to explore the idea that second skin design can incorporate more than one subject. What we tried to do is sketch out a design where a couple which tends to share personal space can be together to create the effect of intimacy.
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This initial proposed design revolves around the idea of utilising minimal surface, while exploring the shared personal space around a couple. There are wires which connect together in the centre giving the feeling of one whole but there is still spaces where the individual’s personal space is respected. The idea was to make a structuture where the couple could be intimate and yet be able to still have personal boudaries. The minimal membrane sufaces would be used to give the look that the bone structure and skin were one. On hindsight, this initial design seemed rather rigid and the strict adherence to a symmetrical style might be the reason for it. It seems that a more natural form would also help us to acheive the blending affect we so desired. In this case, learning about abstraction and reduction was what was needed to help us in the right step. While not completely related to design, what can be taken from it is the realisation that we needed to simplify the design as well to make it look natural. Less is more as coined by Mies Van Der Rohe.
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Nuam Gabo’s Linear Construction work provided the perfect precedent we needed. It showed a very light looking frame which encompassed many different strings connected around the structure. The bending motion caused by the string resulted in an interesting yet simple form. Together with its material, it provided a very strong visual effect that both represented a unified whole and a gentle lightness. This is actually a good example of what was brought up in a lecture, that we had to combine the idea of a personal space together with proper materiality and a sensory effect to make a good design. With these new aspects in mind. We redesigned the model, getting rid of the idea of housing a couple to make it less complicated. It still has the symbolic representation of intimacy as seen by the piece over the chest. We tried to twist our previous design into the style of Nuam Gabo,trying to create different curved surfaces with specific use of the bone and skin structure. 15
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The prototype model was made with perspex and had circular slots with which the strings would be strung through. We tested the limit of what we could acheive design wise and the physical threshold of the perspex material. Perspex was our chosen material as it was transparent and light, the qualities with which we wanted to utilise in our design. What we made was a smaller abstract version of the design we made. It was made with the pupose of allowing us ways to try out different stringing methods and sting types. We were able to create different patterns with the string and also decided on the type of string to be used. We opted for thin white string instead of black as it blended better with the perspex and also gave off the sensory impact we wanted, a sense of lightness. Overall, this prototype was a tremendous succes as we were able to learn many things from the experience of stringing and this design formed the basis of our final when we were not happy with our further experimentations for the final.
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3.0 FABRICATION
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Feedback for M2 was fairly positive. Advice was given to push the design further and make the elements less noticable. With that in mind, we proceeded to make some optimisations with regards to its dimensions and the way we would go about making the bone elements to allow for curved surfaces. Materiality and the freeform style would stay the same. Something which we tried to push for again was for a more complex form. Given the missteps we had before, this was not really a easy direction to go and we encountered many hurdles. One way in which we would change from the initial design was that the second skin would now sit on the limbs of a person. This was done to try to make it more light, make the bone structure less centralised and thus less conspicous. One initial design consisted of an inverted styled membrane system which would cover the limbs and head and also have symbolic meaning in terms of intimacy and the mind.
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Our first initial developed design went back to our geometric and symmetrical roots. We created a box like hexangonal structure which was our first prototype in making the shoulder piece. It would sit on a chest piece which would hold the structure and also provide support for other elements. However, this approach brought a bunch of problems. Creating such structure digitally was a daunting task and there were various setbacks as we were unsure on how to continue with the design. There were concerns that the nature of the strucure would prevent the creation of interesting curved surfaces as there was a repetivness to this design. Futhermore, there were concerns that the design had regressed back into its old static style as this form alone was not interesting. As time passed, we decided to throw out this idea and start again. We took inspiration from our first prototype. We realised that the trully freeform style of the prototype was the method to create interesting forms and we had to stop trying to strongly implement order to the design. Some fundemental elements of consistency would remain but we decided to make a more chaotic form.
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What resulted is a more interesting form in which we have many single elements branching our from a single centralised point. These elements are used to try and incorporate the bending motion of the perspex as much as possible, similar to our initial prototype. This new approach would help us to create more interesting shapes. Quite a number of different optimisation changes had to made during this process too. The perspex elements were made thinner and thinker at different points in order to accomadate for the load they would take and ensure that these elements would not break under preasure. The slots were drastically changed. By utilising a clever method of putting lines into the Rhino drawing, we were able to make thin slots just wide enought for strings to move through and this new method allowed for more slots. An example of digital fabrication assisting us a crucial element. As stated by Kolaveric and Iwamoto, digital design can help us achrieve results that are not really feasible when done by hand. It also allows for a more complex design as can be seen in our final model. To make sure we could make an interesting shape, we had to work backwards. Instead of making the physical model first, we first created it digitally and used the Grasshopper program to simulate how the wiring would look like. Once we were happy with the design, we proceeded to make the physical model. We were forced to use this method through constraints but found out that it was much more effective than what we had done before. We were able to push our design further as well due to this new freedom. This new design incorporated intervention, a concept where looking at it from different perspectives would give different visual results. We wanted to achieve a look of gentleness but still be a able to physically repel people to protect their space. The component of protecting sight also returned. Overall, putting the model together was a tedious process but I feel that the result is great given our time constraints. 22
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4.0 ReFLECTION
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Overall, this journey has been a productive if not interesting experience. I had originally joined the subject just as a chance to brush up my skills in the various programs for digital design but I have ended up also learning techniques and other ways to look at design throughout the course. Digitally sketching out a design to test viability seems obvious in hindsight but is something I have been lacking in my other design classes and may have been hindering me as a result. Some of the readings espcially the one by Iwamoto helped me to realise this. Some of the earlier static designs from the M1 component may have been the result of my inexperince with such techniques and as a result, hampered my designs. This is something which my group is guilty of as well and I wonder how many other people have run into the same situation. This greater effieciency gained can be attributed to digital craft, a new technique which Marble talks about. If there is another benefit this experience has given me, it is the skill to be flexible with the design. There were various points where we encountered hurdles due to the seemingly random nature of our model be it design wise or with the physical model. Due to time constraints, we had to quickly think on our feet to figure out an appropriate solution and the constant mental gymnastics that we played to remain on top of the situation is definitely benefitial experience. The design process we undertook from M1 to M3 was also just as interesting. Due to the nature of our design, we had a few situations where we were clueless on how to proceed and struggled to implement ideas. While I think that it turned out fine in the end, I feel that one of the reasons for this is because we as a group thought to deeply on how everything needed to work together. Materiality, Effects, Personal Space and other visual qualities. All these components from the lectures were important or necessary but i felt that we should have taken it slower and not try to complete various different tasks at the same time. I feel that it is because of this drive that we regressed back to a static and uninteresting design in the early part of M3. We were too concerened with too many things that we could not fully focus on its form and once we were able to put those concerns behind us. our designed progress. Overall, this still serves as an important lesson for future endevours and is one which I would always keep in mind. M2’s process was smooth by comparison and this is probably because we were not building the actual model. This allowed us to think more about the design philosophy of our project and it is a shame we were not able to utilise this in the warly stages of M3. Ultimately though, I feel that the rest of the process and the result is a resounding success. I would have never been able to predict the form of our final model and I feel this truly speaks about the great leaps we made when refining our design. Personally, I have not made something that complex or random before. Not only that, we were trying to give a sense of elegence to it when finished. The stringing process was defiinitely the hardest part of the entire project. It is a shame that some of the strings were not a taut as they could have been but it was really the best we could do within the time constraint. In some sense, craftmenship was needed during the process to make as it was a delicate structure and the bending motions we wanted to acheive made it a much more difficult task than first thought. This is reflected by Marble when he talks about how innovation can happen when risk is present. The only suggestion I can give on hindsight is that we should have planned out the stringing process better before we started to avoid some of the mistakes we made throughout. This has been a very enriching experience and I hope the skills I have learnt will serve me well in the future.
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4.0 APPENDIX
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CREDITS
Page Cover 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Drawings
Computation
Model Fabrication Model Assembly
Photography X X
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Writing
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Graphic Design X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Page Cover 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95
Drawings r
Computation
Chester Wong Steven Lee Alice Jiang Nicholas Collins
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Iwamoto, L., 2013. Digital fabrications: architectural and material techniques. Princeton Architectural Press. Sommer, R. 1969. Personal space : the behavioral basis of design / Robert Sommer. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice Hall, c1969.A Scheurer, F. and Stehling, H. 2011 : Lost in Parameter Space? IAD: Architectural Design, Wiley, 81, 4, July, pp. 70-79 Kolarevic, B 2003, Architecture in the Digital Age Design and Manufacturing/Branko Kolarevic.Spon Press, London Marble, S, 2008. Buildingthe Future: Recasting Labor in Architecture/ Philip Bernstein, Peggy Deamer. Princeton Architectural Press . pp 38-42 Translucent variation on a spheric theme. Nuam Gabo. 1937. retrieved from https://thecharnelhouse.org/2015/02/22/naum-gabo-and-antoine-pevsner/naum-gabotranslucent-variation-on-a-spheric-theme-1937-2275-inches-high/
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