Parametric Design Portfolio

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COMPUTATION + FABRICATION + INTERACTION DESIGN RESEARCH PORTFOLIO DOMINIC CO



CO, DOMINIC www.dominicco.com EDUCATION University of Hong Kong (HKU) Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies; First Class Honours

2015 to ‘19 ‘18 to ‘19

Fall Exchange Program in the School of Architecture

WORK EXPERIENCE 2019 to 2020 (10 months)

, Faculty of Architecture, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

‘18 Fall Term

Undergraduate Researcher UROP, Tangible Media Group, MIT Media Lab, USA

‘18 (2 months)

UX Design Intern, Lane Crawford LLC, Hong Kong

‘17 (2 months)

UX Design Intern, Digitas LBi, Hong Kong

‘16 (3 months)

Housing Research Intern, Habitat for Humanity, Cambodia

AWARDS FOR PROJECTS • • • • • • •

1st Place - Bose Challenge @ MIT ‘18 for “Runner’s High: Audio AR Pace Tracking App” for “Granny: AI-Aided Youth Journaling App” ‘17 for “Granny App” Grand Winner - MSFT Challenge for Change ‘14 for “Libroko: a Filipino Lit. ‘SparkNotes’” Hong Kong University Alumni Prize ‘17-’18 Yu Chen Keung Memorial Scholarship ‘15- ‘19 for Academic Merit Dean’s List ‘15-’17 - Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong

DIGITAL SKILLS Javascript

Grasshopper Basic Python Arduino AutoCAD Adobe suite HotJar Sketch App

Rhino Figma

HTML/CSS/

LANGUAGES Mandarin (Intermediate - HSK Cert. Level 5)



CONTENT SELECTED DIGITAL FABRICATION AND COMPUTATION WORK Spanning topics from fabrication to interaction design, this portfolio includes my most recent design work in the past two years. My work aims to showcase how I believe computation and technology can help solve real world problems, and can serve as a jump off point for design exploration. My responsibilities in cooperative projects are clarified in each project. SELECTED DIGITAL FABRICATION AND COMPUTATION WORK

CONTENT 00

Rain Brick: A RAIN rUNOFF collection brick system 4th year Thesis, Faculty of Architecture, HKU

1

Artificial Coral Reef Tile System 01 School of Biological Sciences + Architecture, HKU

5

Texture explorations with direct ink writing 02 Spring ‘18-‘19

8

CNC-MILLED WAVE TEXTURED TILE 03 Spring ‘18-‘19

10

Tensionball 04

11

Bubble interface 05 Fall ‘18 -‘19 Ryhtmic business cards 06 2017 - ‘18

12

SYNCHRONOUS CURTAINS 07 2017 - ‘18

13

3D JOINT CHAIR 08 2017 - ‘18

13

RUNNER’s high: an ar audio pace tracking app 09 2017 - ‘18 Granny app: an ai-powered youth journaling app 10 2017 - ‘18

14

Fall ‘17-’18

12

14


Figure 1 (above): Corner View of rain water brick system Figure 2 (Leftmost below): Side view of system Figure 3: Three brick types that compose its assembly


RAIN BRICK

A RAIN rUNOFF collection brick system

COURSE instructor project type DATE

Final Year Thesis Studio Christian Lange, The University of Hong Kong Robotic 3D Printing and Computation Spring 20189

What if we could collect rain water runoff from walls? Currently, existing rain-water harvesting systems have always been applied on the roof of building structures. While this makes sense for low rise structures such as houses, for tall building structures, the roof’s surface area is often much smaller than its facades. As such, the aim of this project was to create mass-customized rain-collecting brick skin that could take advantage of the large surface area that a tall building structure provides, using direct-ink writing (DIW) method for manufacturing these with the aid of a robotic arm.

Rain brick facade Rain brick facade on tall building on tall building structure structure Catchment lead to Catchment& lead storage filtering to storage and process filtering process

Plumbing for Plumbing for bathroom & bathroom and kitchen usage kitchen usage

Filtering, storage, Filtering, storage and pumping and pumping systems systems

1


Automating brick form factor to driving rain index (DRI) From the unit simulation (below), volume flow rate/drainage of each brick was mapped to the rate of rainwater hitting a approximately equal vertical surface area generatively.

FLUID FLOW VS BRICK UNIT SCALE To understand the relationship between spout angle and how fast the brick “drains” rainwater, incompressible fluid flow simulation was conducted using Simscale. The volume flow rate of each design was then extracted and mapped to DRI for automatically generating the wall design in Grasshopper.

Simulation Constants • Angle of Rain: 10 degrees • Inlet Rain Velocity: 1 m/s • OutletPressure: 0 Pa • Laminar Flow • Non-slip walls • Outlet Area: .003 m2 • DRI = RainFall (mm/s) * Wind Speed (m/s)

Outlet Velocity: 4.72 m/s

Outlet Velocity: 4.23 m/s

Outlet Velocity: 4.12 m/s

Outlet Velocity: 3.72 m/s

Vol. Flow Rate:

Vol. Flow Rate:

Vol. Flow Rate:

Vol. Flow Rate:

4.72*.003 = 0.01416 m3/s

4.23*.003 = 0.01296 m3/s

4.12*.003 = .01236 m3/s

3.72*.003 = .01116 m3/s

Capacity of Spout:

Capacity of Spout:

Capacity of Spout:

Capacity of Spout:

.00043 m3

.00036 m3

.00032 m3

.00024 m3


Printing Procedure for all Bricks For all the brick forms (to the right), the printing procedure was the same as follows in order to understand the effect of geometry on the printability of designs:

Print Result Of Spout Shapes Experimenting with different curvatures, I discovered that the gothic arch shape (the last of the four images below) deformed the least and was most structurally stable, and that fired brick deforms significantly from the digital model based on 3D scans:

Step 1: The model was flipped top face faced down for easier, steadier printing.

A general height decrease of about 10.1%

Original digital geometry 3D scan of kilnfired brick

180°

180° Spout experiences torsion and shortens lengthwise by ~9.8%

180°

c

Step 2: The whole component was contoured and connected into one, single line.

ca

Start

a

Start

c b

ca

b

b a

b b=30mm a=60mm c=40mm

Start

c c

b a

b

Step 3: Theaunit was printed at different speeds, with the first few layers at 45-50% (of 10 mm/s) speed to create a strong base and the rest at 100% (of 10 mm/s).

ca b

b=35mmc c a=60mm c=40mm b b ca a b c a b

c

a

c b

b

a

a Speed: 100%

c Speed: 100% a

b=40mm a=60mm c=40mm

c b

b

Speed: 100% Speed: 50% Speed: 50%

c Speed:b50% a

a

b=45mm a=60mm c=40mm 2


BRICK ASSEMBLY ITERATIONS

Design Move: “Hollow” Standard Bricks Direct from the Printer Issues: Due to its hollowness, it lacks structural stability against lateral forces.

Design Move: Connected Piping system Issues: Brick edges do not meet cleanly causing irregular sized pipes and leakage of water.

Design Move: Male Female Joint Pipe Issues: Male Joint at the base of the brick chips off easily and tolerance needs to be increased.

Design Move: Extended Male Female Joint Pipe Via Coned Piping Issues: Tolerances have to be adjust accordingly between adjacent brick’s female joints.


Applying the Rain Brick to Wah Cheong House In Hong Kong Working with the brick system, I proposed the idea of creating a rain garden in the courtyard of Wah Cheong house in Hong Kong for residents of the estate to enjoy. By definition, a rain garden is a type of garden with a much higher water infiltration capacity. I proposed the rain garden as a means not only to act as the filtration mechanism of the overall water harvesting system, but also to activate the otherwise dead courtyard space that isn’t being used.

Existing Building Condition

Applying the rain brick on non-structural long spanning walls.

Taking away two floors to allow for more natural light into the garden.

Removing two floors and carving out void for the rain garden.

Applying the horizantal belly of rain brick in the courtyard.

Ceiling Plan of internal Rain Garden: The rain brick extends towards the underbelly of the housing estate, bring rain into the space and into the garden. 3



SECTION OF WAH CHEONG HOUSE WITH RAIN BRICK APPLICATION



Artificial coral reef structure

Robotic 3d clay printed artificial reef structure Members ROLE project type DATE

Christian Lange, Faculty of Architecture Lidia Ratoi, Faculty of Architecture Dominic Co, Faculty of Architecture Vriko Yu, Faculty of Marine Sciences David Baker, Faculty of Marine Sciences Design, Scripting and Fabrication Product Design Fall 2019

In 2018 after Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong, the city lost around 80% of its existing corals. As a consequence, at team consisting of marine biologists and architects from the University of Hong kong have developed a series of 3D - clay printed artificial coral reef structures that will be deployed in Hong Kong waters intending to aid new coral growth over the coming years. My role was to come up with the algorithmic strategy and design of the tile given the requirements from the marine biologists of the team.

Acropora Coral

Platygyra Coral

Pavona Coral

Our first clay prototype placed in Shek-O coral reserve shows signs of biological deposition and growth. This indicated to us that clay was a conducive material for coral growth vs concrete.

5


Depending on species growth and size, corals are placed and secured into pocket spaces of various sizes to encourage vertical (vs horizantal) growth Direct-Ink Writing (DIW) was the method of manufacturing used to produce the tiles.

A diagrid with bracings was used for structural stability and for reducing sedimentation on the surface.


Algorithmic Process For Coral Pattern Generation To create a surface that (1) allowed different sized corals to be anchored onto (2) promoted coral growth in the vertical direction over the horizantal (through attaching corals in recessed pockets), a coral-looking pattern with pockets was devised using various generative strategies.

Gosper curve generation in Python using an L-System: Angle: 60°,

Differential growth of curve to bounding hexagonal mesh using Kangaroo Sphere Collision.

Axiom: A, A -> A - B - - B + A + + AA + B-, B -> +A - BB - - B - A + + A + B

Tapering of coral curve tool paths to achieve a array of trenches which direct sedimentation off.

Coral Pattern Test Prints using Various Algorithmic Strategies

Space Filling Curve

Circle Packing-derived curve

Neuron Growth logic curve

Shortest Path Curve

Space Filling + Shortest Path Combined

Gosper Curve Relaxed

Gosper Curve Less Relaxed

Gosper Curve With Pockets

Designing the Tool Path of the Grid As Hong Kong waters are heavy with sediments which pose a challenge to coral growth, one of the goals of the design was to reduce sedimentation on the surface by devising a grid. The final grid (E) was chosen based on print speed and material minimization:

A

B

C

D

E

GRID TIME (minutes)

A ~44-50

B ~62-75

C ~74-85

D ~76-87

E ~52-58

LENGTH (m)

152

181

228

200

170

MATERIAL USAGE (kg)

~15.2

~18.0

~22.7

~19.9

~16.9

6


After 4 days of drying, the tile is flipped for printing its legs

Four units are assembled with a malefemale joints for easy underwater alignment, and comprised 1.5 square meters of space in area.

A Autonomous Reef Monitoring System (ARMS) is placed on the central tile for monitoring the different types of biological life that might grow on the unit.

Legs of three different heights are printed on top of the tile’s grid to allow for water flow between tiles. These tiles also allow for a rebar to fit through for anchoring to the sea floor.



This was our first trial of placing the final prototypes into Moon beach. Ease of assembly under water was a important consideration in our design. The tiles are light enought to be carried over the boat from person to person and can easily be arranged underwater through the leg-slot system.



CLoseup picture of Texture Explorations.


Texture Explorations with Direct Ink Writing Members Camille Damiano, Faculty of Architecture Gregoire Gagneux, Faculty of Architecture Dominic Co, Faculty of Architecture ROLE Design, Scripting and Fabrication project type tool path design and fabrication DATE Spring 2019 This project explored how direct ink writing (DIW) could be used to create weave and knit like patterns seen in fabrics in clay. Through the project, we took inspiration from existing knit structures and attempted to mimic their morphology with scripting a tool path of points and loops which differ in x, y, z positioning, in size and in repetition. At the end, we produced a series of visually distinct towers, each using the same looping tool path strategy, but differing in the aforementioned variables.

2mm 2mm 4mm 4mm 6mm 6mm 8mm 8mm 10mm 10mm

4 4

7 7

48mm 48mm

46mm 46mm

12 12

11 11 3 3

44mm 44mm

10 10

42mm 42mm

40mm 40mm

8 8

38mm 38mm

36mm 36mm

6 6

34mm 34mm

5 5

32mm 32mm

30mm 30mm

28mm 28mm

26mm 26mm

24mm 24mm

X-AXIS OFFSET X-AXIS OFFSET 22mm 22mm

20mm 20mm

18mm 18mm

16mm 16mm

14mm 14mm

12mm 12mm

2 2

10mm 10mm

8mm 8mm

6mm 6mm

1 1

4mm 4mm

2mm 2mm

Weave and knitting patterns were our source of inspiration for our explorations on creating the tool path. Image Source: A Topological Study of Textile Structures by S. Grishanov

13 15 13 15

14 14

9 9

PRINT PATH

ALTERNATING LOOPS ALTERNATING LOOPS

The tool path was studied in terms of its offsets and the order and position of points by which the robotic arm moved.

8


y-axis

y

y 10mm

3mm 3mm x-axis 10mm

x 13mm

2

30m


25mm

mm

y

y 18mm

x

13mm

x 15mm

x 8mm

9



CNC-Milled Wave Textured Tile project type tool path design and fabrication DATE Spring 2019 Contrary to a majority of my previous work which involve ideas of mass customization, this project is an attempt at creating discrete elements in the form of tiles. My inspiration came from ocean waves and how one might capture a static image of these literally in physical form. From digital to physical fabrication, the process of making these tiles was not straightforward, and required multiple adjustments along the way to produce a tile that mimicked wave forms.

SLIP CAST Tests aND TRIALS

Trial 1 of slip casting failed due to thinness of slip.

No.2 incurs issues of warping and slip getting stuck in mould.

No. 3 lacks definition and could be improved.

No. 4 slip is too thick could be improved by making a thinner slip.

Fabrication Process 1

Height field created using a black and white image. 5

2

3

Surface is subdivided Rough + smooth into points for toolpaths are made creating the toolpath. for surface texturing using ABB plugins. 6

Slip is poured into the After a 24 hours, mould and excess is tile is removed from removed. mould

7

Tiles are fired in the kiln at Cone 4 (1025 Degrees celcius)

4

Path is milled using a 5 mm drill bit into a plaster mould 8

After 16 hours, tile is fired and ready for glazing. 10


21


TENSION BALL STUDIO THEME INSTRUCTOR project type DATE

Visualization And Soundification of the Invisible Thomas Tsang Art Installation Fall 2017

DEMO VIDEO

Can we visualize and soundify physical forces? That was the goal I had in mind when designing and fabricating my interactive musical installation. I took inspiration from traditional chinese pecking chicken toys, and explored various sounds that could be produced by tugging. In the end, I produced a instrument where the user’s position in space and the sound produced were interlinked, whilst visualizing centrifugal forces.

Position of string connection influences which side of the instrument plays a sound. When tugged and released, the “pecking” device pecks a streched spring which produces a sound.

The ball is loaded for the strings to tug strong enough for other devices to activate with just a light push.

11


1

2

3

PROJECTION DISPLAY OF MARS BUBBLE IS DETECTED THRU OPENCV

Smoke-FIlled bubble

4

a PROJECTION IS PLACED ON THE BUBBLE

5

6

bUBBLE IS DETECTED THRU OPENCV

wHEN BUBBLE IS POPPED, AUDIO FILE IS PLAYED THRU SPEAKERS

BUBBLE INTERFACE MEMBERS Hila Mor, MIT Media Lab Hiroki Kawashima, Harvard GSD Britney Johnson, MIT Media Lab Benjamin Miller, MIT Mechanical Engineering Dominic Co, University of Hong Kong ROLE Programming Animations Using openFrameworks instructor Hiroshi Ishii, MIT Media Lab project type Computer Vision, Interface Design DATE Fall 2018

DEMO VIDEO

Can we use bubbles and the various affordances it provides as a tangible interface? This project aimed to capture both image and sound in a bubble, using a Kinect, openCV and openFramework libraries to detect and to display/soundify image/sound onto a bubble. We envision this bubble interface for a variety of applications from time-sensitive instant messaging to entertainment purposes.


INTERACTING WITH ONE CARD AFFECTS THE OTHER

MODE 1: FORCE SENSOR

Picking Up Turns on Vibration

Pressing Modulates Vibration Strength and Its Location

MODE 2: AMBIENT SOUND AND TAPPING

Flipping converts the card to mic mode

Ambient sounds are picked up and converted to vibrations

Tapping Creates Vibration Rhythm

RHYTHMIC BUSINESS CARDS MEMBERS Hila Mor, MIT Media Lab Hiroki Kawashima, Harvard GSD Britney Johnson, MIT Media Lab Benjamin Miller, MIT Mechanical Engineering Dominic Co, University of Hong Kong ROLE Programming for Interactions for Arduino instructor Hiroshi Ishii, MIT Media Lab project type Arduino, Interface Design DATE Fall 2018

DEMO VIDEO

What if we could help foster communication between strangers after their first meeting? Rhythmic business cards is a attempt to create a tangible social media network which connect people’s environments and current states through vibration. These devices detect audio and physical touch in one’s environment, and consequently send this information in the form of a processed, undulating vibration to another user (and vice versa). 12


00:00

00:00 HONG KONG 9 PM

00:20

00:10 BOSTON 9 AM

Curtain movement, speed and positions are synchronized

00:40

00:20 HONG KONG 10 AM

00:30 BOSTON 10 PM

These connected curtains suggest a sense of time and telepresence.

SYNCHRONOUS CURTAINS project type Arduino, Interface Design cOURSE 4.031 Design Objects instructor Marcelo Coelho, MIT Faculty of Architecture Jessica Rosenkrantz, MIT Faculty of Architecure DATE Fall 2018

DEMO VIDEO

Capturing a sense of time and of telepresence was the theme of Synchronous Curtains. This curtain prototype consists of synchronous, blue-tooth connected curtains which corelate their opposite position and direction to one another, suggesting a scenario where two people might live in two different timezones but are connected in some capacity.


3D JOINT CHAIR project type Furniture Design cOURSE 4.031 Design Objects instructor Marcelo Coelho, MIT Faculty of Architecture Jessica Rosenkrantz, MIT Faculty of Architecure DATE Fall 2018 This chair was made of a standard wooden plank with a single, cnc-milled 3D joint. using this modular component, a variety of chairs can be made, differing in heights, lengths and spans to accomodate various sizes of users.

13


IF RUNNER’S PACE IS TOO SLOW

00:00 IF RUNNER’S PACE IS TOO FAST

00:00

MUSIC IS SPATIALLY PERCEIVED AHEAD OF THE USER

00:10

00:20

00:30

MUSIC IS SPATIALLY PERCEIVED IN FRONT OFUSER THE USER BEHIND THE

00:10

00:20

00:30

RUNNER’S HIGH - BOSE CHALLENGE @ MIT ‘18 WINNER AN AUGMENTED AUDIO REALITY PACE TRACKING APP

MEMBERS Yasunori Toshimitsu, University of Tokyo Jooyeon Lee, MIT Media Lab Dominic Co, University of Hong Kong ROLE UX Design and Video Editing project type Bose Headphone Application DATE Fall 2018

DEMO VIDEO NEWS ARTICLE

Runner’s High is a augmented audio reality pace tracking app, which utilizes Bose AR SDK to spatially locate sound in front, behind or next to the user. The function of the app was to help the user know if his pace was too fast/too slow/or just right by spatially located music ahead/behind/adjacent to the user.


Joy

NEUTRAL

FEAR

CONTEMPT

ANGER

SURPRISE

DISGUST

SADNESS

GRANNY APP - MICROSOFT IMAGINE HACK ‘17 HK WINNER AN AI-POWERED YOUTH JOURNALING APP

MEMBERS ROLE project type DATE

Rachel Liao, University of Hong Kong Geraldine Chua, University of Hong Kong Dominic Co, University of Hong Kong Front End Development and UX Design Mobile Application Spring 2017

GITHUB DEV PROCESS

More than half of Hong Kong youth suffer from depression. Granny App is a AI-powered cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) app that helps youth journal their experiences by talking to a virtual grandma. It utilizes IBM watson’s Speech to Text, and Tone Analyzer API to understand a user’s current state and correspond with the appropriate CBT actions. 14



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