NESTING REVERSAL
DORA LO
Cornell AAP Department of Architecture COEVOLUTIONARY ARCHETYPES Arch 4101, 4102, 5101, 7112 Fall 2019 Option Studio Instructor: Naomi Frangos, Visiting Associate Professor in Architecture
Cowbird and Oropendola Coevolution Animation
Nesting Reversal
COEVOLUTION AND THE DYNAMIC ARCHETYPE
Freefall Freefall into her nursing lap are darker tidings still. Biting, nudging, crying Our weighty other Devoured the sun And swallowed the moon. A swollen nest of empty stomachs Pale, stumbling in thinning air Its black eyes on the horizon, Preparing for the darkening clouds.
Hanging high up at the branches, the woven basket nests of a colony of chestnut-headed oropendolas (Psarocolius cassini ) protect their nestlings from predators on the ground. However, oropendolas’ basket nests cannot prevent The Giant cowbird (Scaphidura oryzivora) from laying its eggs discreetly in nests. By eating the parasitic botflies harmful to oropendolas nestlings, the cowbird nestling earns its permission to stay from the oropendola parents. At the same time, the nestlings of both species compete with one another for food, care and space. Driven by a will of survival, these two species are constantly reversing roles with one another in the basket nests. Is the oropendola the protector of cowbird, or is it protected from the cowbird ? Is the cowbird an invader and adversary, or is it an ally? As they encounter, attract, repulse, compete and coevolve with one another, the ecological relationship between the two species becomes more complex and fragile.
Dora Lo
Cowbird and Oropendola Abstract Coevolution
Nesting Reversal
Dora Lo
d = 10” d = 6.25” d = 3.5”
B1
B2
B3
1” 4” 7” 10”
10”
A1
A2
A3
Coevolution Glass Dynamic Archetype Mold: Iterations and Progress
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B1
B2
B3
A1
A2
A3
Dora Lo
Kinetic Coevolution Glass Dynamic Archetype Mold : Section
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1. Laminated CNC wood STATIC
1.5” Blow hole
d = 3.5”
d=2.5”
DYNAMIC
d=1.5”
1
2 3
Kinetic Coevolution Glass Dynamic Archetype Mold : Axnometric
Dora Lo
Material Used 40%
Cherry Wood Glass Mold Cutting Template
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Cherry Wood Glass Mold Construction
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Cherry Wood Glass Mold
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Glass Blowing Process
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Cherry Wood Glass Mold Construction
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Kinetic Cherry Wood Glass Mold Construction
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Coevolution Positive and Negative Concept
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Glass Forms Yielded from the Mold : Elevation
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Glass Blowing
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Glass Forms Yielded
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Dora Lo
Glass Forms Yielded
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COLOR THEORY: BLUE
“This color has a peculiar and almost indescribable effect on the eye. As a hue it is powerful, but it is on the negative side, and in its highest purity is, as it were, a stimulating negation. Its appearance, then, is a kind of contradiction between excitement and repose.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Blue”, Theory of Colors, Page 312.)
Goethe argues that blue is a color of contradiction. It is a “stimulating negation”; it attracts the eye but also retreat itself from it. The inherent physiological tension in blue parallels with the contention between the cowbird and oropendola as they fight for resources in the nest. In my casted glass piece, the two spherical forms confront and nest into each other. The blue can further enhance the double curvature of these two forms and the tension between them. Goethe also brought up that blue is the color of background, like in the “upper sky and distant mountain”. My blue casted glass pieces can be a visual connection to the sky when they are assembled into a façade element. The choice of light blue embraces the airlessness of the dangling nests. Inspired by the hanging nests, the façade will be alluring, subdue with tension manifested formally in the pieces. .
Nesting Reversal
Dora Lo
DIFFERENCE AND REPETITION: CERAMICS
“If repetition can be found, even in nature, it is in the name of a power which affirms itself against the law, which works underneath laws, perhaps superior to laws. If repetition exists, it expresses at once a singularity opposed to the general, a universality opposed to the particular, a distinctive opposed to the ordinary, an instantaneity opposed to variation, and an eternity opposed to permanence. In every respect, repetition is a transgression.” (Gilles Deleuze, Repetition and Difference, 3.) As the essay title suggested, Deleuze differentiate repetition from generality in this essay. In his view, generality is exchangeable; its two orders are “the qualitative order of resemblance and the quantitative order of equivalence. (p.1) Deleuze’s main interest is in repetition, the repeat of an irreplaceable singularity. The language of science and nature only allows for generality; they do not allow repetition to happen unless the innate power of the repetition is against the law. In my project, I consider the relationship between the two species as well as that between glass and ceramic cyclical. There is no singular beginning and ending of their coevolutionary relationship. Each one of the species/ materials mirrors and evolve from one another. Parametric design offers the almost limitless exploration of this cyclic coevolutionary relationship. Analog production, such as slip casting, provide factors of difference into the coevolutionary relationship. By combining the benefits of the two, this proposed interlocking façade of the two materials continues to evolve as the analogous instantaneity challenges the response of the parametric system.
Nesting Reversal
Coevolution Slip Casting Dynamic Archetype Mold
Dora Lo
COEVOVLING FACADE DESIGN
Olafur Eliasson, Rainbow Bridge, 2017.
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Olafur Eliasson, Rainbow Wavelength Lamp, 2018.
Dora Lo
CERAMICS GLASS
Combinations of Nesting Positives: 100% Glass / 100% Mold
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CERAMICS GLASS
Combinations of Nesting Positives: Ceramics/Glass
Dora Lo
Slip Casting Dynamic Archetype Mold Combinations
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Slip Casting Dynamic Archetype Mold
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Slip Casting Dynamic Archetype CNC Molds: Elevation
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Slip Casting Dynamic Archetype Mold
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Slip Casting Plaster Molds
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Plaster Molds as Dynamic Archetype
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Close-up of Slip-casting Mold
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Slip Casting Process
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Opening up of Slip-casting Mold
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Slip Casted Ceramic Pieces (Bisqued Fired)
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Slip Casted Ceramic Pieces (Bisqued Fired with Medium Blue Underglaze)
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Happy Accidents of Slip Casted Ceramic Pieces (Bisqued Fired)
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Misfited Plaster Molds that creates happy accidents
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Slip Casting Positives : Section
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Parametric Facade Study: Rotation / Porosity
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Close Up of Slip Casted Ceramic Pieces (Bisqued Fired with Medium Blue Underglazed)
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Bisque Ceramic Piece nesting in the glass piece
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Facade Elevation : Rendering
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TENSILE STEEL CABLE (VERTICAL)
TURNBUCKLE EYE RUBBER CUSHION CIRCULAR MOUNT TURNBUCKLE EYE RUBBER CUSHION CIRCULAR MOUNT NYLON INSERT LOCKNUT ADJUSTABLE STEEL RING
GLASS MODULE
NYLON INSERT LOCKNUT ADJUSTABLE STEEL RING
CIRCULAR MOUNT FOR TENSILE STEEL CABLE
CERAMIC MODULE GLASS MODULE
CIRCULAR MOUNT FOR TENSILE STEEL CABLE
CERAMIC MODULE
SLACK STEEL CABLE CONNECT TO TENSILE STEEL CABLE (LATERAL)
SLACK STEEL CABLE CONNECT TO TENSILE STEEL CABLE (LATERAL)
Reltek BONDiT TM B-52 Adhesive
Reltek BONDiT TM B-52 Adhesive
CIRCULAR MOUNT FOR SLACK STEEL CABLE
Circular Mount of Glass Module : Details CIRCULAR MOUNT FOR SLACK STEEL CABLE
Nesting Reversal
CONCRETE FLOOR
Facade Elevation : Rendering Close-up
Dora Lo
CONNECTING BOLT SWAGE TERMINAL
TENSILE STEEL CABLE (VERTICAL)
TURNBUCKLE EYE RUBBER CUSHION CIRCULAR MOUNT
GLASS MODULE
CERAMIC MODULE
CIRCULAR MOUNT FOR TENSILE STEEL CABLE
SLACK STEEL CABLE CONNECT TO TENSILE STEEL CABLE (LATERAL)
Reltek BONDiT TM B-52 Adhesive
CIRCULAR MOUNT FOR SLACK STEEL CABLE
CONCRETE FLOOR
Facade : Section
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0
1
6 inch
STEEL TENSILE CABLE
GLASS FACADE MODULES
CERAMIC FACADE MODULES
GLASS FACADE MODULES
SLACK STEEL CABLE
0
6
12 inch
Facade : Exploded Axonometric Drawing
Dora Lo
Snapshots of the installation
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Dora Lo
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Bibilography
Artist Inspiration: Eliasson, Olafur. Rainbow Bridge, 2017. Eliasson, Olafur. Rainbow Wavelength Lamp, 2018.
Readings: Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Illuminations, edited by Hannah Arendt, translated by Harry Zohn, from the 1935 essay. New York: Schocken Books, 1969. Deleuze, Gilles. Difference and Repetition Deleuze, Gilles. Bergonism, translators H. Tomlinson and B. Habberjam. Zone Books, 1991. Chapters 2,3,4. Goethe, J.W. von. The Metamorphosis of Plants. MIT Press, 2009. Goethe, J.W. von. Goethe’s Botanical Writings, (translator B. Mueller). Ox Bow Press, 1989. Herzog and de Meuron. Natural History. Ed. Philip Ursprung. Canadian Center for Architecture and Lars Muller. 2002 McCullough, Malcolm. Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand. Cambridge MA: MIT Risatti, Howard. A Theory of Craft: Function and Aesthetic Expression. North Carolina: UNC Press, 2013. Semper, Gottfried. Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or Practical Aesthetics. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute; 1 edition, April 15, 2004.
Nesting Reversal
Special Thanks to: Corning Museum of Art Lab Technicians of Digital Lab and Woodshop
Dora Lo