Alexandra Karlsson Napp Jan VranovskĂ˝ Yuanfang Lu
Advanced Design Studies The University of Tokyo Department of Architecture
Digital Marble Smarter 3D Printing
DFL Research Pavilion 2015 Team Research and Proposals
Foreword
→ Table of Contents
3
4
Material Initial research Material preparation Fully developed material Structural test
7 – 14 10 – 11 12 13 14
Tool & Technology Distribution method logic Supporting systems Printing without a tool Early tool prototypes Second stage prototype development Second stage prototype Wide nozzle printing test Void and second system Continuous pump concept Continuous pump prototype
15 – 38 18 – 19 20 – 21 22 – 23 24 – 25 26 – 27 28 – 31 32 – 33 34 – 35 36 – 37 38
Aggregation Introduction of porosity New printing method Printing screens Material hybridization Screen movement Printing distance Screen tilting Voxel printing Smart tool concept
39 – 60 42 – 43 44 – 60 48 – 53 54 – 55 56 57 58 59 60
Color distribution Early deployment schematics Time-based distribution
61 – 72 64 – 65 66 – 72
Form & Construction Structural logic Construction process
73 – 81 76 – 77 78 – 81
Pavilion model photo-documentation
83 – 93
Bibliography
94
→ Foreword Our project investigates 3D printing, both its possibilities and limitations on an architectural scale. Special focus lies on the role of color in architecture, human and machine interaction, smart tool and smart aggregation, and distribution methods. The publication is divided into five chapters: Material, Tool & Technology, Aggregation, Color Distribution, and Form & Construction. Material investigates 3D-printable substrates and binders to make for a printing paste not requiring heat like the commonly used thermoplastic. Tool & Technology centers on techniques for creating a human-operated 3D-printing tool. Aggregation looks specifically at the character of the extruded paste and its ability to form structure. In color distribution we look at the material and the aggregated whole and figure systems for distributing color patterns within these. Finally the process of designing and fabricating a built work is diagrammed in Form & Construction. This categorization is somewhat problematic as the chapters overlap both chronologically and in content. However, we hope that these sub-divisions will give the otherwise rather fluid and involved process clarity and legible structure. This document is intended as a complete record of the entire research process rather than a purified presentation of outcome. As such the book’s narrative includes failed experiments and speculative proposals not followed up but instrumental in reaching our final proposal.
4
Introduction
5
→ Foreword
Our aim is ‘smart’ handheld 3D printing: shaped by humans, aided by computers, deploying material with continuously changing properties.
6
M → Material
7
Material
8
Our material proposes ingredients and proportions chosen specifically to work with the challenges of pigmented, large-scale 3D printing. The paste needed to be cohesive and malleable while printing and set quickly thereafter to carry successive layers. The final recipe takes cues both from scagliola, a method for introducing color into built surface, as well as lime mortar, taking the material out of the realm of surface finish and into the domain of construction material.
Right: Early material development samples placed in chronological order from bottom to top. Agar and animal glue replaced wood glue binder used in first two samples resulting in greater material
Scagliola, also artificial marble, is made in process wavering between haphazard and systematic, recipes and techniques differing by craftsman. The process is often intuitive involving kneading, silk-thread veining, troweling, and sequential mixing and slicing of different material stocks to produce variated marbling. This degree of workability is made possible by animal glue, used to control dry time allowing for a period of malleability from minutes to hours to days. Traditionally made with calcium carbonate, artificial marble recipes now more often utilize gypsum combined with pigments. To gypsum and animal glue we added sand, a common building material most popular as an aggregate in concrete. Rather than combining sand with cement, our mixture combines it with the stone-forming calcium hydroxide, which absorbs carbon dioxide during its setting process of carbonation into calcium carbonate. This combination begins to resemble lime mortar, usually three parts sand to one part lime (a form of calcium hydroxide). Though now less commonly used than concrete in brickwork, lime mortar still finds use in projects that require small-scale production of mortar or the specific properties of lime as follows: A. Lime mortar is more permeable than Portland cement and thus better protects buildings from trapped moisture and decay by allowing the walls to breathe, for this reason often used in restoration work. B. Its gentle binding properties enable full re-use of other materials used. C. Limes is stickier than concrete. For the purpose of 3D printing this is advantageous as the material will remain smooth and moldable. Lime has great workability and allows the inclusion of widely graded aggregates in the mix. D. Finished work will take on a smooth and shiny patina, combining a soft texture with a high degree of luster. E. Lime is caustic and can provide for healthier environments as a natural disinfectant producing naturally hygienic surfaces. F. Lime is self-healing and undergoes an autogenous process. Water penetration dissolves ‘free lime’ transporting it into cracks where this lime is deposited as the water evaporates. This setting process is more adept at correcting potential material faults caused by extrusion and textured deployment of material.
cohesion. Agar was deemed unsuitable due to yellowing and crumbling of dry material. Tests then focused on establishing suitable proportion of animal glue in mix.
Initial research Material
9
Material → Initial research
10
Initial research Material
11
CaCO3
32%
CaCO3
48%
CaCO3
80%
Ca(OH)2
32%
Ca(OH)2
48%
Ca(OH)2
20%
CaSO4.2H20
32%
Wood glue*
4%
Wood glue*
4%
CaCO3
48%
CaCO3
33.3%
CaCO3
20%
Ca(OH)2
48%
Ca(OH)2
33.3%
Ca(OH)2
80%
Wood glue
4%
CaSO4.2H20
33.3%
CaCO3
32%
CaCO3
50%
CaCO3
33%
Ca(OH)2
32%
Ca(OH)2
50%
Ca(OH)2
65%
CaSO4.2H20
32%
NaHCO3
2%
Wood glue
4%
CaCO3
33%
CaCO3
29%
Preliminary material tests. Each sample
Ca(OH)2
65%
Ca(OH)2
57%
was tested for strength after a 7 day drying
Epoxy resin
2%
14%
period. Strongest were mixtures of CaCO3,
珪藻土
Ca(OH)2 and gypsum. Dots indicate how well the samples performed.
Material → Material preparation
12
Material preparation: Dry ingredients and pigments are mixed in predetermined proportions.
After adding wet stock the gypsum starts to set at a speed dependent on amount of animal glue in mix. Dry and wet stock are therefore combined shortly before extrusion. Animal glue which slows down the setting time of gypsum is added in higher quantity if a longer period of malleability is desirable.
Final material contents: CaCO3 – 800 g Ca(OH)2 – 1800 g CaSO4.2H20 – 3000 g Diluted animal glue – 2000 ml H20 – until smooth Pigments – varies Right: Pigment tests.
→ Fully developed material Material
13
Material → Structural test
14
A simple structural test for
The material was tested over
For the purpose of the calcula-
bending force was performed
a 30cm span and withstood
tions, we speculated that the
with the assistance of Prof.
3200g of stress. Due to very low
material had same amount of
Sato (Sato Lab, Univ. of Tokyo).
elasticity, no yield stress was
elasticity and therefore same
A 500mmx50mmx20mm block
measured, but it is valued at
Young’s modulus as concrete.
was casted and allowed to dry
1/3 to 1/5 of ultimate stress for
Material elastic ultimate stress
for a period of five days.
a temporary pavilion.
is then 7,1 kg/m2.
15 → Tool & Technology
T
Tool & Technology The brief proposed development of a smart tool. Our design process pivoted on development of this tool and supporting guides as its capabilities ultimately would decide the method for making the pavilion and thereby its final form. The tool becomes the vessel through which computational designs can be expressed in a material medium. Meanwhile, as opposed to fully-automated machinery, it gives the human hand access to the process of making. Digitally guided material deposition immediately draws parallels to 3D printing. During development we often mimicked the techniques used by 3D printers with the goal of creating a user-guided version assisted by digital aids. We proposed a range of prototypes to varying success. Experiments centered around methods for powering material extrusion and ways of controlling flow through digital guides or physical implements such as cartridges and nozzles. Our initial pump-powered machine necessitated heavy motors creating weight, while a feasible tool ought to be easily manipulable by the user and abate arduousness of physical tasks. The pump prototypes gave way to a continuous feed system. Feeding material to a mixing rotor and helix allowed for dryer more porous material extrusions and less overall weight of machinery. With less lag between preparation and extrusion, material properties can be better adjusted with the help of real-time feedback by external guidance systems. The tool can thus be better integrated into a networked construction process.
16
17
Tool & Technology → Distribution method logic
18
Originally outlined distribution logic is based on the use of large syringe-like cartridges, each containing a material of certain properties. By using these cartridges in a prescribed order, one can achieve near-tosmooth gradient of changing structural properties. The cartridges can be thought of as mass customized liquid bricks. The machine itself is envisioned as motorized pump fitted with a hose and nozzle to give its user better freedom of movement while printing. The width and thickness of the nozzle slit defines the dimensions of the printed volume.
Alternative cartridge logic with gradients of material filling each syringe. Syringe preparation would see greater complexity, but the result would be a smoother printed gradient.
Each volume partition, or “brick”, is part of a wider system of continuously changing properties or gradient. Such a space would be designed in a computer program and once finished, the program would list “recipes” for each segment of material. Labeling and designing a feasible system for the production of cartridges would be necessary. Size and volume of each partition is defined by capacity of the printer cartridge and design of the nozzle.
Distribution method logic Tool & Technology
19
Tool & Technology → Supporting systems
20
One of the limitations of handoperated printer nozzle is inconsistency of the material layer produced. While the pump pushes material at constant speed, human movement is incapable of perfectly steady distribution
Attached accelerometer provides real-time data about user acceleration and speed. The data would be then sent to an Arduino unit, which would adjust the pump motor speed accordingly. Such a system would, speculatively, allow for printing of a consistent layer of material when the nozzle is operated by hand. Data flow of the system follows:
Hand movement Accelerometer Arduino Pump motor
In addition to the accelerom-
siveness, as the stabilization
eter aid, a stabilization unit
unit creates lag between hand /
could be introduced in order
body movement and movement
to achieve smoother results
of the actual tool.
while handling the nozzle by hand. Such system could be very similar to those used for professional video recording. A downside of such a system would be slower tool respon-
Supporting systems Tool & Technology
21
Tool & Technology → Printing without a tool
22
Before tool construction, a series of small scale models were printed using a piping bag capped with a flat nozzle and filled with printing paste. Primary objective of these tests was to explore the feasibility of our distribution logic, a co-planar accumulation. Secondary objective was to test performance and properties of the material: artificial marble. During the tests, a series of changes to the original recipe were made. Top left: Gradient of printed colors Bottom left: Salt-rich clay introduced as void supports. The salt traveled through the structure and settled on its surface. Top right: Printing an arch Bottom right: Double-curved surface using initial sand and glue mixture with watersoluble voids containing sand, starch, and agar washed away.
Printing without a tool Tool & Technology
23
Tool & Technology → Early tool prototypes
24
First set of tool prototypes were simple syringes fitted with 3D printed nozzles. At this stage, we were mainly testing different sizes and designs of nozzles. Secondarily, we were testing overall feasibility of the cartridge printing system on a smaller scale. Handling such a crude handpowered tool proved difficult and took focus and ability away from accuracy in printing. It was clear that we need to develop tool where pump would be automated and controlled electronically.
Early tool prototypes Tool & Technology
25
Tool & Technology → Second stage prototype development
26
Second stage tool prototype with motorized pump. A 0.5 l canister with 3D printed nozzle and piston parts occupies an MDF frame. Rubber gaskets seal the gap between canister and piston surfaces. A stepper motor rotates a threaded rod through a nut fixed to a sliding board pushing the piston head. Communication with computer was established through a stepper motor control circuit and Arduino Uno board using customized code.
Second stage prototype development Tool & Technology
27
Tool & Technology → Second stage prototype
28
Left: Assembled prototype with stepper motor and Arduino board.
Right: First printing test. One person is controlling the pump speed through a Processing script on the computer and a second handling the printer nozzle. Projected image used as visual guidance. The machine performed well with no major technical issues. The test proved the limitations of our distribution logic as we were forced to use a paste more liquid than desirable to be within the capabilities of the machine’s motor and structural integrity of the parts themselves.
Second stage prototype Tool & Technology
29
Tool & Technology Second stage prototype
30
Second stage prototype Technology
31
Left: Outcome of the first printing test. Part of the volume collapsed. This was partially due to human imprecision in the printing process (some lines printed misaligned) and partially due to overly liquid material which didn’t dry fast enough to function as a stable support for the next layer. While the human error could be limited by overcoming a user learning curve, liquidity of the material could not be addressed with the current tool prototype. Since the material resistance and friction grows when the amount of water in the mixture is reduced, we soon reached limit of what the motor could handle torque-wise. Another growing issue was aggregation: cumulation of imperfections in every layer had a growing tendency. At certain moment, inconsistency of the volume’s surface reached a level which made the foundation of successive layers trepidatious. A method for leveling the surface would be necessary. Preparing, filling and changing cartridges during the printing process turned to be very tedious and inefficient.
Tool & Technology → Wide nozzle print test
32
A simple experiment to test wider (10 cm) nozzle was performed in order to address questions of scalability of the construction logic. The test revealed another series of issues connected with the logic and material. Control over the material layer consistency is more complicated once the nozzle is larger and accumulation of error gets very serious. A wider nozzle requires a wider hose to achieve a jet effect as well as a larger syringe, thus requiring larger machinery with and a more powerful and heavier motor. Perhaps most importantly, weight of the built up material mass is very high. This is an issue in several ways: transportation costs rise, hand-held tool based construction process is more tiring, structural loads caused by the material itself is high. We concluded that the originally proposed distribution method was perhaps not the best solution to architectural-scale printing and needed to be rethought.
Wide nozzle print test Tool & Technology
33
Tool & Technology → Void and second system
34
To address the issue of heavy material use we made proposals for hollow walls. Here a twoheaded nozzle draws two lines of material intended as a single wall.
Width of the wall could be altered by adjusting the distance between the two heads.
Gap between the two volumes could then be filled by light material, stabilizing the wall. Secondary structural system such as vertical reinforcement could also be implemented.
Alternatively more subtle horizontal reinforcement inserted in the wet mass could be used to connect the two volumes and stabilize the structure.
Void and second system Tool & Technology
35
Tool & Technology → Continuous pump concept
36
Although making a hollow wall
The piston of such a syringe
the printing process presents
A rotating helix auger pushes
addresses the issues of weight
would have to be pushed by a
a wide range of issues in real
the material forward inside the
and volume, it fails as a fully
motor of according size and
life, making the construction
printer body without need of
feasible construction system.
weight. Any increase of the
inefficient and complicated.
additional energy or pressure
The cartridge system still posed
syringe volume would result in
problems. For architectural
need to completely redesign
For these reasons, the pump
rial could be fed continuously
scale printing, each material
the machine’s body and rewrite
was rethought from scratch:
and perhaps even be mixed
cartridge volume would have to
codes to account for bigger
instead of cartridge based
completely inside the printer.
be at least 5 l in order to make
motors. Moreover, the logic
printing we now are using
In this way, true continuous
the process viable.
of changing cartridges during
continuous pump printing.
printing could be achieved.
beyond rotational force. Mate-
→ Continuous pump concept Tool & Technology
37
Most importantly, direct
controlled distribution.
Later in the book the freedom
separated material ingredients
dependency of the motor size
Scrapping this attachment
of movement issue is address
such as the basic powder
and its torque on syringe size
however would provide a
through machines attached
mixture, water, animal glue and
disappears, freeing us from
smoother printing process
to booms. In the most basic
pigments. There could even
an ever-growing scalability
and eliminate the need for
scenario the machine is being
be separate opening for each
problem. In our first proposal
pressure to push material
fed manually by users. In more
ingredient, so they would be
for the continuous pump we
through the hose. A machine
advanced machine the feeding
mixed together in predefined
proposed an attached hose
with shorter distance between
would be automate. The
sequence. Dosage would be
and nozzle to enable a higher
feeding and distribution is
machine could be connected
then be controlled by a com-
degree of freedom in user-
therefore advantageous.
to series of containers with
puter.
Tool & Technology → Continuous pump prototype
38
As a cold mock of the proposed
With the a multi-slit screen
smart-tool we used a standard
replacing single outlet nozzle
meat mincer. Outlet screens
system, we introduce a new
are 3D printed with varying
aggregation method, abandoning
apertures.
the original rigid layering logic.
A → Aggregation
39
Aggregation In Stockholm’s blue line metro stations, spray concrete covers spacious corridors blasted out of bedrock. Painted and lacking the authentic lustre of real stone, the material, taking on the facets of its stone base while softening its jagged edges, begins to resemble papier-mâché. The surface texture, recalling craft but made with heavy machinery, makes for large-scale infrastructure that exhibits a perceived though not actual human scale of production. The shock of exploded stone and cavernous underground space is diluted though still apparent. Additive process has the natural advantage of enabling a richness of variegated texture. Through creating an aggregation process with feedback loops we can control this texture more finely, creating structural patterns while adapting to local necessity and process-based shifts in planned geometry. Through manipulating nozzle heads, and aggregation of noodles of differing thickness accumulate allowing for control of the medium’s overall porosity. The malleable extruded paste bends and folds into an agglomeration filling in voids and eliminating the need for regular leveling of material fill. The traditional paintbrush graduates to something resembling Photoshop’s array of brushes. Stroke size and shape can be manipulated within a built or coded framework while the user is permitted freedom of movement and distribution in space.
40
41
Aggregation → Introduction of porosity
42
Since the material weight is about 1.2 times that of water, introducing porosity was of high priority throughout our research. Lowering the volume’s weight by incorporating voids or fill would make the construction process more effective and possibly faster, decrease the structure’s overall weight, and result in lower material consumption.
Left: Reticulated voronoi structure. Sponge was soaked with artificial marble solution and dried.
Early experiments looked at reticulated voronoi structures. One such was a polyurethane sponge soaked in liquid artificial marble. This method however seemed to contradict a 3D printing logic as the sponge, a foreign material, provided a ready made framework which did not allow the printing solution freedom of distribution beyond the boundaries of the sponge, both in its internal cell size and overall shape. To control cell size an air balloons were introduced. In this scenario, traditional framework would still be required both to compress the balloons and to contain the liquid marble. The process would be little different from poured concrete. Various scenarios involving naturally-formed voronoi structures looked ineffective in combination with 3D printing distribution logic and were abandoned. However, the theme of porosity maintained importance and influenced the direction of the research.
Right: Voronoi structure formed by compressed air balloons. Such setting gives good level of control over the balloon size but material casting is complicated and drying slow as its surface doesn’t have access to air.
Introduction of porosity Aggregation
43
Aggregation → New printing method
44
Left: Printing process with aggregation as it’s core
New printing method Aggregation
45
Shaping the semi-liquid material into a number of separate streams of defined shape and diameter during printing results in:
principle. Color gradient is result of a continuous pump with contained helix that mixes pigments with the white marble
A printed volume with large surface area due to widely distributed voids. This entails a faster drying speed as air has more access to the printed volume.
at linear frequencies.
Porosity increases making for a lighter structure filled with pockets of air. Less material needs to be used. The structure evens itself out. The paste behaves more like a liquid than a series of bricks. Sculpting the final form in this way allows for both small and large fills. The ‘particles’ are less dependent on their surrounding and due to their semi-random piling errors will optically look less like errors than would a offgrid or misplaced solid layer or ‘brick’. Think of this like Photoshop’s blur tool or grasshopper’s jitter component.
Right: Diagram of project development: from a heavy solid to solids combined with voids to solid and void evenly distributed in a porous structure.
Aggregation New printing method
46
New printing method Aggregation
47
Aggregation New printing method → Printer screens
48
Both the size and shape of
A number of different designs
perforations can be manip-
were 3D printed and tested. On
ulated. Any design can be
the next two pages, some of the
made provided no ‘islands’ are
sample volumes are displayed
drawn, that is the solid part
next to screen design.
of the screen can be made in one piece.
Printer screens New printing method Aggregation
49
Aggregation New printing method Printer screens
50
Printer screens New printing method Aggregation
51
Aggregation New printing method Printer screens
52
For a more advanced scenario, we speculate that mechanical apertures could be used to manipulate the diameter of every single screen slit independently. This way large number of settings could be created without need of shuffling through individual screens. It would also allow for fully continuous, uninterrupted printed material stream.
Using more advanced types of screens capable of changing their slits electronically could lead to printing experience close to using Photoshop brushes, in 3D and IRL. This could either give user ultimate freedom of expression, or entail a highly effective construction logic wherein every small entity of the volume would have different porosity and levels of structural performance based on a digital model and simulations.
Technically less challenging alternative to the aperture slits could be carousel-like screen changing system, similar to some filter switching systems for cameras.
Printer screens New printing method Aggregation
53
Aggregation New printing method → Material hybridization
54
Another speculative enhancement of the printing system could be the introduction of second material to the printed stream. This material could either make the structure stronger (wire, cable, resin) or lighter (foam, gas). The material could be distributed in solid state (left), or as liquid/gas through a separate nozzle (right).
Material hybridization New printing method Aggregation
55
Aggregation New printing method → Screen movement
56
Movement of the printer or printer screen during printing, i.e. vibration or rotation, affects aggregation. A rotating movement results in a more compact and unified solid which interacts less with subsequent aggregate due to less hooks for entanglement.
Distance between the printing plane and the screen also affects the result. Printing from a greater distance (over 15 cm) leads to broken, separated particles that aggregate into a mass of lower porosity. Width of the printed volume also tends to decrease. Printing from a distance around 10 cm gives good results with continuous streams of material and good aggregation performance. Printing very near to the mass surface (5 cm or less) also keeps the material streams intact and continuous, but leads to notably wider volume.
→ Printing distance New printing method Aggregation
57
Aggregation New printing method → Screen tilting
58
Tilting the screen by 90 degrees (perpendicular to the printing plane) affects the way the steams aggregate. As they bend coming out of the machine, they form more compact and entangled assemblies before they touch the printing plane. Using this technique leads to notably less porous volumes with different structure.
In comparison, standard printing with screen parallel to the printing plane allows the material streams to act more independently, leading to more porous results. This type of aggregation has higher ability to correct inconsistencies and errors.
One of the most important differences between the previous layering system and the new pseudo-random aggregation logic is that the later works more as a voxelbased printing. There is no fixed relationship between the nozzle (screen) size and the printed volume width because simple addition of material “voxels”, in any direction, is possible. A screen of the same diameter as the desired width of printed volume makes the printing process faster, but isn’t in itself a limitation to finished size. Right: A test 3 × 3 × 3 voxel sample was printed in order to demonstrate.
→ Voxel printing New printing method Aggregation
59
Aggregation New printing method → Smart tool concept
60
The previously described
be a missed opportunity. We
Another important variable
variables and altering them in
techniques and observations,
believe that this collection of
is water content of the printed
order to get the most desirable
together with the material
techniques can be a basis for
mixture. After the addition of
and effective result is in our
ingredient content and style
smart tool development. While
water the qualities of the
opinion the most important
of printing, are all variables
one or two aspects of the print-
material change over time
next step in advancing the
that need to be understood in
ing could be controlled by the
and the gypsum starts to set.
proposal.
order to establish a work flow
users manually, to account for
Tracking this via computers
to achieve highly controlled
and control all of them at the
would enable a smarter
results. While the printing
same time is almost impossible
printing process that would
method works well even with-
especially for an inexperienced
free the user to focus on other
out manipulating the screens
user. There are also complex
concerns.
and by controlling machine
dependencies between one
placement via measurement
and each of them since many of
Developing a smart compu-
or intuition, using the tool in
them affect the same aspect of
tation system which could
this manual fashion would
printing in different way.
keep track of all the printing
61 → Color distribution
C
Color distribution
62
Just as the cathode ray tube brought color to television, we want to use technology to unify color with space and form in the architectural vocabulary giving the skeletal body, the modernist conception of the built, a “flesh”, and the architect a larger amount of freedom.
One of our main motivations to explore color in architectural design was it’s role in western society: “It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that, in the
3D printing as distribution method opens up for pattern-making and localized color variation integral to the built form. Our distribution methods propose both a designed method, where prescribed instructions can be designed or premeditated by the architect, as well as a time-based deployment where the final color scheme is a result of the building process. Instead of merely applied, color becomes algorithmic, descriptive of instructions performed in a prescribed sequence and deviation there from.
West, since Antiquity, color has been systematically marginalized, reviled, diminished and degraded. Generations of philosophers, artists, art historians and cultural theorists of one stripe or another have kept this prejudice alive, warm, fed
In this continuous flow of material, color is capable of showing differences. Whether a visual cue or manifestation of spatial reasoning, color maintains a clear parallel to the empirical providing a bridge from the digital, where colors exist as numbers, to the material as light interactions making differences intelligible to human vision.
and groomed. As with all prejudices, its manifest form, its loathing, masks a fear: a fear of contamination and corruption by something that is unknown or appears unknowable.”
The digital allows a dream world of hypercolored floating forms existing on a flat screen wherein abnormal conditions mean shadows must be added and saturation, hue, and brightness are easily manipulable by sliders. Production of this Photoshop cinema by computers is completely calculable and precise, therefore capable of a newfound aesthetic intelligence. The computer can find regularities, patterns, evaluations, and speeds of works: transforming, storing, distributing, and switching. This is a new kind of visual sensibility, code first and image second. However as the screen is limited to an RGB color gamut, the material continues to enable wider a spectrum of possible color conditions. Our digitized deployment is not seeking to mimic computer screen visualizations, but to take its projections and manifest them in a way that is necessarily true to the actual.
(Batchelor, 22) Due to Benjamin, “Pure vision is concerned not with space and objects but with color...” (51) Goethe states that Color in all of its inconsistencies and complexities makes the cloudiness of subjective perception most central to experience, in service of achieving the highest aesthetic ends. (7, 9, 297)
Color Distribution
63
Color Distribution → Early deployment schematics
64
Early color deployment speculations and tests focused on achieving various color schemes predefined by the architect. In this scenario, the deployment method is seen as a kind of 3D ink-jet printer, rendering a replica of a digital image. Such logic clashed with our with to incorporate a ‘human’ element. Here the user, always imperfect, would have to attempt to follow a predefined scheme with maximum possible precision and inevitably fail to certain degree. “Human touch” would thus be present only as an imperfection and deviation from an ideal pattern.
Linear layer-by-layer color deployment
Linear (vertical) gradient
Complex gradient achievable through smaller doses of material with gradually changing color properties
Early deployment schematics Color Distribution
65
Color deployment → Time-based distribution
66
A different approach to deployment sees color as an indicator of process. Similar to tree rings or geological layering, through using varying color the structure could turn into diagram of its own birth and development, showing various information concerning the construction process. In layer-by-layer micro scale, we speculate such result could be achieved by triggering a diffusion of color pigment between layers or voxels after they are printed. If the pigment naturally tends to travel through the material before it dries, color trails could indicate time frames of construction. For instance, if a layer is printed at the end of the day, dries and next layer is printed the next day, there will be no color interaction between them. If the layer is printed right after the previous one was printed, color interaction will be strong. If there is few minutes time gap between printing each layer so the material is semi-dry, there will be low but still notable color interaction. Indication of the process would be thus legible through interaction between the layers rather than through choice of colors. Thus, colors could be chosen randomly by users as long as they alternate. Right bottom: Erosion problems. N.d. Detecting Design: The Geologic Column. Web. 20 May. 2015.
Time-based distribution Color deployment
67
Color Deployment → Time-based Distribution
68
A number of tests were per-
cent layers when wet. The first
adjacent marble material.
from a saline environment to
formed in order to find a way
series of experiments worked
A second series of experiments
a less saline environment.
to trigger color interaction
with two variations of stacked
dealt with salt-saturated
However, the salt traveled
between two layers of material.
material, one marble mixed
material and standard marble.
through the layers but did not
In all previous models color
with papier-mâchÊ or cotton
Speculating that this would
create a high degree of color
remained largely inert, not
and the other without, with the
trigger osmosis between the
interaction.
mixing chemically or even
hope of the fibrous additives
two layers, water-soluble
mechanically bleeding to adja-
soaking up pigments from the
pigment particles should travel
Time-based Distribution Color Deployment
69
Finally we carried out a third
than those of water. These
as the pigments travel at
series of experiments. In these
tests gave us positive results.
different speeds away from the
we worked with 100% ethanol
The alcohol-saturated layer did
source. The yellow layer slowly
and alcohol-solvable dyes. We
tend to stain the non-saturated
disappeared during the following
hypothesized that the diffusion
layer. We also witnessed an
days, leaving only gradually
of alcohol and dye would lend
instance of color filtration as
fading blue.
better results as alcohol mole-
the blue dye color separated
cules are significantly smaller
into blue, azure and yellow,
Color Deployment → Time-based Distribution
70
In larger scale, a similar “birth/development-diagram” logic was developed for color deployment. During each day of construction, a predefined set of pigment stocks would be provided. These pigments could be deployed by the users randomly, or within certain guidelines. During each subsequent day of construction, the provided set of pigments would change, making the break between the current and previous construction days visible. An observer could see how much volume was printed each day and how many days the construction lasted. Similar to the color interaction logic which would reveal microrelationships between each single layer, this would show a macro-scale picture of the construction. The building would turn into an introspective process diagram of it’s own birth, which could be used in evaluation of the construction. In another scenario, each user / worker could be using only one color a day, so his / her part of work would be forever traceable. The overall pattern of the finished construction would be predefined in diagram, but a certain degree of freedom is allowed resulting in an adaptable process and unpredictable finished work.
Time-based Distribution Color Deployment
71
Color Deployment Time-based Distribution
72
73 → Form & Construction
F
Form & Construction Through creating an aggregation process with feedback loops we can control the character and composition of the form more finely, creating both structural and visual patterns while adapting to local necessity and process resultant shifts in the planned overall geometry. A scanning and laser projection system guides the user in shaping of the form. The scanning system oversees the distributions of material mass and feeds this data to the projector which casts a beam where material ought to be deposited next. Manufacturing using a layering technique without extensive use of support material limits ability to cantilever material to the highest possible displacement of the non-dry print line in relation to the layer below. The structure must also maintain structural integrity during and with each successive layer.
74
75
Form & Construction → Structural logic
76
In order to make structure
thickness at the bottom most
capable of growing to increasing
layers while still maintaining
heights a system of internal
the logic of a single print line.
curves are proposed. The print
Dualation can be modulated
line starts as a dualating curve
depending on structural
and gradually ends at a smooth
requirements.
curve at the uppermost layer. This enables a greater wall
Structural Logic Form & Construction
77
Form & Construction → Construction process
78
Printing machines are attached to boom operators. These booms set up on wheeled dollies move along a laid track similar to set-ups for crane shots in film making.
A material mixing station allows dry and wet stock to be mixed on site.
A central scanning system overlooks the built work and sends data to a laser projection system which provides printing instruction.
Temporary frameworks are set up to allow for voids in the printed structure.
Material is fed to the machines at which point pigments are added.
Printing proceeds. Machines require one person to operate and another to feed material.
Construction process Form & Construction
79
Form & Construction → Construction process
80
The scanning system oversees printed material and compares with originally intended geometry and checks structural feasibility. The form is recalculated to adjust for any errors. Printing instructions, including pigment amounts and colors are provided for each machine via laser projection and digital readouts.
The structure is printed to a certain height.
Framework and temporary structures are removed and the site cleared.
Construction process Form & Construction
81
Form & Construction → Construction process
82
83 → Pavilion model documentation
P
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85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
→ Bibliography
94
Batchelor, David. Chromophobia. Reaktion Books, 2000. Print. Benjamin, Walter. Selected writings, Volume I, 1913 – 1926. Harvard University Press, 1996. Print. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Goethe’s Theory of Colours. J. Murray, 1840. Print