M3 Journal section and profile

DIGITAL DESIGN + FABRICATION SM1, 2015 M3 JOURNAL - SECTION AND PROFILE JIA YUN KE, HOI YIN HO

(621409, 662109) Michelle Emma James Seminar1(6)

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Introduction

After the last presentation, we decided that we should really focus on the effect of totally trapping the human body to creat stronger sense of hiding, which is the reaction of a person when his/her personal space is invaded.

We also decided that we should go for the horizantal grid notching instead of diagonal knoching as it will give a stronger support to the structue and have a sense of rigidity.

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UPPER BODY LENGTH: 380MM

SHOULDER WITH: 415MM

Design development

Moving on to modify our design, we came up with an idea that we separate the exterior and interior space into two grid, instead of showing them through different shape of a single slide.

By doing this, the difference in space, which is the pesonal space that the person will want to keep for himself/herself and the limit of the distance that the person wants to keep with others, will be shown.

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Design development + fabrication of Prototype V.2

3MM Perspex prototype

Polypropylene prototype

To try out the gridding system, we made a 1:1 part of the helmet as it is a smaller in size. We tried out 3MM perpex and the polypropylene to test out the effect of materials as well.

The perpex prototype has a strong sense of transparency and looks rigid, however, it is also very crisp around place where notches are made. With a light push, the slide easily broke into 2 pieces.

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The polypropylene is too thin to provide the rigid frame that we want. When the polypropylene undergone laser cut, the notches are not cut fully as the heat just melt the plastic and formed curved and hard plastic instead of cutting it, making the notches very hard to fit. Also, circular stains are formed which does not look clean.

Revised Design Plan & Elevation

PLAN

ISOMETRIC

ELEVATION 1

ELEVATION 2

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Reading Response Wk 6 Architecture in the Digital Age - Design + Manufacturing/ Branko Kolarevic, Spon Press, London c2003

Briefly outline the various digital fabrication processes. Explain how you use digital fabrication in your design?

There are different types of digital fabrication processes, such as: -2D fabrication (cutting) -Subtractive fabrication (removing parts of material from solids, eg. drilling, milling) -Additive fabrication (3D printing?

-Formative fabrication (moulding materials such as plastic/ steel/ wood/ glass by heating)

The type of digital fabrication we uses in our design is 2D fabrication, which is laser cutting.

After making templates in Rhino with notches and no open curves, laser cuttin allow us to create accurate and fine pieces that can be easily assembled to make our physical model.

2D Fabrication -laser cut

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Reading applied to design How does the fabrication process and strategy effect your second skin project?

With laser cutting, we are able to test out different kinds of material that we can not be cut by ourselves, such as perspex and MDF. It also saved us a lot of time as we can just use one template to create prototypes with different materials.

Also, laser cut provide us the precision that can not be done by hand. We made the first two prototype but cuting polypropylene ourselves, turned out that the notching parts are not unified in size, causing panels to curve and loose.

With laser cuttng, we are able to make notchings unified in size and also try out materials with a certain thickness, which allows the structure to be more rigid.

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Reading Response Wk 7 Digital Fabrications: architectural + material techniques/Lisa Iwamoto. New York: Princeton Architectural Press c2009

Describe one aspect of the recent shift in the use of digital technology from design to fabrication?

Laser cutting/ CNC routers/ water-jet/ plasma cutters allows: 1.from precision model making such as facades and structural members to 2.together with digital-design software, designers are able to envision how sectioning could become a building technique 3.invention of laser cutting etc., bridge digital model and physical model making with making full-scale construction, facilitated the conceptual and practical move from making model to executing full-scale construction.

4.‘the constructional techniques that have emerged include sectional ribbing, lamination or parallel stacking, and waffle-grid construction’.

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Reading applied to design Referencing from the lectures and readings, what is the implication of digital fabrication on your design ?

From the reading, we are inspired that the frequency of the section we made in our ‘waffle-grid’ structure will give different visual intensification. By that, we can make our two layers of grid with different density of grid. For example, the exterior grid can be less dense to show the fading of emotion and cooler temperature as it gets further from the human body; the interior grid can be denser to show stronger emotion and higher temperature.

Also, we understood the diversity of sectioning and profiling as a construction technique, large amount of technics such as stacked, gridded, also may intercross with frame and infill/ skin and bones.

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Prototype development

As seen in above image, boxboard seems hard, but it can be easily peeled into to different layers. When the boxboard is not cut through, and after notching, defects can be easily made.

MDF and boxboard (both 3MM) horizontal notching prototype

This prototpe is made to see if the scale is right and see if a person can actually crotch or kneel down with this structure. Unfortunately, the scale was a bit off. But, this prototype also allowed us to test the material MDF and boxboard.

Another problem we spotted is that we created notches that are too long, thats why the prototype is was not completed because it can not be assembled.

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Stronger and better finish in MDF side.

Defects on the boxboard side

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Prototype optimisation

After we made the 1:1 prototype with spiral notching, we found out that super long notches will easily be made, so we changed it into spiral notchign.

With this notching system, the notches have a more unified length to make the model easier to assemble.

Also, this noching system also suits our idea of emotion and temperature spreading from the body to the outside world.

We chose to use MDF for the whole structure as it is rigid enough for notching and to stand on itself.

Close up image for spiral notching

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We enlargeed the scale to make sure a person can fit inside, but at the same time the interior structure closing to the body creates a blanket, embracing effert.

On the other hand, the exterior part, we created it from a huge volume so that it can be put on top of the inteior grid to show the up-rising shoulder effect of a person being scared and aware of personal space being invaded.

With the doubled grid also creates a visual illution like moire effect to hide the upper body. The shift of visibility is distinctive.

Dreams in the Monochrome, 2015

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2nd Skin final design

Digital Prototype

Our final design, we divided the structure into 2 separated gridded volume, a half-body but larger in scale exterior grid, and a fitted interior grid with higher density. The exterior addressed on the raised shoulder to show the scared/ shocked emotional effect of a person when his/ her personal space is invaded.

The interior allow the person to kneel down and totally cover the body to provide an enbracing and hiding effect, to keep a person’s personal space fully to himself/herself.

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Plan & Elevation

PLAN

ELEVATION 1

ISOMETRIC

ELEVATION 2

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Section and Profile

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Exterior horizonal panels

Exterior vertical panels

Interior vertical panels

Interior horizonal panels

The orange shades indicate the interior space within the structure, which is also the personal space of the person. The both side and the top are carved out due to their purpose for allowence of the body movement.

Images showing the volume inside exterior, interior and the whole structure.

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Images showing the volume inside exterior, interior and the whole structure.

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Fabrication Sequence (Digital Model)

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Fabrication Sequence (Digital Model)

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Assembly Drawing

1.Twin curves from the panes -form 3 surfaces for each panels 2. Offset surface both sides 1.5mm->each panel is 3mm 3.Move vertical panes outwards -> inner part touchs the ourt part 4. Boolean split->marking on both panels 5. Spread out panels-> check open curves

Exterior Panels

A1

A2

A3

A4

A5

A6a

A6b

B1-B15

C1-C13

Interior Panels

D1-D7

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Notching Mehtod The horizontal panels are inserted one by one into the vertical panels. We made all the notching on the external side of the horizontal panels in order to pull the vertical panels from the front.

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Model Procession

At the point, the model interior parts notably heavy as the the load all compress on the bottom panels. Thus, holding it together can not be finished by one person.

We then used the translucent tape to hold the panels together on the stressed part on the botton due to the aesthetic aspect.

We used marking tape to stop the panels from falling apart.

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2nd Skin

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EFFECT

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The exterior addressed on the raised shoulder to show the scared/ shocked emotional effect of a person when croching down. The interior allow the person to kneel down and totally cover the body to provide an enbracing and hiding effect, to keep a person’s personal space fully to himself/herself. As sequence, the whole structure in order to provide a secure and embracing personal space.

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Appendix REFERENCE LIST Dreams in the Monochrome https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134052526385390524/ Fear www.dreamatico.com www.gizmag.com www.griefrecoverykit.com Readings Digital Fabrications: architectural + material techniques/Lisa Iwamoto. New York: Princeton Architectural Press c2009 Architecture in the Digital Age - Design + Manufacturing/ Branko Kolarevic, Spon Press, London c2003

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