mickey ahammed. fabrication works
2
Self expression through design is a powerful thing. The moment where our creations take form within our own world is a feeling that nothing can compare to.
contents
4
6
physical modeling
10
furniture design
16
grasshopper fabrication
22
sculptural portraiture
Physical Modeling Expressing architecture through physical models is a fading talent within the industry. We as architects seldom ever get to indulge in model making anymore. With that in mind I wanted to create a model that took things back a few years, before the advent of computer aided design, expressing the material of the model itself rather than the building. I chose to use layers of birch for the surrounding buildings, MDF for the site and topo, and sanded, extruded acrylic layers for the main building.
leawood, kansas | winter 2017
6
8
Furniture Design With this project I wanted to explore the capabilities of plywood. After researching a number of table designs and furniture designers I landed on this final concept. A three part bent plywood desk with areas to house my computer tower, extraneous cables, monitors, and accessories.
lawrence, kansas | fall 2016
10
12
I began by modeling the desk in Rhinoceros 5 to figure out the exact measurements for construction. I then created a series of renders using Keyshot 6. Once I was comfortable with the design, I moved onto picking materials figuring out how to actually construct it.
Construction consisted of creating three modular plywood frames that fit the shape that I wanted the desk to have. From there, I adhered four layers of 1/8th� plywood together and set the whole assembly into a vacuum bag in order to curve the plywood to the frame. Once these pieces were dried and ready, I assembled the three sections together using biscuits and wood glue.
14
Grasshopper Fabrication I have been working in Rhinoceros for almost four years but had never utilized the Grasshopper plug-in until just about a year ago. With this project I wanted to use Grasshopper to help teach myself the basic ins and outs of the program. I first created a sculptural formwork to be eventually used as a lampshade, and then proceeded to create a script that created contours for the form and laid them out on a grid in order to send all of the pieces to a laser cutter.
lawrence, kansas | spring 2018
16
18
20
Sculptural Portraiture Since I was very young I have always enjoyed drawing people. Over the years I eventually developed skills in traditional portraiture. The media I generally used was often limited to graphite and charcoal with the exception of the occasional oil painting. However, for my most recent portrait I wanted to attempt something new. I wanted to combine my background in portraiture and my abilities in software.
lawrence, kansas | spring 2016
22
24
I began by first taking a portrait of a train conductor that I came across on my trip to Kyoto into Photoshop, changing the color values to grayscale, and then splitting the shades of blacks and grays across four layers. I then took each of the four layers and turned them into vectors using Illustrator. After that, I took the newly created vectors into AutoCAD and set up a file that I could then use on a laser cutter. Once all the pieces were cut I cut out four 8.5x11 pieces of plexiglass which I then used to represent each of the four initial layers. Then finally I assembled and glued each laser cut piece onto its corresponding layer of plexi, thus creating the end product you see on the left. This was a very rewarding and interesting exercise as it utilized such a wide span of multi-disciplinary software. I hope to develop this concept further in the future and create a whole series.
thank you. mickeyahammed@gmail.com | 913.952.7544
26