Tubular Metal System: From Free-form Curve to Jointed System
SmartGeometry 2011 | Cluster Proposal | Julie Flohr | Neil Meredith
Cluster Title Tubular Metal Systems: From free form curve to jointed system Name of Cluster Champions Julie Flohr: Oisse Architects Inc. and UIC School of Architecture Neil Meredith: Gehry Technologies and Sheet Design Aims of cluster To create a seamless multi-parameter system to study design relationships between the resolution of three-dimensional curvature and the detailing of its joints.
1. Freeform Curves/Splines: Loose 3D Design Environment
Starting from the pure geometric rationalization study of 3D curvature into continuous bi-arc segments (based on existing code), the project will evolve to integrate the design of seems along the curvature. The seems can be understood as one way, two way, three ways joints or other multi-dimensional joints. Both the joints and the curves will be informed by the constraints of a 2D and 3D tube bending machine and the structural performance of the assembly. The cluster will entertain two well understood parametric methodologies: the part to whole and whole to part in an attempt to create a hybrid resolution that modulates the whole according to the logic of its parts. Goals of cluster The ambition of the cluster is to organize design, computational, and fabrication methods for: 1. The optimization of curvature based on geometric approximation through bi-arcs 2. The optimization of curvature based on machining constrains relative to 2D and 3D tube bending 3. The correlation between curvature and joints 4. The design and detailing of extruded slip-joint connections 5. The live mapping of structural behavior based both on curvature configuration and joint design allowing for feed-back loops into the design of curvature approximation and segmentation as well as into the design of the joints.
2. Arc Segment Resolution: Resolving the wireframe in to fabricatable tube segments.
3. Detail Design Rule based detailing and connection design
Pre-workshop requirements Participants will need a familiarity with parametric and feature-based modeling tools. More fundamentally, students should have a strong understanding of geometry and a willingness to develop tools and strategies for design as opposed to the crafting of singular design concepts. The goal of these models are to capture and resolve complex design problems, but in an environment that allows for flexibility while still resolving all the constituent parts and connections. Hardware requirements The workshop is primarily software based, but is fundamentally about the resolution of real-world things. Beyond capable computer hardware and access to basic shop tools, the only requirement is the willingness to “get dirty� in the physical world of mock-ups and prototypes and in the virtual world of fabrication level detailing and system designs. Software requirements: Although the workshop aims to be software agnostic, the cluster champions plan to extend work done with existing parametric model design systems in Digital Project. Though one-week demo licenses will be available through Gehry Technologies, the workshop does not aim to be a software workshop, but instead plans to focus on software and hardware based systems that build upon the participants existing skill base, within a well-constrained fabrication and design space.
Fig. 1: Example design environment, producing materially constrained, buildable solutions from free-form design inputs.
Material requirements Straight and arc radius bent metal pipe in various length and sizes, to be determined prior to workshop start. Basic wood and metalworking tools for fabrication of prototypes or connection details. Rapid prototyping machines will also be used in first few days of the workshop to quickly test the resolution of 3D designs. Industrial partners + potential sponsors/collaborators Though the focus is on the development of sophisticated software environments to produce easy to fabricate pieces that are assembled back in to more complex assemblies, there is definitely the possibility of exploring advanced tube-bending and fabrication techniques through robotics or CNC controlled bending and metal fabrication tools. Collaboration with people from other disciplines (engineering, computer science, etc.) could also inform the fabrication and system design efforts through structural analysis and virtual prototyping.
Fig. 2: Diagramming wireframe model and system behavior
Overview of proposed schedule:
Cluster Champions
Day 1: Curvature frameworks and approximation.
Julie Flohr has been involved with design methodologies reliant on advanced modeling and fabrication since the late nineties. She subsequently became drawn to and well versed in associative modeling. Currently she is working through her own practice, Oisse Architects Inc. and speculating through her teaching and writing on how to best position the work of a new generation of designers making extensive use of these tools within the discipline of architecture.
Design curvature frameworks and subsequent iterations of curvature approximation / subdivistion based on existing knowledge infrastructure in Digital Project or in Rhino equivalent. Day 2: Design fitted joint system to place at seams of subdivided / splitted curves + Run fabrication tests. Work through and evolve provided basic joint design configuration to propose participant specific iterations of joint design. Iterate at seams and splits in the whole to part framework. Assemble parts to make a whole in the part to whole framework. Initiate fabrication tests in anticipation of day 3&4 Day 3: Implement structural simulation routines on curves and joint systems + Integrate specific fabrication constraints to models. Based on the most promising version of day 2, and utilizing pre-tested structural analysis frameworks, apply structural simulation to the digital models of both joints and curve. Run feed-back loops and understand optimization cycles. Day 4: Fabricate. Using the 2D and 3D metal pipe bending machine, fabricate 30 curvature segments and 10 joints of most developed / promising proposal. In addition, all participants fabricate a 3D printed reduced scale version of their model/ study.
Her experiences leading workshops have been through teaching advanced design studios and seminars at both IIT College of Architecture and at UIC School of Architecture since 2004. SOM blackbox has at times supported her in those efforts. Last year, Flohr collaborated with Gehry Technologies to further develop the “Variable infrastructure project� that forms the backbone to the proposed cluster. www.oisse.com julie@oisse.com Neil Meredith is currently a consultant at the New York office of Gehry Technologies. Recent projects include the Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai) lobby ceiling design and fabrication with SOM and the YAS Island Hotel Gridshell with Asymptote architects. Prior to GT Neil worked for the facade consulting office Front. He is a founding partner of the design and fabrication studio Sheet. In the Spring 2010 term Neil was part of the C-BIP studio teaching team at Columbia University GSAPP. He is also a former lecturer in Architecture of the University of Michigan where he operated the schools Digital Fabrication Lab and taught in the areas of design, construction and fabrication. Research in to ceramic building materials undertaken at the European Ceramic Workcentre (.ekwc) has been published in Loose Fit: Experimental Ceramic Building Materials, Transmaterial 3 and is part of the materials database at Material ConneXion. The project won in the furniture category for the 2009 ID Magazine Annual Design Review and is currently being developed as a product. www.sheetd.com neil@sheetd.com