M3 fabrication

DESIGN JOURNAL MODULE THREE: FABRICATION

Jackson Wylie 638578

Sierra Stathis 640338

PRECEDENCE

WINDE RIENSTRA, PETER ZUMTHOR AND LOUISE BOURGEOIS

We drew inspiration from Dutch designer

Winde Rienstra, Swiss

architect Peter Zumthor and contemporary artist Louise Bourgeois.

Their work focuses on the

skin and bone design concept. The

elements we used in our design were the ‘interior skin’ and ‘exterior bone’ displayed in the Steilneset Museum and the fashion design

geometric

and positioning of the shapes on the body.

This gives the inner skin the ability to look as though it is floating and also creates some very unique shapes as the materials composing the inner skin are stretched. In our design, we want the inner skin to be stretched dramatically to create a very unique, organic shape.

DESIGN SKETCHES & DRAWINGS IMAGES

Our designs have progressed from initially being movable to a solid structure. Gradual modification of the design through

prototyping

and

further

investegation

into

precedence have helped us to reach our final design option.

DESIGN EVOLUTION RHINO MODELS

INITIAL PROTOTYPING & MATERIAL TESTING PHYSICAL MODELS

METAL PROTOTYPE

CARDBOARD PROTOTYPE

WOOD PROTOTYPE

These were our Initial prototypes for our design, and the problem we were attempting to solve with these models wat what sort of materials we would use to construct it out of. What we found was, cardboard was far too flimsy and couldnot withstand the pressure that the fabric would put on it when taut. The wood was strong enough but joining it at the corners was extremely difficult as the wood would split and thus loose all of its strength at the joins. Metal was definitely strong enough and could pssibly be joined much more effectively than wood by either soldering, welding or other means. We decided that we would opt to use metal as our ideal material for the outer ‘bone’ layer.

FURTHER DEVELOPED PROTOTYPE & CHANGES IN DESIGN

After our decision to choose metal as the material for our ‘bone’ layer we came across a few technical challenges. First problem was that most metals were quite heavy and this could result in the second skin being very uncomfortable and difficult to wear for prolonged periods of time and it may even impair the persons’ posture. We solved this issure by choosing to use hollow aluminium tubing which was extremely light. The second issue that we came across was how we would join the aluminium tubing together and to the fabric.

Inspiration came from camping tents which share almost identical frame material of hollow fibreglass or aluminium tubes, and they were joined together quite effectively by elastic rope which runs through the middle of it. This turned out to be a very effective way to join the aluminum frame together and it also gave us something to anchor the inside material to.

READING RESPONSE

‘ARCHITECTURE IN THE DIGIAL AGE’-BRANDKO KOLAREVIC & DIGITAL FABRICATION Architecture in the dgital age explores how technological advances completely evolved how people both conceve and produce new designs. Whilst many architects and designers still choose to brainstorm and initially ‘conceve‘ new designs via sketches and drawings, digital technology has vadtly improved the way in which these designs are ‘translated’ and produced, digital programs allow pinpoint accuracy of geometry and with modern 3D and 2D printers these extremely accurate designs can now be produced into an identical physical structure.

Designs that are curved or highly complex can be much more achievable to construct thanks to the aid of programs that allow panelling and sectioning .

IMAGES AND MAKING PROCESS METHOD: STAGE 1

The first step was ensuring all our materials were collected and cut down to size. We calculated the number and length of the aluminium tube we needed. Important element of building our model was ensuring all the ends of the aluminium tubing was blunted to ensure it wouldn’t cut the elasted feeded through.

FRONT BASE FRAME

BACK BASE FRAME

IMAGES AND MAKING PROCESS METHOD: STAGE 2

Stage two added the 3D aspect of the model. The Triangles were added individually using the same piece of elastic as the base frame to minimise the visible knots and to ensure maximum strength. This process was quite similar to the building of the base frame as it still involved running elastic string through each of the aluminium pieces and securing them with a knot at each of the pyramid’s pinnacle/intersect point.

IMAGES AND MAKING PROCESS METHOD: STAGE 2 CONTINUED

After all of the pyramids were complete, the front and back pieces needed to be connected to complete the frame and make it wearable. This was done simply by adding two 20cm aluminium pieces between the top of the front and back pieces, and this was joined by doubling up the elastic string to strengthen these two pieces and allow the shoulders of the model to support the entire second skin’s weight.

IMAGES AND MAKING PROCESS STAGE 3

Then the flexible skin layer could be added, this was the most difficult part of the entire fabrication process. We firstly cut generous estimates of how much fabric we believes we would need for both the front and the back (separately). For the front which we did first, we used fishing line/wire to pitch the high point of the fabric to the pinnacle vertices of each pyramid this is very similar to the way in which the inner part of the steilneset memorial is attached to the outer wooded frame structure. . We then proceeded to stretch the fabric between each pyramid to get rid of folds and slack areas of the fabric, we found as we were doing this that it was also adding strength to the overall second skin structure.

At the edges of the frames we cut all the excess fabric away and folded it over the edge pieces of aluminium.

To secure the fabric to the edges of the frames we first attempted to sew, this proves to be very difficult as it was very time consuming, so instead we decided to explore other ways in which we could secure the edges of the fabric. Hot glue, was very quick however it did leave a slight discoloration of the fabric which was not ideal. Some other glues were more transparent however took much longer to dry and this made joining the fabric virtually impossible as the fabric needed to be taut. We ended up sewing each corner of the fabric and glueing the fabric to the metal in between. This approach worked because the stitches at the corners held the fabric in place, which gave the glue time to dry.

RHINO ASSEMBLY IMAGES RHINO

To aid the assembly of our second skin frame we made a simplified 2D version of the frame. This was very helpfull as we could see all the different lengths of aluminium tubing that we required to scale and proportion.

In this assembly rhino drawing we seperated

the frame into the top

and back base assembled which consists

of only 20 and 30cm pieces and below in groups of three each of the lengths required for the 3D pyramid element of the fame.

RHINO EXPLODED FRAME IMAGES RHINO

PERSPECTIVE VIEW

TOP VIEW

FRONT VIEW

FINAL RHINO DESIGNS SECOND SKIN

FINAL PHOTOS FRONT AND BACK