PORCELAIN SKINS TRANSFORMABLE MATTER
AA Intermediate 13
KAROLINA LESZKOWICZ Tought by Soomeen Hahm
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MATERIAL EXPERIMENTATION
During last years there is constantly growing interest in using ceramics. Its because of their unique features like high compression strength, hardness, toughness, poor conductivity and chemical resistance. There are also really interesting in terms of aesthetics. Especially porcelain with its white, translucent surface letting the lighting through. However the potential of porcelain as a material used in a large-scale objects is not yet fully utilized. Material is mainly used in a form of tiles or panels placed on supporting frame. It would be interesting to get rid of all the supporting and try to applied porcelain in large scale objects as self-existing material. The project is looking at non-traditional porcelain fabrication method and testing how it could be applied into architectural scale. Porcelain slip dipping is a method based on dipping organic materials in porcelain and burning them during firing process to receive porcelain shell structure. Those kind of porcelain structures could be controlled by different factors like gravity, the number of porcelain layers applied, material used for dipping, firing temperature etc.. However the process cannot be fully controlled, what may result in obtaining interesting and surprising forms. During the first part of the project, different initial materials like cotton and paper pulp in different forms were tested in small scale objects and also different factors affecting At the same time polygon modelling method was investigated. It was based on implementing components on the surface and scaling them according to the surface folds and then removing the basic surface and connecting components into actual form. Then porcelain was tested into larger scale to see how material behaves and panelization was introduced as a way to connect smaller objects into larger surfaces. The project hopes to find a new way of using porcelain in large scale objects and change the way how this material is commonly perceived as a quit weak. Implementation of that fabrication method on compression surface should allow to create very strong and stable construction with no need of frame structure.
PORCELAIN SKINS REFERENCES
Material: Cotton Q- tips
Material: Cotton Q-tips, paper napkins
Materials: Seeds, bones, the fossilized portion of an insect’s abdomen, stalks, acorns, caterpillar tracks, sponges, shells, carapaces, fossils
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Jessica Drenk Created with a non-traditional ceramic burnout technique, the pieces in the Porcelain Skins series are experiments in which familiar, store-bought materials are transformed into shapes that suggest coral, shells, or calcified remains. This process involves dipping groups of cotton material into liquid porcelain, letting the liquidized clay penetrate the surface and then firing these materials and clay together in a kiln. During firing, the cotton ignites and burns away, leaving only the porcelain as a husk of the original material that shaped it: a skin.
Material: Cotton pads
Therese Lebrun Lebrun’s work recalls things you may have collected on the beach as a child with the look of found natural objects, defying you to think that they were man-made. She molds porcelain around an organic material that burns away during the firing process, leaving hundreds of thin, semitransparent voids clustered around an empty space. Light passes through, from inside to outside, from outside to inside. When the light goes, only empty hollows remain, its edges whitened. The individual elements are fused with porcelain that turns translucent when fired. The pieces are made with small repeated gestures.
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PORCELAIN SKINS
FIRING PROCESS AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES
22 cm 6
68 cm
57 cm
32 cm
Ceramics Studio Co-op - artist-run purpose designed ceramics and sculpture workshop which operates as a workers cooperative.
39 cm
73 cm
Temperature [oC]
e.
1600 1400
Soak
1200 1000 200 oC/h
800 Soak
600
Resting
400 120 oC/h
200 0
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Firing time [minutes]
Porclain firing chart (1240 oC) Dependency between firing temperature and color:
Porcelain properties in comparison to other materials PORCELAIN
METAL
POLYMER
Hardness
1200 C o
1400 C o
Elastic modulus
High temperature strength
Thermal expansion Ductility Corrosion resistance
Dependency between firing temperature and strength:
Resistance to wear Electrical conductivity Density
1200 oC
1400 oC
Thermal conductivity High values
Low values
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PORCELAIN SKINS MATERIAL EXPERIMENTATION Organic materials
Material: Cotton wool Form: Cotton pads Connections: Thread
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Material: Pure cotton Form: Mop strings Connections: Thread
Material: Paper pulp Form: Paper balls Connections: Thread
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PORCELAIN SKINS FINAL FABRICATION METHOD
Fabrication method:
MAKING COMPONENTS FROM ORGANIC MATE-
~6 hours
Cotton wool strips are wraped with thread to create quite strong, but also soft components. Softness allows to achieve porcelain layer without any cracks caused usually during drying process and shrinkage.
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COMBINING COMPONENTS
~1 hour
Organic components are connected together with thread to create overall shape of the form. During this part of the process, both exterior and interior future shape could be partialy controlled.
DIPPING FORM IN PORCELAIN SLIP
~2/3 hours
Form is then dipped in porclain slip multiple times to achieve certain strength of the form. Dipping is really important part of the process, as during this time most of the mistakes could be made.
HANGING FORM UNTIL IT IS DRY
~3-4 days
Hanging the form in a specific position results the final shape of the form. Gravity is causing the porcelain leaking, what forms the exterior. During drying and shrinking cracks may appear on the surface, what causes the weakness of form.
WAITING IN A QUEUE TO BE FIRED
FIRING FORM IN A KILN
~ 1- 1,5 week (ORGANIC MATERIAL FROM
When the form is dry it is still quite fragile before firing process and it usually takes quite a lot of time to wait in a queue to be fired. This time could be reduced, when own kiln is used.
THE INSIDE BURNS OUT)
Firing process itself is long and divided into periods of higher and lower temperature. Resting after firing usually takes a couple of hours, as the final form must slowly come back to the room temperature.
~1 day
FINAL SHELL STUCThe organic material from the inside is burned during firing, what results in getting specific shell structure as a result of process.
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PORCELAIN SKINS MODEL
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PORCELAIN SKINS MATERIAL EXPERIMENTATION Organic material
Material: Cotton rope Connections: Thread
While using cotton rope as a basic natural material, all of the porcelain skins cracked. It is because cotton rope was to hard and during the fabrication process, when porcelain start drying, molecules could not get closer to each other. Even if the models cracked, the porcelain after firing process still stayed in placed and created quite strong structure. Models tested different connections between string to possibly create different spatial conditions inside the models. One of the models surprisingly created different texture on the outside surface, than the others. It was created from a little bit different material, what effect this kind of dot like texture.
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Connections details
Connection diagrams
Model
Models
After firing
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PORCELAIN SKINS PATTERN ANALYSIS
Pattern analysis On the surface of model black dots in different sizes appeared during the firing process.
The dots were analysed in terms of the distance between material organic inside and the surface of porcelain. The bigger distance is, the darker color are the dots.
In the next step, the possible arrangement of organic material inside porcelain shell was specified.
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PORCELAIN SKINS
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PORCELAIN SKINS
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DIGITAL EXPERIMENTATION
PORCELAIN SKINS REFERENCE
‘Teasel Exposed Interior’ 2012
New Year’s Best Dream, 2015
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‘Teasel Exposed Interior’ 2012
Detail
Formed Shards, 2012
Nuala O’Donovan
Porclain Sculptures Artist uses the characteristics of irregular fractal patterns in nature as constraints or guidelines. Patterns are regularly irregular, patterns and forms are self-similar. Her pieces are constructed slowly over a period of weeks or months. Each element is built individually by hand. The finished forms are the result of an intuitive response to the direction the pattern takes.
’Coral, Structure and Surface’ 2012
Zemer Peled
Formed Shards Zemer Peled sculptural language is formed by surrounding landscapes and nature, engaging with themes of nature and memories, identity and place. Her works are formed of thousand of ceramic shards constructed into large-scale/small-scale sculptures and installations.
Detail
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PORCELAIN SKINS AGGREGATION MODELLING
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PORCELAIN SKINS MODELLING METHOD
3D MODELLING PROCESS:
Starting from a simple, divided mesh and creating nCloth
Creating wrinkles on the nCloth by placing constraints points on the surfaces and manipulating nCloth parameters
Seeding simple geometries on the surfaces of nCloth
DIFFERENT PARAMETERS:
Surface is too flat, no difference between interior and exterior
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Surface is to spiky, not really similar to the porcelain shell
Creating curves in the places, where the surface is folding
Scaling geometries using as a parameter the distance between curve and geometry(the smaller distance the smaller scale of geometry)
Holes on the interior surface are not really noticeable
Connecting and smoothing elements
Strong difference between interior and exterior, the most similar to actual physical models
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PORCELAIN SKINS DESIGN PROPOSAL - OBJECT
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PORCELAIN SKINS DESIGN PROPOSAL - OBJECT
Basic models created using nCloth and sculpting:
Models with applied method:
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PORCELAIN SKINS PUZZLE ALGORITHM
Starting with randomly created seeds
Creating circles with the midpoint in the place where seeds were created
Parameter: Radius of connection part
Radius
Creating the initial shape of the puzzles 34
Filtering the outside edges
Radius
Filtering out the smallest edges
Voronoi pattern is created at the intersection of circles
Deforming the edges of each part with sinus function
Deforming the edges by dendritic solidification algorithm
Created puzzle pieces
Parameter: Number of created seeds
Radius
Number of cells
Creating the joints
Number of cells
Number of cells
Joining and preparing pieces
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PORCELAIN SKINS
PANNELING - MATERIAL CONSTRAINTS Interlocking puzzles algorithm Algorithm 1:
Amplitude = 0
Amplitude = 0,3
Algorithm 2:
Radius = 1
Creating the initial arc 36
Amplitude = 1
Waving middle segments of the edges of each cell
Creating the initial shape
Radius = 0,5
Amplitude = 0,6
Radius = 2
Connecting all the lines int new outline of each cell
Radius = 3
Orienting arcs depening on the initial cells shape
all the lines into ne of each cell
lls shape
Width= 0
Width = 1
Width = 2
Width = 3
Rounding the outline
Arranging all arcs around cells shape
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PORCELAIN SKINS
PANNELING - STRUCTURE PROPOSAL
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PORCELAIN SKINS REFERENCING
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NADER KHALILI Sandbag shelters
SuperAdobe is a form of earth bag architecture developed by architect and CalEarth founder Nader Khalili. Using long sandbags (“SuperAdobe Bags”), barbed wire, on-site earth and a few tools, Khalili devised a revolutionary building system that integrates traditional earth architecture with contemporary global safety requirements, and passes severe earthquake code tests in California. This technology has been published by NASA, endorsed by the United Nations, featured in countless world media outlets, and awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004. It comes from years of meditation, hands-on research and development. Inspired by traditional earth architecture in the deserts of Iran and adapted for modern usage. Simplified so that anyone can build. Long or short sandbags are filled with moistened earth and arranged in layers or long coils. Strands of barbed wire are placed between each layer of sandbag to act as both mortar and reinforcement. Stabilizers such as cement, lime, or asphalt emulsion may be added. Similar to how a potter stacks coils of clay to make a vessel, builders stack coils of earth for make a structure. The SuperAdobe building system can be used for structural arches, domes and vaults, or conventional rectilinear shapes. The same method can build silos, landscaping elements, or infrastructure like dams, cisterns, roads, bridges, and for stabilizing shorelines and watercourses.
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PORCELAIN SKINS REFERENCING
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JAN DE ROODEN The fired mudbrick house project
SuperAdobe is a form of earth bag architecture developed by architect and CalEarth founder Nader Khalili. Using long sandbags (“SuperAdobe Bags”), barbed wire, on-site earth and a few tools, Khalili devised a revolutionary building system that integrates traditional earth architecture with contemporary global safety requirements, and passes severe earthquake code tests in California. This technology has been published by NASA, endorsed by the United Nations, featured in countless world media outlets, and awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004. It comes from years of meditation, hands-on research and development. Inspired by traditional earth architecture in the deserts of Iran and adapted for modern usage. Simplified so that anyone can build. Long or short sandbags are filled with moistened earth and arranged in layers or long coils. Strands of barbed wire are placed between each layer of sandbag to act as both mortar and reinforcement. Stabilizers such as cement, lime, or asphalt emulsion may be added. Similar to how a potter stacks coils of clay to make a vessel, builders stack coils of earth for make a structure. The SuperAdobe building system can be used for structural arches, domes and vaults, or conventional rectilinear shapes. The same method can build silos, landscaping elements, or infrastructure like dams, cisterns, roads, bridges, and for stabilizing shorelines and watercourses.
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PORCELAIN SKINS PROCESS
Building construction frame
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Filling with organic material
Pouring porcelain
Building kiln
Firing
Deconstructing kiln
Final structure
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PORCELAIN SKINS BUILDING PHASES
PHASE 1
PHASE 2
prepare workshop for later works
produced in the building
Pottery zone and kilns are built to start the production by the locals and
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Exhibition zone is built to attract people and to exhibit porcelain
PHASE 3
Pools zone is built to provide social function of the building for locals
PHASE 4
Restaurant zone is built to provide more complex function of the building
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PORCELAIN SKINS VISUALIZATION
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