DIGITAL DESIGN + FABRICATION SM1, 2016 M3 JOURNAL - SHELL Brydie, Mesut, Tristan
699039, 761770, 681058 Michelle James
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Introduction
The design that we decided to pursue for the final fabrication was what we named “The Shell�. Basically this sleeping pod is one in which acts as an upper body protective shell. It encases the upper half of the body in a semi dark closed space, as you can see in the initial sketches to the left. It was decided to continue developing this idea as it has much room for further development and seems to be the best suited for a space of sleeping, that can include many interesting aspects as well as maximum comfort.
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Design development
Our design of “The Shell� began with four tear like bone structures covering the upper half on the body. The sleeping pod will sit evenly on the waste and slide over the body covering one half, as demonstrated above. The design encorporates spikes in the shell, this was decided upon to encorporate a sense of protection for the occupant. Passers by would be more likely to keep clear of the open sleeping pod.
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Design development - Rectangular hoops
TOP VIEW
ISOMETRIC VIEW (NO FABRIC)
With this concept, we tried a rectangular shape that had a much more geometric aesthetic. It emulated the appearance of portal frames, using repeating rectangular forms with differing sizes. The idea looked very plain and did not add any exciting effects to the overall design. Looking at the concept with the fabric on from the top view, it has a similar appearnace to a staircase - aside from this the design did not really have any other interesting features
ISOMETRIC VIEW (WITH FABRIC)
LEFT VIEW
Design development - Triangular hoops
TOP VIEW
ISOMETRIC VIEW (NO FABRIC)
This concept uses triangular geometries for the hoops structure of the design. It has a sharp aesthetic that gives the entire design a futuristic feel to it. Although the concept still achieves the purpose of the sleeping pod by providing enclosure for the upper body, the problem with the design is that it gives the user less space inside due to the sharp edges of the hoops, making it not as comfortable and can give the user the feeling of claustrophobia. Making the hoops bigger is not a practical solution since increasing the size will make it hard to carry around and will take up too much space.
ISOMETRIC VIEW (WITH FABRIC)
LEFT VIEW
Design development - Colour Research
An important aspect we needed to consider was the colour we would design our sleeping pod with. Firstly we were struck with the idea that working with bright clours such as reds, would act as a detterent for people passing by the sleeping pod. It would encourage the sleepiing pod to be noticable and therefore hopefully not disturbed. However with further research we considered the sleepers comfort in deciding which colours to go with. We added different shades of blue and purple to our list of possibilties. This decision was based upon the idea of creating a calm and soothing space to promote relaxation. After a serious analysis of which colour would be most suitable for our concept, we chose to use and develop on the colours of blue.
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Design development - Colour and Effects Research
In terms of effects, we wanted our sleeping pod to produce a feeling of relaxation whilst wearing it. It was decided to use the different sized tear drops as an advantage when thinking of what effects we could use. The main one being, that as the tear drops get bigger and higher, the fabric gets darker and less transparent. This is good in allowing a little light to enter at the bottom but almost no light is able to enter at the top. This allows maximum comfort for the sleeper and less chance of being awoken by the sunlight. In addition to this, we deciding on adding small holes to the top layer to allow only a tiny bit of light into the sleeping pod. The aim of this was to create the illusion of the night sky above.
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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 a few different types of digital fabrication techniques, these including: -Two dimensional fabrication - also known as CNC cutting (the most commonly used). It involves various cutting technologies implemented as a moving cutting head or a moving bed. Some of the different cutting techniques include: plasma arc, laser beam, and water jet. Different techniques are suitable for different materials. -Subractive fabrication - this is the removal of material from a solid. This is done by using electro, chemically or mechanically reductive processes. -Addictive fabrication - This involves incremental forming by adding material in a layer by layer fashion. Other terms that could be used to describe this technique include, layered manufacturing, solid freeform fabrication, rapid prototyping or desktop manufacturing. -Formative Fabrication - Mechanical forces, restricting forms, heat or steam are applied onto a material in order to form the desired shape. In our design, digital fabrication was used to create the mechanical joints of our design. This allowing for the design to open and close and also using joints to make the shell stay open.
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Reading applied to design How does the fabrication process and strategy effect your project? There were a lot of things we attempted throughout the fabrication process that brought up multiple problems that we didnt expect in our design. This extended the design process quite considerably as we had to keep thinking of and trying different ideas untill we found one that worked. Using digital fabrication techniques, allowed us to have a more complex project that could open and close with ease. Such as, folding the virtual material to a 2d plane and laser printing it, so we could get an accurate measurement for the fabric. We also used CAD Software (Rhino) to accurately design and draw the mechanism attachment box system for the shell so it can then be 3D printed. After the 3D printing process, we used standard hand tools to drill the holes for the hoops to be inserted in - combining digital fabrication and physical fabrication processes that allowed us to streamline our construction of our sleeping pod.
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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?
One shift in the use of digital technology from design to fabrication was the invention of 3d printing. This allowed designing to be more abstract and made it easier to experiment with different ideas. This technology advanced the designing field quite considerably. Through 3D printing we could make actual physical solutions that were very critical to our project that we could design and make up from scratch.
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Reading applied to design Referencing from the lectures and readings, what is the implication of digital fabrication on your design ?
The implication of design fabrication on our design was that using 3d printing and other digital fabrication techniques allowed us to experiment many times of different ideas without committing to one design. We were able to try different possibilities in terms of holding the shell up-right and also, ensuring the shell can open and close with ease. There is also downside to digital fabrication and the entire process of drawing using computer software - the majority of the software used does not accurately simulate what is required for the physical product to actually work (with the exception of Grasshopper). It is a very easy and simple process to draw and design on the computer, which gives the impression that the final product will also be easy to fabricate - however this is not case, as the construction process requires multiple complicated steps such as mechanical joints, dealing with physical forces that is not fully grasped when using standard digital fabrication methods. There is also the matter of drawing on the computer that does not allow you to draw materials like fabrics or crumpled plastic or paper as these are "undevelopable surfaces" - sometimes ideas that may be exciting and interesting on paper will need to be adapted and made less complicated (which can mean making the idea less exciting than initally planned) in order to be accurately drawn digitally.
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Prototype development - Prototype 1
For the fiirst prototype of our design, we decided to model two of the hoops joined together to get a fairly good idea of what the design will look like all together.
The bone structure (or the hoop), was built using 200mm rigid risers, bought from Bunnings. The rigid risers are modular polyurethane plastic tubes (used normally for irrigation). While the material is fairly rigid, it can also be bent and curved. There is a screw and hole at either end of each member, allowing it to be attached to other members. The hoop is created through attaching several rigid risers together and bending them into a teardrop shape.
To make the membrane, firstly we had to constuct the bone structure, by attaching several rigid risers together using the screw at the end of each piece, and was then bent into a teardrop shape. After this, another hoop was made using the same process, but using more rigid risers to create a bigger hoop than the previous one. The fabric was then cut to shape and attached to the bone structure using a staple gun. For the prototype, the two hoops were held together using a binder clip.
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Prototype development - Prototype 1
A red top pop poplin fabric was used for the membrane, bought from Spotlight. The fabric is a polyester and cotton blend that is durable. The fabric is easy to cut but not flexible or stretchy which allows to keep the structure of the prototype more rigid, but requires greater precision in cutting it to the proper size.
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Prototype optimisation - where to improve:
The first prototype turned out to be a good indication on where our improvements needed to be. Although it is possible to bend the rigid risers, the material is still quite stiff and slightly hard to bend to the exact shape needed. The whole bending process required multiple adjustments, so for further prototyping we need to either research another material or find a way to bend the risers with more ease. Also cutting the fabric to the right shape and size was difficult as it needed exact measurements in order to have the right amount of fabric covering the space between the two hoops. In further production, we will ensure measurements are exact. Using the staple gun to attach the material to the bone structure proved not only to be difficult but also made the prototype appear messy and incomplete. We will perhaps try and sew it together in future. Also with further prototypes, we will use colours that provide a sense of relaxation, rather than the bright red which would instead promote alertness.
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Prototype optimisation - Prototype 2
The second prototype we worked on, took into consideration, the colours, the effects and sewing it instead of stapling it. The process continued on from the use of the rigid irragtion pipe as the bone structure. We used the previously made bone structure as it proved to be a suitable and sturdy struc-ture for our project. Firstly we needed to cut the fabric to the exact shape needed which proved to be quite a difficult task due to the curvature of the pipe. After cutting the fabric, we pinned it to the pipe and sewed along to create the shape we wanted. We had to use masking tape to ensure that we kept the height we wanted for each of the sections. Sewing it by hand proved to be not only difficult but also turned out still quite messy even though it was alot neater than previous versions. We agreed to stick with the same colours as they proved to be effective in this prototype. To improve, we need a sewing machine to ensure it as neat as possible. Also need to mesaure even more accurately.
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Prototype optimisation After prototyping the first time, we started working on a mechanical system that would act to move the bone structure to allow for the design to open and close. We did this by 3d printing the object shown in the images. We were hoping to make the holes small enough, so that when the device is open, it would be stuck in place and would need ocnsiderable force to close. However after printing and experimenting with the below system, we found that this would not happen. However we were extremely pleased with how it held the bone structure together, yet allowed it to move enough to open and close how we needed it to. This being said, we needed to work on creating a differerent mechnical system to keep the device open.
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Prototype optimisation - to hold the shell open: As discussed previously, we first tried to use the 3d modelled object to hold the shell up, however this prototype did not work how we had planned. Firstly we decided we would continue developing what we already had worked on to make it work how we had originally planned, however this proved to be difficult. So instead, we diecided to look outside of the box and see if there is any other way to hold it up. The idea we next came up with was to use a pole to connect the bottom and top of the shell to keep it open, similar to a kick stand for a bike. New issues arrised from using this idea, one was how would the pole stay snug in the shell another was where will the ends be attached to. This lead to us to designing new joints for the bone system, right now they are pipe being held together by screws and some with a right angle joint. We took the measurements of the 90 degree angle joint and abstraced it into Rhino. We then added an extra joint, 80 degrees to both the x and y plane, this is where the end of the pole will be attached to. However we thought of another issue which related to the amount of pressure being held onto the joint, so we turned that extra joint into ball joint. This allowed it to rotate around its pivotal axis and reduced the amount of pressure. We went through two iterations of this joint, this first being the black printed on and the other being white printed. The issue with the black printed one was that the ball was too large to fit in the gap of the joint, It also didn’t help that the material was PLA which is less flexible than its variant material ABS. So we printed the next one with the sphere part smaller. The ball joint now fits snug and is able to rotate around. Once applying this to shell, there was even more pressure than we originally anticipated, so we decided we would have to prototype a different design to keep the shell open.
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Prototype Optimisation - effects It was originally decided that we would go ahead with the two effects, one being that the transperency and darkness of material increases as it gets higher over the head, and the other being, having holes over the head to create a night time atmosphere.
We tested with the above colours for the design having the lightest most transparent colour at the bottom of the shell and the darkest colour at the top of the shell. This provided a space where the darkness increased around the head, which allowed for a darker sleeping space. We also double layered the top fabric to ensure maximum darkness.
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We wished to added holes into the top layer of the shell, to add to the sense of a night time atmosphere, however this created many implications. Firstly, creating holes in the fabric with a hole punch was quite difficult and created messy looking holes which did not give the effect that we were hoping for. In addition to this, this holes started tearing and fraying. We decided to stick with the effect of going from lighter to darker and just ensuring that the highest point was as dark as possible to create the effect of night time.
Prototype Optimisation - Spikes
Originally when designing the shell, we had encorporated spikes into the shell to create an interesting appearance. The original final concept for the sleeping pod uses tear drop shaped hoops for the framework (the bone) and fabric attached to each hoop, not completely covering the entirety of it to create sharp geometries that gives the structure an interesting aesthetic. They acted as a deterrent for any passers by. When prototyping, we figured that when the spike idea was in use, the amount of space in the sleeping pod minimised quite alot. Although the shape of the hoops enable the user to stretch out a bit more and gives a reasonable amount of space, the attachment of the fabric and how it does not completely cover each hoop still restricts the amount of space that the use has inside, and the main motivation for the design is to provide the user with a comfortable and safe space that they can sleep in.
TOP VIEW
Rather than being a big space for comfort and easy breathing, the shell became to small for comfort. So we decided to try and encorporate the spikes but only a tiny bit so that it did not interfere with the sleep of the occupant.
FRONT VIEW
ISOMETRIC VIEW
Prototype Optimisation - Final
FRONT VIEW - WITH FABRIC AND NO FABRIC FRONT VIEW (TRANSPARENT)
ISOMETRIC VIEW
This final concept rectifies the problem we identified with the orignal concept and gives the user more space to move their arms and head when inside. Attaching the fabric to the ends of each hoop allows the structure to give much better enclosure and maximizes the space available to the user while still providing enough shade and cover. This design loses the interesting effect given by the sharp geometries created in the original concept in exchange of more comfort as well as making the fabrication process much easier. The hood segment of the structure was also removed from the design in order to streamline the fabrication process since it was posing multiple difficulties. The removal of the hood also gives the user more breathing space. The design is a much more unified structure that has a smoother, less harsher and less rugged appearance, adding to the comfortable aspect of the shell, in contrast to the previous concept that was much more aggresive. TOP VIEW
Fabrication Sequence
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Assembly Drawing FABRIC
HOOP STRUCTURE
HOOP ATTACHMENT BOX
Sleeping Pod
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