Module 3

Xeyiing Ng Student No. : 596296

Semester 2/2012

Group 14

Module 3

Hello people! I am Petals.

Welcome to my life!

Standing with imperfections‌ Module 2 Development

Prototype I 1.

Scattered Lights The triangular holes allowed too much light to penetrate, scattering lights in all direction without highlighting the spiral trench.

When better is possible, good is not nearly enough.

Design Optimisation

2.

Four-sided Trench Faces The trench faces in their four-sided polygon form did not lie on the same plane, hence when unrolled in the same form and constructed physically the polygons did not fit into each other.

Trenches

Precedent : Stone Spray Project Architects : Petr Novikov

Inder Shergill

Anna Kulik Location : Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia Stone Spray is an on-site robotic 3d printer that creates architecture out of soil. The technology uses sand as the major material in creating structures. A series of experiments were conducted on the proportion of materials that would achieve the best end results, one which is strong and yet a minimum amount of setting time. Very much like the project, the model made out of paper experimented with the different thickness of paper. A thicker paper provides a more rigid structure but is more difficult to create a clean bend especially with small triangles, and thin paper works the other way round. Using the 200gsm card has allowed a fairly rigid structure to be formed with a minimum amount of creases at bends. When working with materials, testings are often required to fully understand the properties as they vary with usage.

Reading the technical diary, it was realised that one of their major concern was with the drying system. The wet sand when piled together requires a long period of time to dry and hence to improve the system, while building, the team started shaping holes-structures to let the material solidify faster. In building the trenches of the petal with paper, the paper due to its’ properties causes the structure to fail to close precisely. Not able to change the properties of paper or sand, the structure was changed. Gaps were inserted in between the trench to allow spaces for the paper to move around hence avoiding the failure at the connections.

Stone Spray Project Models.

b.

Messy Trench Gaps The spiral trench do not exactly fit with the outer surface leaving gaps and squashed faces at the connections, although it was possible to close the surface.

a.

Triangulate Trench Faces The four-sided trench faces are triangulated as triangles do not deform and remains on the same plane under pressure.

Lightings

c.

Redesigning the Trench The redesigned trench not only inserts gaps into the trench but gives a uniform direction of triangles resulting in a neat and clean trench surface. With the new design, the trench and the outer surface connections no longer leave gaps and squashed faces.

a.

Triangles to Arrows The triangular holes were converted to arrows. The change reduces the surface areas of holes, reducing the amount of light penetrating the surfaces to allow more lights to focus on the spiral trench.

1. Triangular holes with varying density were populated on the surface using the ‘pt offset faces borders’, applying the ‘point attractor’ option.

2. Offset mesh to 2 different distances.

2. Drawing lines on the unrolled strips, the triangles were manually changed to arrows.

3. Join outer surface with trench faces in pattern shown.

From petal 1 to 5 (left to right), the direction of the arrow varies, with the principle ‘hot matter rises while cold matter sinks’. Petal 1 and 2 at the higher temperature end has arrows pointing upward, vice versa.

Petal 3 whereas has a mixture of upwards and downwards arrows.

Arrows were attempted to be populated on the surface using the ‘Custom 2D’ and ‘Create 2D Pattern’ options, which turned out unsuccessful as the arrows did not fit and point in the correct direction on the diamond-gridded triangle faces properly.

1. Close trench gap with surfaces, mesh and join to form one mesh.

4. Delete mesh, close base with surfaces.

b.

White to Black Even though with the reduced holes of the outer surface and the increase in gaps at the trench, the spiral effect of the petal was still not highlighted. To further to reduce the penetration of lights on the outer surface, black paper was used instead.

Overall Structure a.

Handle In order to hold the structure in it’s angles, a bar is used to hang off the structures. The bar has a similar structure as the column.

Using the same amount of lights, the black and white model disperses less light but creates obvious spots of lights on the surface.

The contrast between the trench and the outer surface is however clearly highlighted in the black and white model.

b.

Supporting Columns Columns are added to the individual petals to allow the petals to be hung securely without tearing the material.

The columns allow lights to be attached hence creates a distance between the lights and the surface, creating an evenly distributed lighting without obvious spots of light on surfaces as seen in the previous image.

Bringing me to life...

Technical Documentation

Part 1 : Stripping me down Unrolling & Nesting

b. Trench Surfaces

Top

Unroll middle trench faces individually.

Using panelling tools ‘Unroll faces’ option, label the edges of the faces.

Label individual pieces according to their sequence.

Middle

a. Outer Surface Unroll outer surface according to the colour of the rainbow.

Bottom

Unroll top and bottom trench faces according to the colour of the rainbow and label.

Part 2 : Cutting me out.

Fabrication

The unrolled strips are nested and sent to the fab lab for fabrication. As no dash lines were needed and the ‘rust’ effect of the laser cutter on white cards was undesirable, the card cutter was used instead.

Part 3 : Putting me together Construction

Step 1 : Trenches

Note Cut and glue the individual piece to its’ position before cutting the next piece to avoid confusion. a. Referring to the digital file, label and cut strips.

b. Score card where folds are reversed and fold in the correct direction.

c. Glue the individual middle trenches to the bottom trench.

d. Piece the top trench in place.

Step 2 : Columns & Lightings

Note Paper pieces separates the opposite posts preventing short circuit.

Note Mark positions so that LED faces trenches. a. Fold score lines. Referring to the petals, mark and cut out LEDs’ positions.

b. Glue edges together.

e. Leave a fair amount of wire at the end of the circuit for the power supply connection.

f. Bend LEDs’ posts. Insert papers pieces in between LED posts.

g. Test circuit by connecting to power supply. Close surface to form a column if all LEDs light up, leaving the circuit connected until surface is fully closed.

h. Tie a knot at both ends of the column using needles and fishing lines.

Note Twist stripped wires to avoid messy circuits.

Note Taping the surface prevents the hole from further tearing. c. Make needle holes for LEDs’ posts and tape where holes are made.

Insert LEDs’ into designated positions.

d. Strip wires and connect LEDs in parallel. Connect all positive posts and negative posts to separate wires.

Step 3 : Outer Surface

a. Referring to the digital file, cut and label the strips.

b. Piece strips accordingly to the trenches.

c. Leave the last strip and the trench unglued.

d. Insert column with LEDs into petal.

d. Piece the last strip and the trench together, leaving the wires and fishing lines out at the top.

e. Glue end triangles to close model.

Step 4 : Overall Structure

a. Construct handle with the construction steps of the columns exculding the sitting postition .

b. Construct cylinders using strips of paper. Place cylinders into columns.

c. Connect all positive ends of petals together, vice versa. Bind all fishing lines together in the middle.

d. Extend wires from both positive and negative ends to battery pack.

e. Hang petals from handle using fishing lines.

f. Mark and cut in on handle to form ridges for lines.

Better is always possible.

Further Improvements

a.

Messy Wire Connections Most wires can be hidden inside the model rather than left outside.

c.

Crooked Handle The handle requires stronger reinforcement to withstand the weight of the model.

b.

Crumpled Surface Due to the thickness of the card and the large holes, the card crumples instead during folding. A thinner card should be used for such situation.

d.

Non-uniform petals colour 2 petals are a mixture of black and white while the rest are plain white. The black and white petals were initially prototypes and as it brings out the trench pattern better, all white petals would be changed. e.

Variation of lights Although the number of LEDs varries from 15 - 9 between petals, the effect of the change in light intensity is not obvious.

My growth Chart.

Module 1 to 3 Development Progression Module 1

Module 2 Module 1

Reflection Module 3 was basically making lots of prototype, it is a vicious cycle, you built then realise something is wrong, turn back to the digital file, change and built and then realise something else is wrong now… Having built prototype after prototype, I wonder if it was at all possible to see it all from the digital file or at least with the first prototype, the flaws and the improvements required without building one after another. The digital software are such sophisticated programs and yet they fail to help you realise that the model just would not work when constructed physically. As troublesome as the process was, I came to realise that it is this prototype-making process that has allow the development of ideas and if it wasn’t for the process, some ideas might never occur. It is the experience gained that has broadened our views helping us come up with tangible solutions. Then again, this process has revealed the limitations of the digital program and that it can only bring a design to a certain level and the real properties of the material can only be fully tested and understood by prototyping.

And while immersing in the prototype-making process, changing and adjusting for the better, there can never be an end to it. At some point, you’ll have to pull yourself out from the cycle and start moving on to the next stage.

There are other factors besides ‘perfection’ that needs to be considered such as time and cost. Although not in the business industry, and money does not exactly equal to time yet, we are still bounded by deadlines and the cost of making the prototypes. Thou there is no real way to tell when one should stop, mine was the submission date.

Reference List www.stonespray.com Nature Pod Project, Vane-Farm RSBP Loch Leven