Digital Fabrications

Architectural and Material Techniques, Text by Lisa Iwamoto

Presentation :: Brittany Ransom April 7, 2010

Text Overview

Digital Fabrication: Architectural and Material Techniques, looks at architects and designers using digital techniques and the advantages of computer based design and fabrication. It discusses the historical contexts of these ideas, introducing architectural pioneers such as Frank Gehry and Greg Lynn who introduced the world to the extreme forms made possible by digital fabrication. It is now possible to transfer designs made on a computer to computer-controlled machinery that creates actual building components. This 'file to factory' process not only enables architects to realize projects featuring complex or double-curved geometries, but also liberates architects from a dependence on off-the-shelf building components, enabling projects of previously unimaginable complexity for all including artists.

Topics

Sectioning

Tessellating

Sectioning

Othographic Projects

Sectioning

Greg Lynn Structures

Lofting Techniques

Sectioning
Digital Weave: University of California Berkeley, Lisa Iwamoto, 2004

Sectioning
Digital Weave: University of California Berkeley, Lisa Iwamoto, 2004

Sectioning

Iwamotos Digital Weave

Philip Beeselys Hylozoic Soil

Sectioning

Philip Beesely: Hylozoic Soil, 2009 Siggraph

Sectioning

Philip Beesely: Hylozoic Soil, 2009 Siggraph Video About Hylozoic Soil Video Hylozoic Soil Swallow Test

Sectioning

Mafoombey: Martti Kalliala, Esa Ruskeepaa, & Martin Lukasczyk, 2005

Sectioning
Winning entry arranged by the University of Art and Design in Helsinki in 2005. Addressed the challenge of creating a space for listening and experiencing music within a specific set of dimensions. The design builds up from a simple architectural concept: a free-form cavernous space that is cut into a cubic volume of stacked material. Mafoombey consists of 360 layers of corrugated cardboard. Cut each piece one by one using a computer controlled cutter. Lightweight assembly /quick construction and easily transportable.

Sectioning

Termite Pavilion: collaboration between Softroom Architects, Freeform Engineering, Atelier One, Chris Watson, and Haberdasherylondon, 2009 Video to time 1:40

Sectioning
(Ply)wood Delaminations, Monica Ponce de Leon, 2005.
(Ply)wood Delaminations is the result of a digital-build design course at Georgia Tech by Monica Ponce de Leon. Advanced wood products laboratory made this project possible through use of a CNC machine. Addresses extreme vertical space. The lapped joints provide a relatively seamless and strong shear connection. Each piece, including the bolt holes, is confined to a single fourby-eight foot sheet of plywood and all are nestled together and milled using a CNC, all tools we as artists can utilize.

Sectioning

U Ram Choe: Opertus Lunula Umbra Video

Sectioning
U Ram Choe: Una Lumino Portentum, 2008.

Video

Tessellating

Tessellating
Huyghe + Le Corbusier Puppet Theater MOS, 2004.

Tessellating

Articulated Cloud: Ned Kahn, 2004. Video

Tessellating

California: Stage Set for John Jasperse AEDS/ Ammar Eloueini, 2003.

Tessellating

Theo Jansens beach creatures TED Talk

Questions
(JDs Question(s) What interests me most about this type of work is what is beautiful about these structures beyond the presence of accuracy and repetitionwhat is next for this type of work? Architects are naturally thinking of the aesthetic married to structural benefits, but what of artists? What do these forms reflect from the deeps of our minds? Why is geometric repetition in nature beautiful? Luckily, we are afforded many of the tools to digitally fabricate and utilize both sectioning and tessellating techniques in our work because we are part of a university that allows us these options. How accessible and affordable do you think these fabrication techniques will be once you are no longer part of system that has the tools to realize these techniques? Does the cost of producing structures like this deter you from using them?

Thanks!