Hannah Kim-Looking Outwards-03 – [OLD FALL 2017] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

Minima | Maxima is computer science connoisseur Marc Fornes’s latest project, commissioned by World Expo 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Fornes has placed himself at the forefront of computational design in the last 15 years, as well as the digital prototyping of large scale, self supporting structures. His studio is deeply rooted in the development of computational protocols and digital fabrication. This particular project involves a building system in which custom designed parts form complex, self-supporting curving surfaces. The project has an impressive height of 43 feet, yet the core material used to build the structure are simply 2mm strips of aluminum. The strips are constructed in only 3 layers in tandem, and support one another as they gain curvature and height. This project is extremely impressive to me because of the fact someone can make a huge, voluminous form that people can walk on, out of 2 mm triple layered aluminum sheets. I think the concept that one layer can’t exist independently, yet contributes and supports the structure as a whole is pretty great. Watching the video of the structure being built, it was shocking seeing the structure blowing in the wind while being built up, and then seeing the final, sturdy complete structure. I realized Fornes’s sensibilities as an artist are present in all of his computationally fabricated works, after seeing his website. His works are geometric and organic, and seemingly impossible.