September 2019 – Page 46 – [OLD FALL 2019] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

Lanna Lang – Looking Outwards – 03

Benjamin Dillenburger & Michael Hansmeyer’s “Digital Grotesque” / 2013, 2017

Digital Grotesque is made up of two full-size grottos that were 3D printed out of sandstone. It is a highly ornamented structure that was designed by algorithms, depicting how new technology is leading to radical changes in architectural design, and Digital Grotesque demonstrates this by taking this new technology to a scale never done before – truly life-sized. What I find admirable is the absolute intricacy of each crevice in this piece. The work is a 3.2-meter-high, 16 square meters long room, and is crammed full of minute details that stand between chaos and order.

Nothing can make this project any more perfect than it already is. It suggests an unimagined richness that at a glance can be overwhelming, and all the viewers can do is marvel, become curious and bewildered. One “flaw” that could be said about this piece is the seams between each 3D printed section, but I actually enjoy seeing the seams as a viewer because it’s a reminder of where this was initially conceived from; it’s not pretending to be built from stone or marble, it’s accepting its 3D printed quality. I applaud the creators who perfectly executed the concept full of juxtaposition: complexity yet reductionism, chaos and order, natural and artificial, foreign and familiar through its architectural design, composition, and geometric processes.

This project was reminiscent towards the Church of Sagrada Familia by Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi, and the artists are architects, programmers, and professors who are passionate about exploring the vast opportunities that computation applications can affect design and fabrication of architectural forms.

An image of the view looking up in the grotto II that depicts the sheer vastness and how ornamental, chaotic, and beautiful it is.

A video of the behind the scenes process of building “Digital Grotesque”

A video that shows fragments of the digital fabrication of “Digital Grotesque” and the computer-generated render.

SooA Kim: Looking Outwards-03

Iris van Herpen is one of the most avant garde designers known in the industry of fashion design. She has been innovating new methods in both design and garment construction techniques to fuse the past and future of couture craftsmanship. In her Hypnosis 2019 collection, collaborating with the architect Anthony Howe, she applies her design in using parametric patterns to the fabric that’s generated through 3D printing. The Hypnosis collection can be called as “kinetic couture,” since the garments move as models walk the runway. I believe the algorithms on generating these patterns were inspired by the complexity forms that is in nature, such as wind and fluidity of water. The kinetic movement and form was also adapted from the mechanisms of Howe’s sculptures. Howe’s design uses computational aid in creating parametric installation work. I admired this collection and collaboration between fashion designer and an architect, where they applied architectural form using computational distortion to experiment on bringing into creation of haute couture.

behind the scene photo of Hypnosis collection

Hyejo Seo-Looking Outward-03

This art work, Frequencies (2017), caught my eye at first because I thought it was simply a model of different area’s geography because of the rocky surface, and liquid-like flow was the cloud movements in that area. I soon found that the rocky surfaces were randomly generated from different frequencies of Perlin Noise Algorithm. These generative 3D models have been created by Convivial Studio for Autodesk Pier 9.

Look of a model generated from codes on ArtCam

For this shape and color study, Convivial Studio used artCam to generate GCodes of the frequencies of Perlin Noise Algorithm for the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines, which, then, generated infinite 3D models of the rocky surface. Then, these models were carved into condensed polyurethane foam board, added with the projection layer of different patterns changing over this board. This was a way of the team trying to challenge the viewer’s perception and get them engaged. This projection was created with several softwares such as openFramewors, ofxMtlMapping2D, ofxFlowTools and etc.

It was very intriguing and eye-opening to see how lines of codes of noise frequencies could be translated into such beautiful art piece.

Sewon Park LO-03

A demonstration of the framework used to analyze the structure of a bird’s beak.

A computational fabrication project that I found to be inspiring is the Narrow-Band Topology Optimization by Haixiang Liu, Yuanming Hu, Bo Zhu, Wojciech Matusik, and Eftychios Sifakis. As structures found in nature are often unique in shape and feature, it is difficult to analyze and recreate such structures with the existing computational approach. As such, the team created a highly efficient framework.

Although the exact algorithm used to devise the framework is highly complicated, the general idea was to track the evolution of such structures in a in a narrow-region grid with high density so no effort is wasted on large void areas.

This project is captivating as it uses pre-existing structure in nature to enhance existing structural components. Such components can be used in a variety of fields including architecture and product design. Because structured naturally developed by the Earth’s atmosphere is high in both practicality and beauty, the new framework will be valuable for the path of futuristic design. The few given examples demonstrates the engineer’s sense for incorporating the beauty of nature to everyday products.

Introductory Video of practical applications of the framework.

Steven Fei – LookingOutwards – 03

Parametric design approach has always attracted me because of its elegant rationale and the infinite possibilities that we are able to create through controling different variables.

In the article from Prof Levin, what I think is the most meaningful work is the “Blooming” Fibonacci Sculptures by John Edmark. Gaining inspirations from the phyllotaxis algorithm, the designer creates several 3D printing sculptures that give the illusion of contiunously blooming and extending while spinning. Through accurate parametric controlling, the artworks achieve strong fluidity in the transition between solid and void. Among those sculptures, the foliage-like piece and the opus with three mobius-strip-like pieces stacked on top of each other impressed me the most. As an architecture student, I once programed a similar “mobius” structure too through the use of Grasshopper and GhPython. Upon using the two plugins, I was able to control the number and size of the basic u-grids that made up of the circular section and the number and spacing of the v-grids that connects horizontally around the rims. Meanwhile, I was also able to decide where to start and end the shape. However, when I created such form, I only thought about of static shape while neglecting the dynamics when taking those parameters to flow overtime. I strongly admire the artist for his talent in thinking in a dynamic way to generate this amazing visual effect while rotating the object.

Moreover, in creating such moving and complex geometries, the artist managed to control those parameters so that the individual pieces can grow or morph while not interfering with each other overtime. Meanwhile, the individual artworks are stacked or combined in interesting ways to create new looks and more complex connections. Ultimately, through the use of parametric designs, the artist demonstrates the dynamic pattern that has seldom been created before and successfully creates a never-stopping illusion to the viewers.

Click here to visit the official website by the artist

Joseph Zhang – Looking Outwards – 03

Image result for rottlace mit — Rottlace Mask – MIT Media Lab

Rottlace is a 3D fabrication project built in MIT’s Media Lab by The Mediated Matter. Rottlace is a family of masks designed for Icelandic musician called Björk. The project’s form and texture pulls much of its inspiration from the human body’s various muscle-to-muscle and muscle-to-bone relationships, and in many ways, attempts to merge them together. The masks were printed by Stratasys using multi-material 3D printing, which allows complex combinations of various properties to be implemented in the construction of a single object.

I chose this piece because of its mesmerizing flowing nature, and ultimately began reading more on it after realizing how complex the architectural forms of the mask truely were. To be able to design and build something so intricate yet natural is amazing. Coming from a sector of the MIT that focuses on using nature as design inspiration, I’d assume that Rottlace was built on algorithms representative of biological muscle tissue. The visionaries who built this mask have fabricated it in a way that has extracted the beautiful curves and lines found in the internal workings of nature, and replicated them through 3D form-building.

www.media.mit.edu/projects/rottlace/overview/

Taisei Manheim – Looking Outward – 03

The project I chose was Coded Clay by Brian Peters, a former architecture professor at Carnegie Mellon University. As an architecture student I appreciate how he used architectural software such as Rhino and Grasshopper to parametrically design intricate pottery. He starts by hand sketching the design that he wants and then he creates a custom Grasshopper script to design the movements of the 3D printer. The 3D printer was custom made by him in order to use clay and the tiny zig-zag movements with the path of the machine give the sense of the pottery being woven. Once printed, the pieces have to dry for several days and then they are fired in a kiln twice, once before glazing and once afterwards. The idea for Coded Clay came from Brian Peter’s time in the Netherlands where he worked on 3D printing with clay within an architecture firm in Amsterdam.

Sammie Kim – Looking Outwards 03

“Digital Grotesque” is a huge architectural piece led by Michael Hansmeyer that delves into the application of 3D fabrication technology. Immediately, I was astonished by was the bold, massive scale of this artwork, as 3D technology has only been used for small-scale models in the past. Yet, the method of “sand-printing through additive manufacturing technology” overcomes such limitations, which allows for the fabrication of large-scale elements, along with high resolution and accuracy. Not only does the Digital Grotesque present a vast human-scale structure, it encompasses extremely complex geometry (260 million individual facets), along with ornate details that are impossible to draw by hand. What I find admirable about this project is the surprise element, how the base algorithms produce results that are not entirely predictable, though not random. The Also, what shocked me was how cost of the sand-printing technique, which was similar to printing a basic cube—there was barely any cost for customization. This showed how enormous the potentials of additive manufacturing in architecture can be, as even more complex forms could now be executed through the computer.

Photo of the Digital Grotesque (http://benjamin-dillenburger.com/grotto/)

Scale of the Architecture compared to the person (http://benjamin-dillenburger.com/grotto/)

Grotto

Alec Albright – Looking Outwards 03

Kinesis by Daniel Widrig_dezeen_1sq — Daniel Widrig’s exoskeleton wearable 3D sculpture. Picture from Dezeen.com.

Kinesis by Daniel Widrig_dezeen_14 — Side view of the sculpture, displaying how the piece rests on the back of the neck. *Picture from Dezeen.com.*

Kinesis by Daniel Widrig_dezeen_2 — Another wearable piece from this colletion, which sits around the neck. *Picture from Dezeen.com.*

Daniel Widrig’s wearable 3D sculptures were released in the Design Miami show of 2013. At this time, Widrig unveiled the pictured pieces, calling it the “Kinesis Collection”, as they were customized to the wearer’s body to fit perfectly. This project is admirable because of its intricacies and care in the realm of customization and scalability. The pieces were designed to be able to be recreated for any user by scanning the wearer’s body and resizing the sculpture accordingly.

The algorithms of the work are supposedly designed to replicate human vertebrae in a generative fashion, but I am unsure of the details as to how this was accomplished. In its final form, it manifested Widrig’s artistic sensibilities in its craftsmanship, perfectly customized design, and sleekness.

Jamie Park – Looking Outwards – 03

Kitted Garments the Researchers Created, http://knitskel.csail.mit.edu

Knitting Skeletons (2019) is a project by Alexandre Kasper, Liane Makatura, and Wojciech Matusik at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This project combines coding with CAD software to allow anyone to design customized kitted garments. Using the software, people can create socks, scarves, gloves, and more that fit perfectly to their bodies.

Based on the video that the researchers have posted on their website (video above), it seems like they have created a software that would specifically serve to create kitting garments. The delicate software allows the user to explore with multiple pattern settings and width / length of the garment.

I admire this project because it uses coding to bring something into life. I especially like the fact that this project, unlike other projects that create 3D artwork-looking objects, creates something that can be used in daily life. It will allow people to express their artistic sensibilities, as the final product will vary significantly depending on the person. Additionally, this project seems to have potential in helping people who need customized garments.