LO-03-Computational Fabrication

Neri Oxman’s Silk Pavilion.  2013.

The Silk Pavilion  uses a combination of computational and biological fabrication to create a pavilion that articulates the beauty and structure of silk while using a sustainable method of gathering silk. The project addresses that about 1,000 silk cocoons are boiled per tshirt, which kill the larva in the process. The silk pavilion makes the silkworms spin in sheets rather than cocoons due to the human made structure and grid, thus allowing a more sustainable method of harvesting silk. 

The primary structure uses a CNC (computer numerical control) machine to lay down 25 panels of silk thread. 6,500 silkworms were then used to finish the rest of the structure. 

The algorithms that programmed the robotic arm to create the primary structure must have first analyzed the natural biological process and pattern that silkworms take when forming cocoons as the project wanted to replicate that process. Neri Oxman’s team attached small magnets on the heads of the silkworms to track their movements, and using that data they then created a path for the arm to move in ways like the worms. 

I found this project fascinating for a multitude of reasons, the first being the combination of biological processes and digital processes. Additionally, the Silk Pavilion is able to achieve an architectural scale of a process that is done on a much smaller scale (silkworm cocoons). In this case, studying biological formations allows for us to vary scales of production of natural systems. By analyzing nature we can create complex parametric designs that allow us to reflect organic structures and designs with computer based methods of learning. Oxman’s ambition to combine the organic with computers reflects in the pavilion in its large form that displays the natural path of silkworms shown in varying patches of density.