LookingOutwards-03

Looking Outwards 03 – Computational Fabrication

Liquid Speed is a 3d printed energy-return running shoe designed by Reebok and BASF. Printed with a special high-rebound liquid material, the outsole has wings that stretches and wraps around the side of the shoe. This gives a perfect customized fit when the shoe is laced up. What I really admire about this product is that it utilizes 3d printed material in an effective way to give the most personalized experience with the shoe. Having stretchable wings on each side of the shoe to tighten up and mold any desired foot to the shoe impresses me as a design major. The liquid factory uses state of the art machinery and software to build a system that draws the outsole of the shoe with a urethane-based liquid developed by BASF. The important part of this project is that the shoe does not need molds to be created. Molds are expensive, which is the reason why shoes are expensive in price. Developing a technology that eliminates the process of using molds is an innovative application in the shoe industry. I can see that the curvy shape of the outsole and wings give a smooth yet unique design to the shoe, while the reflective red color gives a powerful and strong emphasis to the overall design.

Video of Liquid Speed from Reebok Liquid Factory

Looking Outwards 3

Looking at Andrew Kudless’s works was very inspiring. Its complexity in its form, unity, and the pattern is very beautifully constructed. I love how computationally generated pattern can result in an amazing physical object. I am not sure of what kind of algorithms were used to generate these works, but I guess it would be the recursive one which generates pattern. I love how they are beautifully designed yet conceptual and abstract that it evokes curiosity. I was surprised how there are multiple layers of parameters that are used to create those works. One of his works, Honeycomb Morphologies, is beautifully executed. It “explores integration strategies for a particular industrially produced material system for use in architectural applications.” I love how it is theoretical, numerical, and patterned, yet it has architectural system to it.

https://www.matsys.design/honeycomb-morphologies

Looking Outwards 03: Computational Fabrication

I was really drawn to Kate Hartman, a designer of computational wearables,
and her Porcupine Experiments, a project based on a wearables made from
everyday materials. For her particular project, Hartman opted to use
cardboard, brass fasteners and washers, nylon webbing, and triglide
fasteners. The vest’s design was created in Autodesk Fusion 360 and cut
out with an Epilog laser cutter. Hartman then hosted a Porcupine Workshop
in San Francisco, giving participants free materials and allowing them
to create their own vests with their hands and imaginations.

I think this project is quite enjoyable and unique due to the nature of the
vests. The designs are very spiky and jarring and really emulate a porcupines’
quills, which is very different from typical pleasing design conventions and
brings the vests’ usefulness into question (probably what Hartman was intending.) I also enjoyed how accessible these wearables are. As long as anyone has some cardboard, they’re free to make their own designs from Hartman’s blueprints and create some truly unique and playful vests.

For anyone who also wants to make a porcupine vest, they can find Hartman’s free online instructions here.

week03- Computational Fabrication

This picture is one from Iris Van Herpen’s fashion show.
Here is her website: https://www.irisvanherpen.com/

For a long time, fashion society is talking about modernity. When fine art has gone a long way explaining what is modernity, fashion professionals are still repeating themselves in some way.

Iris’s work and presentation is really eye opening. I doubt she uses a lot computational automation, but I think she uses a lot 3d and 3d printing in her work. Also, as far as I know, she uses a lot new fabrication materials and laser cutting technology.

I can not say for sure how she design her work, whether she did them all in 3d, or she uses automation to generate some basic variations of shapes them cut them into a real clothes piece. If I were her, I would use length, width, curve, size , and rotation to generate basic shapes.

The link I add below is her SS 2020 Haute Couture show. In the recent work, she uses more soft fabrications than, in her middle stage, hard and 3d printing-ish materials. She advances more in her design taste and also at the same time remains her pioneering spirit.

Looking Outwards 03

“India’s New Parametric Temple to Reinterpret Vernacular Design in Koppur”

I really admire how this project uses computational processes to design something in the real world. This kind of geometry is difficult to visualize and draw, but its regularity and symmetry makes it a perfect problem for parametric design. The designers used parametric software, like grasshopper, to influence the design based on specified constraints, such as volume or height. The designers’ commitment to using sacred geometry and symmetric forms resulted in a characteristically Indian temple despite using computational processes

Some different forms produced by the architects, rat[[LAB] studio and Shilpa Architects

https://www.archdaily.com/946233/indias-new-parametric-temple-to-reinterpret-vernacular-design-in-koppur?ad_source=search&ad_medium=search_result_all

LO 3 – Computational Fabrication

Silk Pavilion II

Neri Oxman (2020)

For this week’s Looking Outward post, I studied Silk Pavilion II (https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/silk-pavilion-ii/overview/) by Neri Oxman—a delicately woven silk structure examining the relationship between digital and biological fabrication. I was initially intrigued by the grand architectural scale and intricacies of the sculpture. The Pavilion is composed of three interconnected layers—the first layer is a web of steel-rope wires, the second layer contains fabric on which silkworms are positioned, and the third layer contains the visible Pavilion structure that is biologically spun by the 17,532 silkworms. After I studied the mechanics of the structure more, I was fascinated by the order and sequencing of the silkworms’ upward spinning motion, created by a mechanical top-down kinetic manipulation, which generates the spiral pattern. More importantly, I found the message and purpose of The Pavilion particularly interesting. In the textile industry today, silkworms are killed in their cocoon, dissolving the adhesive that connects one strand of silk to the below layers. This allows the silk strand to be extracted from the cocoon, but also harms the life cycle of the silkworm. The Silk Pavilion, however, demonstrates that artificial structures can influence silkworms to construct sheets instead of cocoons, and celebrates silkworms as designers of their own. Especially when guided by a human-made base structure and mechanism, the silkworms can weave beautifully elaborate forms and patterns.

I admired the entry work by matsys for the Tulum Site Museum competition. I was fascinated by the creator’s ability to demonstrate depth within their works. With the inclusion of a person within their work, it was relatively easy to understand how large of a museum it would be. Immediately, I began seeing and thinking “that must be a window”, or “that must be a mirror.”

As far as the algorithms, it was never explicitly stated but I would assume that it was done through 3D rendering, with the implementation of layers to show how the rooms within the museum should be arranged. Based on matsys’ previous works, I can see how their artistic sensibilities are manifested in this work. Most of their works include a porous material/texture, and appear almost sponge-like. In the entry work for the Tulum Site Museum competition, the walls have many holes/empty spaces in them. It seems so sponge-like that it reminds me of coral reefs.

This is from mastys’ entry work for the Tulum Site Museum competition. Here, they have created a rendering of what they imagine the interior of the museum should look like. You can see how mastys has incorporated the porous-like appearance in the walls and the ceiling. With the inclusion of what appears to be a shadow of a person, it is useful in making a judgment of how large the museum would be.

https://www.matsys.design/tulum-site-museum

Looking Outwards 03- Computational Fabrication

Kinematics Petal Dress by Nervous System.

A project that I found to be an inspiration under the topic of generic artwork is the Kinematics Petal Dress (https://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/projects/albums/kinematic-petals-dress/), designed by the company Nervous System, a generative design studio that takes ideas from natural phenomenons and implements them into their work. This particular dress which is 3D printed, is created to be a continuous textile with interlocking parts and components. I find this piece of work interesting because it represents how the worlds of technology and fashion can combine to create customizable clothing. In terms of the algorithms that generated the work, I think that the aspect of variability makes it so that the length, width and shape of each component can be altered and have dynamic aspects that change with the changing data about the body type of specific person. This makes the work customizable, and designed to suit the needs of a variety of people. Additionally, this design firm believes in reflecting natural properties in their fashion pieces, and in this dress, that vision is manifested because the 1600+ overlapping pieces and hinges create the effect of flower petals layering and blooming. This dress is also compressible and foldable, which takes into consideration efficiency, and I find this really unique.

Looking Outwards 03 – Computational Fabrication

A work of computational fabrication which I find interesting is the Winery Gantenbein, by Gramazio & Kohler + Bearth & Deplazes.

This is an addition to an existing winery and is an open air fermentation room.
Here, the architects used a brick laying robot to attain great precision for these brick walls, but were able to stay playful with the material and keep the project feeling “human”. The pattern laid by the robot went brick by brick, and laid the bricks so the pattern could be read, while the design also allowed for fresh air
during fermentation, without allowing for direct sunlight. Here I think that the architects have done a great job, as they used computational fabrication in order to augment a design which may have otherwise ended up much more boring.

Looking Outwards 3

Project: Cloud Village

Creator: Philip F. Yuan and team

Year of Creation: 2018 for the Venice Architecture Biennale

Cloud Village is an abstract architectural piece aimed at representing the metaphor between private and public spaces/realms in China. The project itself contains four separate open room-like spaces, with a twisting roof connecting the spaces to create a curved u-shaped form from top-down. The materiality itself is a permeable recycled plastic structure, with robotic fabrication being used at every step to pre-fabricate each part before it was assembled on site. The architect also used a “topological optimization algorithm” to calculate structural performances within the curved roof. What I admire about this project is that each part of it–from the material choice, to the form or method of fabrication, all tied back to the architect’s intention and theme of the project. While the recycled plastic material allowed for the creation of a permeable material in the fabrication process, it also tied back to the environmental issues surrounding China and approached architectural building materials from a critical standpoint.