LookingOutwards-03 – Page 4 – [OLD SEMESTER] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

My Inspiration – Week 3

I really admire the Mamou Mani project because of its soft and modern-looking design. The unique shapes and curves of the different digital structures in his work create a futuristic style while also having enough simplicity to make the structures more realistic. Each one of his projects also has an intention behind it, whether it is to create a building that is more eco-friendly or a building that emphasizes the rich culture of the community that built it. A lot of the shapes in the buildings are looping and repeating throughout the construction, so parts of the algorithm are looping to create that consistent and patterned look. For example, in the ECOPODS project, the entire building is one looped grouping of code. You can tell that if the building were taller, the design would continue climbing upward with the spiraling pattern. The artist also seems to like to use flowy movements with his work, which are most evident in his DNA BlockChain Skyscraper.

Mamou Mani Projects

Looking Outwards 3

Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) have used an interdisciplinary approach of biomimetic, computing, and robots to create research pavilions between 2010-2021. The first pavilion they created intentionally computes the design according to the characteristics and constraints of the material choices and physical form. Because they used birch plywood, they considered the elasticity of the wood and how bending flat strips that were robotically manufactured can connect the modular pieces. I am impressed with how the connections of the modules allow reinforcement of each other — it seems that adhesives or additional reinforcers were not used. I wonder how they were able to test out the structural integrity pavilion when computing the design — how did they know that the pavilion would not collapse? How could different materials affect the design?

https://www.itke.uni-stuttgart.de/research/icd-itke-research-pavilions/icd-itke-research-pavilion-2010/

Looking Outwards 03: Computational Fabrication

Today, I took a look at Project Aguahoja, a project done by the MIT media lab. The main focus of this project is waste reduction. Because so much of what we create ends up being waste, never to be used again, MIT media lab started a project where the grown and the made unite. They “aim to subvert the industrial, vicious cycle of material extraction and obsolescence through the creation of biopolymer composites that exhibit tunable mechanical and optical properties, and respond to their environments in ways that are impossible to achieve with their synthetic counterparts”. This is achieved through three parts, but I wanted to focus on the software and wetware designed by the Mediated Matter group. The Aguahoja Pavillion 1 can be programmed to degrade in water. This was especially inspiring to me because sustainability and technology can be mutually beneficial, and this project captures exactly that. The different structures that Aguahoja Pavillion 1 is made of are 3D printed from biomaterials and closely resemble natural structures. They didn’t disclose the programming used to create the structures, but I would have to guess that they used a series of equations to create a procedurally generated structure.

Project Aguahola

LO-03

Mediated Matter from MIT

The Mediated Matter group focuses on Nature-inspired design and design-inspired Nature. They create biologically inspired and engineered design fabrication tools and technologies aiming to enhance the relation between natural and man-made environments. I admire this project a lot because I think humans should try to harmonize with nature more. They use algorithms in order to enhance the relation between natural and man-made environments by achieving high degrees of design customization, environmental performance integration, and material efficiency. The work they are doing is very interesting. It is very cool how they are pretty much creating materials that can only be made through a use of an algorithm. An publication by Mediated Matter is titled “Hybrid Living Materials: Digital Design and Fabrication of 3D Multimaterial Structures with Programmable Biohybrid Surfaces.” Even the title alone brings lots of curiosity about what they are creating.

Programmable Water-Based Biocomposites for Digital Design and Fabrication across Scales

Looking Outwards 03: Computational Fabrication

One project I found really interesting was John Edmark’s work. He creates these 3D printed sculptures that use the fibonacci sequence to create these cool optical illusions. His series is called, “Blooming Zoetrope Sculptures,” and these pieces work when they are spun and lit by a strobe light. From what I know about the code, each of the pedals are placed at a different distance from the center and if you follow a single pedal, it looks like it works down and out of the sculpture. Knowing the basics of the fibonacci sequence, it works using the golden ratio where each number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers that precede it. Something I really admire about it, is that these pieces resemble nature and can be represented using a mathematical equation. Overall, his work inspires me to learn more about coding and learn how to make these really unique patterns.

Link: https://www.instructables.com/Blooming-Zoetrope-Sculptures/

LO-Computational Fabrication

I looked at the silk pavilion project by The Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab in 2020. The thing I find inspiring about this project is how their team organically combine the algorithm calculations of digital media and biological features of silkworm. By mimicking the way natural worms form their silk, their team efficiently brings beauty of nature into something that’s created manually. I believe that nature is not only the source of our information and our living foundation, it also provides examples for us to learn from for further development. This pavilion project reminds me of biomimicry buildings that save energies by means learned from insects, plants, and other creatures from nature. By doing the series of work like this, it brings the connection between human and nature closer, and art and technology into another level.

LO week 3 Troche

Image of finished insulation. Nodes are black.

I ended up coming across Christan Troche’s Radiolaria Project. The project was intended to rethink architectural design, but I think it can also be stretched to environments design because of how it changes the feeling of the space that the Structural Tessellation is in. I think it is cool to see people creating things based on nature.Troche explains that its design is based on the skeletons of radiolarians. Troche most likely used generated forms for the individual nodes. Because this project is based on something organic, the skeleton, I would imagine that he had many elements of his computation obey flocking behavior. What I find especially cool is how the form supports itself and can transform its shape.

http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb12/wwtwl/projekte/RadiolariaProject/index.html

Looking Outwards 03: Computational Fabrication

Wanderers computationally grows wearables through a process that emulates natural growth behavior. The shapes start out as a “seed” and adapt to their environment as they grow.

The process imitated biological growth by transforming a geometric input into an intermediate representation, then deforming the initial geometric representation. The deformed initial representation reacts to the deformation of the object. This process is done iteratively, so as it repeats, the deformations aggregate into visible growth of the object.

I admire this project because it take biomimicry to the next level; rather than emulating specific end product qualities found in nature, this project literally grows and adapts the same ways living organisms do. Most man-made creations lack this quality. This opens up a whole host of new possibilities in design because as humans, many aspects of the future will always be uncertain, so fixed design will always have a flaw. But if you create algorithms that are capable of adapting to future changes, then design will be much for capable and efficient. Many of the things we design (buildings, energy systems, etc) are meant to exist for long periods of time and will need to be able to adapt to uncertain changes (eg effects of climate change).

Looking Outwards 3: Computational Fabrication

One computational fabrication project that I found particularly intriguing is the “Vespers” collection by Neri Oxman’s Mediated Matter Group at MIT. The collection contains three series, each with five 3D-printed and multi-material masks: the Past, Present, and Future.

I find the Future series to be most interesting as it explores death and rebirth by combining living and non-living materials in the masks. This was accomplished by integrating computational design with 3D printing and synthetic biology to direct the growth and expression of the microorganisms inside the mask. The algorithm and tools are customized so that the microorganisms reproduce the colors of the Past series and feature patterns based on the spatial logic in the Present series, maintaining cohesiveness throughout the entire collection and expressing the idea of “rebirth”. I’m impressed by “Vespers” because it’s not only incredibly innovative, but it’s also functional and relevant. The algorithms behind this can be used for so many other applications. For instance, it could be used to create smart packaging that reacts to its environment. This mask collection goes beyond traditional mediums of art; it thoroughly explores the intersection of computation, design, and biology.

A display of how the collection transforms between the three series
(Credit: Yoram Reshef)

A close-up view of Mask 1 in the Present Series
(Credit: Yoram Reshef)

LO: Computational Fabrication

Silk Pavilion

By Mediated Matter Group at MIT Media Lab

I learned about Mediated Matter through a Netflix documentary series called Abstract. Since then, their work at the MIT Media Lab has become my inspiration. I admire this Silk Pavilion project because of the creator’s interplay between design, biology, and computer technology. The creators were inspired by the silk worms’ inherent ability to generate synthetic structures, which they hope to utilize as a building block to bridge the natural world and the built world. The team began by studying the spinning pattern of silkworms and then used it to design larger structures with the support of CNC and CAD. Later, they deployed and guided the silkworms to complete the structure that they designed. The algorithm that generated the work studied individual silkworms and represented their biological pattern through computation. We always talk about biomimicry in design classes, but I never thought about how one can introduce the living subject of mimicry into the manufacturing process, which I find fascinating. Finally, the creators achieved their artistic vision by combining new research methods, cutting-edge technology, and biological knowledge to imagine a future where things, people, and the environment can live in harmony.

The image depicts how the silk structure is fabricated.

Sources:

Website

Video