A central thesis of Human Machine Virtuosity is that human skill wielding a physical tool can be deeply expressive in a way that is complementary to the precision and scalability of digital design tools.  This is a middle path between pure traditional craft and industrial manufacturing, which uses mostly standardized processes. The shared result of this project will constitute a unique design to fabrication toolkit which explores this hypothesis.

Given the current quarantine constraints, we are imagining that collaborations might revolve around a common conceptual direction, perhaps some shared software tools, but individual approaches to physical rendering. This may shift the emphasis from the application of digital fabrication tools to digital design tools that inform a manual fabrication process.

The key objective is the development and documentation of a workflow which incorporates appropriate elements of both digital design and expressive human skill and intuition. The production of sample artifacts is the means to demonstrate the workflow. The success of the projects will be gauged along two trajectories:

1. The system designed: The project creates an enjoyable and robust design experience, encouraging sustained practice and interaction.
2. The work produced: The project results in the making of compelling and novel design artifacts which reflect the hybrid explorations.

• clear identification of the site within the museum, including photographs and annotated drawings
• statement of the concept for the design and fabrication process
• sketches of potential fabricated results
• identification of the installation or mounting considerations
• identification of any special materials
• if feasible, any physical prototype
• if relevant, comment on the potential for a museum reimplementation of the process

The key objective is the development and documentation of a workflow which incorporates appropriate elements of both digital design and expressive human skill and intuition. The production of sample artifacts is the means to demonstrate the workflow. The success of the projects will be gauged along two trajectories:

1. The system designed: The project creates an enjoyable and robust design experience, encouraging sustained practice and interaction.
2. The work produced: The project results in the making of compelling and novel design artifacts which reflect the hybrid explorations.

The museum is quite interested in at least one project continuing to work with the studiolab arch. This iteration could expand the scope of the site, e.g. to not only work with the flat face but also the adjoining wall and intervening ledge.

A secondary objective is directing at least one project toward means and materials which could be further developed by museum staff into an exhibit.

Resources

Running molds. Custom profiles combined with custom sled tracks or mechanisms can produce both straight or curved extruded forms.

Polyurethane molds. Patterning for molds can incorporate a wide variety of materials, digitally fabricated forms, and handwork. If your idea would require the use of multiple molds or extremely large molds, please consult with the instructors.

Plaster molds. Convex plaster forms can be molded using a rigid plaster mold given suitable release agents. This is especially applicable to larger curves used as base forms.

Troweling and tooling. Hand tools for plaster are used to render flat and textured surfaces. The addition of mechanism or custom jigs could add a systematic form to the treatment of surfaces with trowels, combs, and brushes.

Green plaster carving. Plaster in the initial stages of curing can be carved or cut.

Color and inclusions. Plaster can be painted or also tinted using dry-powder pigments. Objects or granular aggregate material can be incorporated directly in wet plaster.

Idiosyncratic forming processes. There are boundless possibilities for casting plaster using ad hoc or single-use molds, or rendering onto armatures or lath forms. E.g., plaster could be cast directly into natural soil impressions.

Composition and accretion. Individual plaster elements can be assembled with other objects and worked material, either into mold patterns or directly into final artifacts.

Digital fabrication. Laser-cutting, 3D printing, CNC milling, algorithmic Grasshopper modeling, and parametric CAD.

dFAB Robot Lab. The workflow could include robotic manipulation of plaster. However, due to the short timeline, we discourage significant development of novel end-of-arm tooling. Please check with the instructors if you have questions about scope or feasibility. Groups working with the robot will need at least one member already certified to use the lab.

dFAB Motion Capture. The lab supports capturing tool trajectories in both batch mode and real-time. In batch mode, the system can generate a CSV file of rigid-body trajectory data for multiple objects, suitable for post-processing in Python or Grasshopper. For this project timeline, we discourage real-time interaction systems. Tool capture involves creating a custom marker fixture for the tool, calibrating the cameras and defining bodies, then developing a protocol for recording short well-defined movements.

For this first project you will work in groups to develop a proof-of-concept design system, then apply it to produce two annular tiles fabricated in plaster. The resulting tiles will be sized to fill a section of the arch in the Museumlab studio lab space.

The key objective is the development and documentation of a workflow which incorporates appropriate elements of both digital design and expressive human skill and intuition. The production of sample tiles is the means to demonstrate the workflow. The success of the projects will be gauged along two trajectories:

1. The system designed: The project creates an enjoyable and robust design experience, encouraging sustained practice and interaction.
2. The work produced: The project results in the making of compelling and novel design artifacts which reflect the hybrid explorations.

Resources

Running molds. Custom profiles combined with custom sled tracks or mechanisms can produce both straight or curved extruded forms.

Polyurethane molds. Patterning for molds can incorporate a wide variety of materials, digitally fabricated forms, and handwork. If your idea would require the use of multiple molds or extremely large molds, please consult with the instructors.

Plaster molds. Convex plaster forms can be molded using a rigid plaster mold given suitable release agents. This is especially applicable to larger curves used as base forms.

Troweling and tooling. Hand tools for plaster are used to render flat and textured surfaces. The addition of mechanism or custom jigs could add a systematic form to the treatment of surfaces with trowels, combs, and brushes.

Green plaster carving. Plaster in the initial stages of curing can be carved or cut.

Color and inclusions. Plaster can be painted or also tinted using dry-powder pigments. Objects or granular aggregate material can be incorporated directly in wet plaster.

Idiosyncratic forming processes. There are boundless possibilities for casting plaster using ad hoc or single-use molds, or rendering onto armatures or lath forms. E.g., plaster could be cast directly into natural soil impressions.

Composition and accretion. Individual plaster elements can be assembled with other objects and worked material, either into mold patterns or directly into final artifacts.

Digital fabrication. Laser-cutting, 3D printing, CNC milling, algorithmic Grasshopper modeling, and parametric CAD.

dFAB Robot Lab. The workflow could include robotic manipulation of plaster. However, due to the short timeline, we discourage significant development of novel end-of-arm tooling. Please check with the instructors if you have questions about scope or feasibility. Groups working with the robot will need at least one member already certified to use the lab.

dFAB Motion Capture. The lab supports capturing tool trajectories in both batch mode and real-time. In batch mode, the system can generate a CSV file of rigid-body trajectory data for multiple objects, suitable for post-processing in Python or Grasshopper. For this project timeline, we discourage real-time interaction systems. Tool capture involves creating a custom marker fixture for the tool, calibrating the cameras and defining bodies, then developing a protocol for recording short well-defined movements.

Deliverables

• a report delivered as a post on the course blog including
  • discussion of the system objectives
  • a description of the design process in use
  • video clip documenting the design process
  • photos documenting the fabrication process
• two physical plaster tiles at scale to fit the site

Schedule

• Wed Feb 5: project release, team formation
• Mon Feb 10: Museumlab site visit
• Mon Feb 17: prototype review
• Mon Feb 24: in-class project presentations

Site Context

The purpose of your system is to produce one or more tiles which fit within an annular segment of the face of the arch in the studio lab. The exact dimensional specifications will be updated after we take measurements during the site visit.

Dimensions

The critical bounding box dimension for the tile is the 13″ maximum radial width. The arch is approximately circular; for short segments a circular edge should be fine. We measured the circular diameter at 283 inches on the inside edge of the face. The length is not critical, the template below assumes an arc length of approximately 18″.