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DIGITAL DESIGN + FABRICATION SM1, 2016

Teddy Cham, Frankie Cho, Anna Tsataliou660341, 804015, 756583Tim Cameron / Group 1

SCALES

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Contents:

1.0 Ideation 1.1 Object Analysis/Recreation

2.0 Design (Teddy/Frankie/Anna)2.1 Design Proposal + Prototyping2.2 Design Proposal v2 + Digitalizing2.3 Design Proposal v3

3.0 Fabrication (Teddy/Frankie/Anna) 3.1 Fabrication of Prototype v33.2 Prototype Explorations3.3 Digital Fabrication3.4 Fabrication of 2nd Skin3.5 2nd Skin Analysis3.6 Fabrication of 3rd Skin3.7 Final digital model3.8 Final Model

4.0 Reflection4.1 Reflection

5.0 Appendix:

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1.0 IDEATION

The chosen object; a hyperbolic paraboloid is a physical representation of the mathematic definition of an infinite surface in three dimensions with hyperbolic and parabolic cross sections. Its generic form is that of a double curvature surface, the most iconic being the classic pringle chip. The physical object is a paper folded representation of such and uses back and forward folds in order to create the double curvature surface that a 2 dimensional surface lacks.

Ideation starts with the measuring of the object. As mentioned by Enric Miralles and Carme Pinos, the object has to be treated in a mathematical sense and stripped of its qualities in the real word. As such the wow factor of the double curvature form must be nullified and we must analytically identify it. Because the object is created by series of paper folds it can be flattened down to find the net which allows for precise and accurate 2 dimensional measurements in order to recreate it.

The paraboloid is recreated digitally based on the values of the measurements. Robert Summer’s text on spatial invasion is used as a starting point to create sketch ideas based on the object. The text gave insight that personal space and privacy, although unconcious and unaware to most must be staged deliberatly in order to achieve its effect and because of this my designs are based on dome like forms that act as a protective shield around the user.

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The hyperbolic paraboloid is flattened down in order to find its net. The basic measurements are taken this way in order to be as precise as possible when recreating the object. The lengths of the paraboloid are measured unflattened as the result of double curvature form creates a different height and length when folded.

The object is then digitally recreated in Rhino. A simple loft surface is created where a net of the paraboloid is drawn and projected on it. The projected net along the planes of the paraboloid surface are then manually adjusted to create inward and outward folding. Finally, the lines are filled with different plane surfaces to complete the shape.

1.1 Object Analysis/Recreation

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2.0 DESIGN

Design takes what is brainstormed in Ideation and drives the learning concepts further. With the chosen object, the material system is that of paneling and folding. As such, materials taken into consideration must be 2 dimentional and foldable, an example being the origami folds.

The reading “Surfaces that can be built from paper” is especially helpful as it gave insight on formulating nets that can be used to create a volumetric surface of varying geometry. These are helpful in abstracting down ideas in order to generate them digitally.

To gain insight on abstract and its differences to reduction in order to generate digital concepts, a reading by Fabian Scheurer and Hanno Stehling is studied. The authors state that an abstracted model by definition is always an abstraction of reality and tries to contain as little information as possible to describe the object unambigiously. Its differences to reduction is that a reduction is only a decreased size of the original and although smaller, does not mean the model is abstracted to show as little information as possible in order to present its geometrical values.

This module looks into generation designs based on the material system of the reconfigured object and to present them as abstract as possible in order to maximise input and advise soley based in the design dicipline, ignoring every other contextual insight for now in order to perfect an outcome.

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The first prototype ultilises the folding systems to create a shield around the head for personal space, with folded curtains draping down for a blanket aesthetic and effect. The reading on abstraction is taken into consideration when creating the digital model in order to show as little as possible, but enough to convey the form and geometry of the prototype.

The prototype uses a leaver system for the neck attachment so that the hood is attached to the chair. The system ultilises once again the folding mechanics in order to move up and down, allowing for adjustment of the user. Although it manipulates the material system well, it felt too disconnected with the overall design and stuck out like an anomaly.

2.1 Design Proposal + Prototyping

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The density and intensity of the folds in the head peice is explored. As analysed in the reconfigured object, the folds allow it to span a double curvature surface. Prec-edential research on the Veasable by Gaia also shows such properties as illustrated. The abstractness of the forms and explorations are shown above in order to convey what we are trying to achieve and in the end the form with the most intensity of folds are chosen in order to generate a more curvature structure suitable for our design.

Panelling tool is used to create the spikes on top of the geometry. These spikes are created to fold up when the surface folds and as such have origin points referencing the geometry above. An abstract form of the spike headpiece is created to convey the form of the prototype.

2.2 Design Proposal V2 / Digitalization

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The neck attatchment peice and the head piece are attached and put into context with a hu-man model and a chair to slowly bring the design back into reality and give it a sense of scale and function. Although abstract, the digital render provides a general understanding of the prototype and the direction we are heading towards and allows us to further develope and fabricate the design.

2.3 Design Proposal V2

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3.0 FABRICATION

As prototypes are getting generated and improved upon, the process of fabrication must be explored and tested in order to work around errors in fabrication. The material system of paneling and folding meant that it is appropriate to use the card cutting machine which will go through rigorous testing in order to optimise for our design.

Scott Marble states that the most challenging aspects of development of intelligent machines is the transference of our human knowledge to computers in his “Imagining Risk” chapter in the book Building The Future. This is especially true during fabrication process for the card cutter. Heavy optimisation of our designed had to be done in order to work around the limitations of the card cutter.

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Another prototype explored was the creation of a scarf like structure ultilising the folding systems. Using folds an intricate and delicate piece can be created that can warp around the body like a scarf due to the inward and outward folding system. Additional spiked folds can be attached to the base creaves.

As illustrated, the extremely dense folding system with no framing structure allows heavy manipulation of the material. In the physical prototype, ivory paper of 200 gsm is used to recreate this. The paper structure gracefully wraps around the human body. A downside to the process of this prototype was chosing not to use a card cutter to cut the fold lines and as such the entire prototype took us nearly 2 days to make, something a card cutter could do in the maximum of 30 minutes.

This prototype was scraped because it had conflicts with our original intention of personal space and the concept of a hoodie to shield the user from privacy.

3.1 Fabrication of prototype v3

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The self engineered folding system allows for curvature structures. This prototype is a basic replica of the Veasible by Gia to understand how that form is achieved. Through this prototype the rigidity of the structure is tested and the folds get compressed at the ends in order to create an enclosing structure, suitable for our proposed design.

Color is integral in the manipulation of emotions for designing. This prototype uses black to create a calm and mysterious effect. The shadows created by the panel and fold system is masked by the color of the material giving it a sense of mystery and also alienation. This approach can be implemented in our final design in the aims to creating personal space and privacy.

The colour black is proven to attract less attention and blends easily in its surrounding hence it is ideal for a sleeping pod as it increases the privacy of the user.

Due to the nature of panel and fold system the generic use of paper/cardboard is prefered. Other initially suitable materials such as polypropylene sheets demonstrate snapping properties when etched with folding lines.

A prototype is created with 500gsm card-board and results show extreme rigidity and lacks in folding. We observed that 400gsm card fold with ease but is not very flexible and does not maintain its shape while 250gsm paper is not strong enough to support itself and could tear form com-plex folding

The card chosen easily maintains the shape given to it.

3.2 Prototype Explorations

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A problem with the card cutter was the constant ripping and tearing of the paper. Unlike the laser cutter, the card cutter uses a blade that runs one direction at a time. This creates ripping in sharp and sudden angles due to the turn of the blade.

The problem was still occuring when the size of the preforations were decreated, and even continued when the acute angles were increased to make the turns of the blade less sudden.

The solution to this problem was to optimise the design. In order to account for the sharp turns of the blade of the card cutter fillet commands were used at the corners with acute angles as they had the most suddent turn. This resulted in the blade around around the corner producing no rip and tear.

The optimisation of the card cutter meant a few changes in our design, and as stated in this weeks reading the machines are not intelligent enough nor do they have the contextual background knowledge we do to work around this error.

3.3 Digital Fabrication

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Many different variations of spike structures are cut. Each variation pays respect to the changing sizes of the preforations and each glueing surface is identify to the respective surface to create a seamless and integrated design whilst the variety of spikes breaks the form from looking too uni-form.

The folded base surfaces are lined up in as-sembly and inspected. It was decided that the spikes would be attached to each surface be-fore all the surfaces are glued in order to make sure the spikes work correctly.

Over 60 variations of spikes are created, each within a family that alligns to the column of the base surface. The spikes are carefully glued onto the base surface. The folding nature of the base surface meant the spikes must be stuck properly and clips are used to hold them in place while the glue dries.

3.4 Fabrication sequence of 2nd Skin

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The base surfaces which have all their spikes attachmed and glued to one another with the aid of glue tabs. The un-planar nature of the folding base surfaces made attachment challenging as each tab is angled differently. The spikes, which point slightly upwards created rigid resistance towards the intended folding outcome, making the prototype extremely stiff and unable to fold.

The previous prototype has ensured the criteria of success for the next iteration. Many things were learnt from the creation of that prototype and would be invaluable in perfecting our out-come.

A list of criteria and changes coming into the next iteration was decided:

- The height to width ratio of the diamonds should be decreased to create taller diamonds result-ing in a more curved surface

- The spikes can not point at any directions but parallel to the width of the diamonds. This is to ensure that they dont get in the way and prevent the base surface from folding into the intended form.

- Due to these changes, the entire form can be folded flat into one plane. This has been tested as shown to the right.

- The number of base surfaces need to decrease. The initial prototype was way too large.

- The base surfaces should be attached together first before the spikes are glued on to make sure the intended form is achieved.

3.5 2nd Skin analysis

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The golden paper was used inside the spikes to add a subtle yet significant contrast with the black and break up the monotony the base created. As for the weight of the gold paper (120gsm) it was chosen deliberately so it does not add significant weight on the sleeping pod itself.

Once the base surfaces are attached and the final form is confirmed, the spikes are once again created in assembly. Like the previous prototype, the surfaces attaching the spikes to the surfaces are all crafted identicle in order to create a seamless flow in the outcome.

Due to our rigorous testing for the previous prototype, optimisation for the card cutter is already done. Therefore it was much faster when moving onto the next and final design outcome as the machine has been tested.

3.6 Fabrication of 3rd Skin

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3.7 Final Digital Model

3.8 Final Model

4.0 REFLECTION

During this subject I have learnt about computing design and how digital fabrication is absolutley vital in the design dicipline in todays society. Not only does it speed up fabrication process significantly, the precision of using machines to manufacture makes the outcome significantly better. I have learnt with the use of paneling tools in rhino a new method of modeling that allows close manipulation to every control point of the geometry, and this can be even integrated into grasshopper algorithims to create extremely complex designs quickly that would otherwise take a long time.

The subject was really enjoyable, and although I struggled at the start putting effort into understanding digital fabrication processes and having rigour in prototype exploration gave me and my group confidence in our design at the end. Even though we failed with what we thought was a final prototype, because of our familiarity with digital processing and using the card cutter efficiently we managed to efficiently start from scratch and create our final design in a short period of time. Although this hiccup caused alot of problems and stress, it also showed how effect digital fabrication is and that knowledge using it is crucial in architecture design. As stated in “Imagining Risk” by Scott Marble, architects have become distant with the real world of building. The abstract forms of representations allows quick CNC output for our prototypes that let us derive problems caused. An example is when our card cutted pattern would not fold as much as expected due to the stiffness and thickness of the paper, something our computer generated models have no way of showing as they are abstract and indicative.

A challenge we had in our design was originality. The material system of paneling and folding has become widely explored worldwide and we struggled to think outside the box with the designs of such system as it became extremely complicated; tunnel visioning onto classical origami patterns that showed no originalty. The idea of the spikes and the holes for vision took rigorous trial and error to create and to even fit properly into the design. The system was limiting our thinking as we did not break the generic rules of the folding system, instead wanting the product to entirely support itself with the paneling and folds.

The design could be improved upon if we had more time to use the card cutter for the golden interrior for our spikes. Due to time constraints, we golden interrior paper was cut by hand and rough measurements. This resulted in edges that stuck out and holes that dont line up. In my opinion this completley devastated our product as the base parts cut by the card cutter was extremely crisp and clean. The jarring contrast of the roughly cut golden interrior is extremely noticeable and I feel like the design would be improved upon if we had more time to implement digital fabrication for the entire product.

The product has taken a few risks in the direction that its headed and it was for the better. After the production of the 2nd skin which turned out way too big and did not fold as ex-pected we had the dilema of restarting the project or trimming the 2nd skin down. We took the gamble and the risk on creating a brand new skin as we are confident in the ability of the card cutter to mass produce card cuts for our newer design. If it was not for digital fabrication, the process would have taken weeks and this shows how vital it is to design. As stated by Scott Marble, we want to avoid risks at all cost and aim for performance. To compliment this process of thinking, we used spare card to test cutting patterns in the card cut-ter in order to determine proformance issues and to optimise it, as shown by our alteration of filleted edges.

Overall this subject has been extremely enjoyable and I have learnt about the importance of digital design and how effective it actually is. It allowed us to restart our deisng which we felt was flawed in a matter of days and still produce a desireable outcome. My groupmates have been a pleasure to work with; without them I felt like I would have struggled in this subject and I am greatful for the opportunity to work with them. I’m also thankful for the valuable input my tutor has given us during the semester; his willingness to help out in his spare time has given us proper direction for our design as we kept going into rabbit holes (an example being the scarf prototype).

4.1 Reflection

5.0 APPENDIX

B, Kolarevic. Architecture in the Digital Age - Design and Manufacturing. Spon Press, London, c2003

E.Miralles, C. Pinos, “How to lay out a croissant” El Croquis 49/50 Enric Miralles, Carme Pinos 1988/1991, En Construccion pp. 240-241

F. Scheurer, H. Stehling, Lost in Parameter Space, IAD: Architectural Design, Wiley, 81 _4_, July, pp. 70-79

H.Pottmann,A.Asperl,M.Hofer, A.Kilian (eds), Surfaces that can be built from paper / Architectural Geometry, p534-561, Bentley Institute Press, 2007

P.Bernstein, P. Deamer, Building the Future: Recasting Labor in Architecture. Princeton Architectural Press. c2008. pp 38-42 Sommer, R. (1969). Personal space : the behavioral basis of design. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1969.

Bibliography