Connectedness permeates design and architectural design in particular. The built environment not only provides space for human connection but also incorporates diverse systems that must all work together to create spaces that are attractive, comfortable, functional and sustainable.
Whether between persons or systems, connections fascinate me and provide focus to my approach to architectural design. Facilitating interpersonal connections in the built environment, whether through creative approaches to circulation and meeting spaces or via connections to the outdoors, these connections depend on myriad other systems for success. At a functional level, building systems are increasingly connected through building management systems incorporating IOT devices.
Connectedness is found at all scales in the built environment, including the urban scale and the humble architectural detail. This portfolio highlights how I have explored connectedness at many scales leading to my current pursuit of new career opportunities.
Artist: Brian McCutcheon & Jamal Jones
Installed: Aug/Oct 2024
Technologies
• Rhino / Grasshopper
• RhinoCAM Nest
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Fiber Laser
Tracking part connections was a critical part of making this project a reality. Made up of over 100 panels mounted in three separate assemblies, we installed “65/70 Riff”, by Brian McCutcheon and Jamaal Jones, in downtown Indianapolis in 2024.
For this project Brian provided arrangements of basic shapes for the panel assemblies, and I was tasked with developing a system for hanging the assemblies and attaching the panels at various depths. Interstate highway signage structures were the reference material for the superstructure and the panel assembly framing.
My Role
• Project management
• Panel frame design & shop drawings
• Panel layering & mounting system design
• Artwork coordination & sign graphics creation
• Cut geometry generation, including all fastener hole locations
• Lighting and electrical design
• In-shop assembly of first frame and panel set
• Assembly guide creation for remaining panel assemblies
• Lighting and electrical implementaion on site during install
complex interdependencies was a core part of developing this art installation at Adobe headquarters in San Jose designed by studio Hou De Sousa. Ignition Arts developed, fabricated and installed this triptych of unique benches titled “Creativity Blooms” in 2023. To do so the artist provided us with lines, massing volumes, and surfaces with no thickness. The reference linework (see image below, top left) together with the massing volumes provided the logic of the design but did not resolve plate intersections or incorporate fabrication-related constraints.
In addition to estimating the costs of this project from materials through installation (>$500K), my role included developing parametric models that incorporated all of the relevant fabrication constraints and requirements for production. Using the linework as a starting point I developed a Grasshopper pipeline that adjusted for material thickness, generated notched plate intersections and tabbed connections, assigned part labels, and flattened the geometry for nesting while allowing for in-place comparison of fabrication geometry to design geometry (below, bottom left).
The fabrication models I developed were used to produce prototype assemblies that in turn informed the parameters of the fabrication models. This allowed us to confidently laser cut all of the plates for each artwork (450+ for the red bench alone).
My Role
• Project cost estimation
• Project management
• Translation of artist design model to parametric fabrication model, including
• Resolving plate intersections, notching, & tabs
• Generating labeling & cut geometry
• Shop drawing development
• Crating & packing design for transport
Photo credit (left): Nancy Hou and Josh De Sousa
Artist: Nic DeBruyne
Installed: Jan 2024
Technologies
• Rhino / Grasshopper
• RhinoCAM
• CNC Router
• Fiber & Tube Lasers
Prototyping is a critical element for any bespoke assembly. For this project entitled “Singing Mountain” designed by Nic Debruyne, I was tasked with developing a mechanism that would allow a wind chime to be actuated by a striker arm with linked wind catcher fins. Through a a hybrid digital and physical iterative process I designed a custom bearing housing and hub for the arms of the assembly.
In order to find a suitable starting point for physical testing I developed a parametric model that incorporated material and mechanical properties (densities, centers of gravity, moment) to inform material selection and member sizing for a physical prototype. The prototype then further informed the model and led to the final mechanical assembly pictured below.
My Role
• Project cost estimation
• Project management
• Translation of artist design model to parametric fabrication model
• Shop drawing development & cut geometry generation
• Mechanical prototyping for wind chimes
• Materials procurement
• Coordination of subcontracted fabrication (tubes & rolled channel)
• Installation supervision
Artist: Brian McCutcheon
Sep 2023
Data and electrical connections were central to the design and implementation of this project, “Signals” by Brian McCutcheon with Michael Drews. Every one of the 35 crosswalk signal boxes required both data and power connections for this interactive artwork to function properly. Each box was individually addressable, allowing for each one to light up in a different color determined by the effect generated when a standard crosswalk button on the pole was pressed.
In addition to the physical connections that make up the wiring, this project incorporated a real-time effects generation platform called TouchDesigner. This software allows designers to build custom pipelines of effects fed by data sources of any variety in order to produce visual and audio effects. I developed the pipeline shown right to generate unique combinations of light and pre-recorded vocal sound effects every time the button was pressed.
This project also required the design and implementation of a control system that would be deployed outdoors. I designed this system, selected a controller and industrial automation components, and assembled all the components in weatherproof enclosures that were mounted to the pole.
My Role
• Project management
• Design development & shop drawing creation
• Lighting control system & electrical design
• Lighting effects design & control software development
• Control system assembly & implementation
Artist: Rachael McCampbell
Installed: Sep 2022
Technologies
• Teknic Motion Controller
• Brushless DC Motors
• Light Curtains
• Safety Relays
Interconnected industrial controls
and sensors create an environment for this kinetic artwork to operate autonomously and safely in a public space. This artwork by Rachael McCampbell consists of two sets of five rotating panels installed in the lobby of a new hospital facility in Nashville, TN. Driven by brushless DC motors and motion controllers with custom sequencing software, the panels in each set perform graceful dance-like sequences periodically and then come to rest to reveal one of two paintings that spans all five panels.
To develop the kinetic elements of this installation I created a simulation of the panel motion (shown right) that allowed sequences to be designed and visualized for the client while also generating the data that the motion control software would require for subsequent playback. We also created a physical mockup of the lobby alcoves that would house the artwork and built and tested the mechanical and electrical systems for the final installation.
My Role
• Project management
• Design development & shop drawing creation
• Mechanical, electrical and control system design & implementation
Community connections are core to any urban fabric. While living in Muncie, Indiana after grad school I had the privilege of sitting on the board of the Urban Light Community Development Corporation. This experience gave me a great appreciation for the work involved in developing healthy neighborhoods, especially in post-industrial towns otherwise seeing little to no new growth or investment.
I had the opportunity to express my appreciation for the connections that make for strong urban fabric through a piece of public art near my place of residence. This was made possible by the Muncie Arts and Culture Council (MACC) Box! Box! project that provides local artists with the chance to paint the city’s traffic signal control boxes located at intersections around town.
The piece I proposed was called “Interconnected” and was produced by a custom generative algorithm I developed in Processing. A separate script generated templates for spray painting the different sides of the box, which I laser cut. I spray painted the design over two weekends in the fall of 2021. See my artist statment right.
“Interconnected” references neighborhood connectedness through a computer-generated network of lines and curves that wrap around the signal box continuously. The custom computer code written to create these lines and curves produces different outputs every time it is run, starting from two points, placing tiles one at a time, branching outward and seeking connections to lines and curves in neighboring tiles. The tile system, which has similarities to Truchet tile systems, is made up of 11 distinct tiles (including a classic Truchet tile) with 37 total possible distinct orientations. Despite the network of tiles wrapping all sides of the box, no tiles are left unconnected on any side.
Artist: Myself
Completed: Spring 2018
After a class project I coordinated resulted in a well-received feature wall for the Dean’s office at Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning (pictured right), I was approached about creating covers for the annual reports being prepared for the college’s Executive Advisory Board.
I developed a design that employed a single continuous surface for the entire set of covers. A single motif (based on a Delaunay meshing of another surface) interacted with the primary surface. The result was divided into a grid to produce designs for the required number of covers (see below).
The final annual reports, with covers CNC milled from locally sourced walnut, were presented to the board as a whole, arranged according to the original grid so that the complete design was visible. Each cover was unique and uniquely connected to each adjacent cover in the grid. The enthusiastic reception of the reports was evident in the excitement of the board members as they selected the ones they would take home with them.
KUKA Robot Cell
8. Tool Changer Tool Rack
9. Tool Length Sensor
10. External Axis Positioner
Software: KUKA WorkVisual, KUKA|prc, RhinoCAM, RoboDK, Autodesk Inventor
1. Beckhoff PLC & I/O
2. KUKA KRC4 Controller
3. KUKA KR60-3 Robot Arm
4. Spindle VFD
5. Pneumatic Solenoid Array
6. Schunk Tool Changer
7. Elte Milling Spindle
Community connections are core to any urban fabric. While living in Muncie, Indiana after grad school I had the privilege of sitting on the board of the Urban Light Community Development Corporation. This experience gave me a great appreciation for the work involved in developing healthy neighborhoods, especially in post-industrial towns otherwise seeing little to no new growth or investment.
I had the opportunity to express my appreciation for the connections that make for strong urban fabric through a piece of public art near my place of residence. This was made possible by the Muncie Arts and Culture Council (MACC) Box! Box! project that provides local artists with the chance to paint the city’s traffic signal control boxes located at intersections around town.
The piece I proposed was called “Interconnected” and was produced by a custom generative algorithm I developed in Processing. A separate script generated templates for spray painting the different sides of the box, which I laser cut. I spray painted the design over two weekends in the fall of 2021. See my artist statment right.
Authors: Myself & Stephen Putt
Published: Oct 2016
Technologies
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Rhino / Grasshopper
Raspberry Pi
Python
3D Printing
Our connection to computers is currently evolviing in ways only science fiction could predict, making human-computer interaction a field of critical importance for the future of our world. How might this connection relate to physical form?
Conducted prior to the current explosion of AI technologies, the Formeta:3D project presented a methodology and a toolchain for implementing real-time interaction with additive physical form via digital inputs. The research brought a digital fabrication tool previously only used in non-realtime applications into the world of real-time output tools and drawing machines. This toolchain, which was built in Grasshopper with the Firefly and Kangaroo plugins, created a pipeline from webcam to printer that included custom G-code generation and a hijacked subset of the open source Cura code base (see diagram below).
The geometry for printing was generated by a simulation of forces acting on toolpaths to de-
form them recursively in relation to an attractor point, the location of which was determined by the motion captured by the webcam (see diagram left). The humans that interacted with the machine completed the feedback loop, processing the output of the machine and providing new input to the system in response.
Formeta:3D engaged both autonomous form generation and human interaction, producing lasting artifacts that recorded human interaction additively. Its products were akin to pictorial histories, allowing for varied interpretations, conveyed from observer to observer, one of which was the machine itself. In this the project embodied the posthuman, a machine recording human history autonomously while being itself involved in that history.
I presented this research at the ACADIA conference in 2016 and it was published in the associated proceedings.
Acanal-side art gallery sits lightly in a forest clearing beside a winding path, projecting its long cantilevers in different directions, with selected views focused on nearby points of interest.
This conceptual design for an art gallery and artist residence is sited along the White River Canal in Indianapolis on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (now called Newfields). With design influences including the VitraHaus by Herzog & de Meuron, this structure is designed to balance the need for spaces that highlight art with the need for accommodations and event spaces that provide a connection to the surroundings.
To function as an art gallery long halls with apertures only at the end and above provide plenty of gallery wall space for art to be hung or installed. The halls are angled in different directions away from the central core, some sloping gently up or down, pointing across the canal or into the forest. With points of interest including the historic Lilly House and the Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion by Marlon Blackwell, the halls of the canal-side art gallery maintain a visual connection to the history and present use of the grounds.
Note: Rendering top left generated using Midjourney AI and other AI processes based on photos of my own physical architectural models and renderings manually created in Revit and Photoshop. See images next spread.
Developed as part of a comprehensive studio this project included conceptual modeling phases with physical sketch models and 3D models in Rhino and the creation of schematic design drawings using Revit. I created the bass wood models by hand and the others using a combination of laser cutting, 3D printing and hand assembly. I created presentation graphics based on Revit geometry using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Note: Pattern above was produced by custom generative Java code in Processing and used for a community art project. See pages 14-15.
