Module 1: Ideation Luke Dempsey Week 3
638407 ENVS10008 26/3/2013
Coral Pattern
Tooling
Patterns In Nature - Coral Interesting patterns can be found everywhere in nature, the following is an analysis of coral. I find that, this species in particular, that coral has strong patterns from which primitive shapes can be easily recognised.
Symmetry Every ‘cell’ on the surface of the coral can be simplified to intersecting circles. Apart from the little grooves on the surface of the ‘cells’ having rotational symmetry, the cells themselves are also symmetrical in how they intersect with each other.
Balance An aesthetically pleasing pattern needs good balance. A basic outline of the ‘cells’ of the coral shows that over the whole area of the pattern, balance is still maintained.
Movement Every ‘cell’ on the surface of the coral can be simplified to intersecting circles. Apart from the little grooves on the surface of the ‘cells’ having rotational symmetry, the cells themselves are also symmetrical in how they intersect with each other.
Readings Patterns In Nature - Coral v
Kandinsky developed a process involving 3 stages to simplify and explore the structural relationships within objects. In his particular Bauhaus classes, these were “discreet, silent, almost insignificant objects” as they had no external expression, the painter then had to find the the “transitional link between [the] still life and the abstract, through the medium of geometry”. (In Kandinsky’s Teaching.., Poling Clark, 1987) Kandinsky investigated and simplified the form of mainly still life arrangements in his teachings, however his methods can be applied to other arrangements of objects such as, in our case, patterns in nature. Kandinsky had three main steps to deconstructing the underlying geometry of arrangements: 1.
To reduce the whole image into one simple form that are individual primitive shapes but also interact with others to make up the whole picture.
2.
To reveal the tensions found in the primitive and simplistic structure, with emphasis in the form of line thickness.
3.
Create an overall structure where all tensions and forces are considered, the resulting image should be a combination of lines describing individual tensions and yet achieve an overall aesthetic balance.
These three steps were considered when creating the recipe for my pattern. By simplifying the overall pattern into basic primitive shapes and lines, the deconstruction of how the pattern was made became much easier. This particular pattern used a combination of only points, lines and circles. Patterns are generally the repetition of shapes that tessell∆te - drawing on tooling, it was found that this particular pattern incorporates the use packing to construct an overall image.
Pattern Recipe - Take a set of points - Draw a circle around one point, where the radius is larger than half the distance, but less than the whole distance, between itself and neighboring points. - Repeat for each point in the set. - Where neighboring circles intersect, draw a line joining the two intersections. - Repeat for all circle intersections.
Rhino 5 Modelling:
2 Rail Sweep 1 Rail Sweep
2 Rail Sweep, Capping & Boolean Union
Pipe, Boolean Union and Subtract
Paper Model Creation The paper models were created by emulating the pattern on the surface of the inspiration, the coral. The extrusion model was constructed by simply copying the cells seen in the top orthogonal view and extrude them up with the same height showing the pseudo-honeycomb cellular structure. Basically it was an exact replica of the pattern with a constant height of extrusion.
Rhino Model of Skeleton of Pattern
The free from base model was constructed using a similar process to the 3D extrusion model except it wasn’t directly copied off of the photograph of the pattern. Instead, the basic structure was reproduced by taking strips of paper and folding them into polygonal shapes depending, like with the recipe, on the shape of the neighboring ‘cells’ so that they seamlessly tessellated. Also, the extrusion heights varied
Paper Model of Skeleton of Pattern
Pattern Formation in Nature The formation process behind the coral pattern chosen is that of scaling and packing. The coral’s process of developing its pattern over time is that of scaling and, eventually, packing as the ‘cells’ get larger. When the ‘cells’ interact with each other, they start to form polygonal shapes the majority of them being, but not restricted to, hexagons and pentagons. This is reflected in the recipe: circles are constructed around a set of points and where they interact, they begin to pack. In the emerging form, the scaling transformation can be simulated by the rule that the larger the ‘cell’, the higher the extrusion is. This creates a natural looking irregularity within the pattern which is the aim of this model.
Architects very commonly draw on nature’s patterns as inspiration for their works. One very good example of this is the buildings of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, in particular, the Aquatic Centre as it was inspired by a natural pattern very similar to my chosen pattern, coral. Although it wasn’t directly intended to replicate coral, instead water bubbles, the pattern is very similar to that of coral - my chosen pattern.
Concept Drawings
This is the first model considered. The bulbous shape is similar to that of the shape of the coral that the original pattern is from but is quite bland and boring. The main feature that I like in this sketch is how the top of it spirals around the arm as an interface with the body. 1:5 scale interaction of form with body, not that only describes positioning and general shape, not patterns.
Instead of just one, monotonous scale of pattern, this design adds a little bit of variance and looks more abstract and aesthetically appealing. The lantern has large primary cells making it up with flat faces, and within those primary cells are secondary smaller cells. As the cells get lower down the form of the lantern, the larger they get (scaling) and the secondary cells form due to a packing trend within the primary cells
This sketch is the exact same as the previous, instead it is worn above the arm instead of hanging below. I believe that this would look better, and also better serve the purpose of the lantern - but it would be difficult to keep the lantern upright. Therefore it is unlikely that this design will be chosen as the final design.
Lighting Effects There are two different categories of lighting effects that I wish to achieve with this model. The inner pattern of light that can be found on the ‘skin’ of the lantern, and the outer pattern of light that is casted by the lantern into the surrounding environment ie. shadows. Inner Glow: As the pattern on the skin of the lantern is similar to that on the skin of the Beijing Aquatic Centre, the pattern of light on that skin will be similar, at least that is the aim. The compartments each have their own slightly varied intensity of glow dependant on the size of the cell and also the walls of the each compartment. When lit, the cell divisions will become more obvious as the light will not pass through the dividing walls. But all of these slightly different cells compliment each other as an assemblage (a collection of related ideas into one compostition). This uniform glow would be complimented by a warm colour tempurature of the LED lights, so cellophane would be wrapped around the diodes to create a warm soothing glow.
Beijing Aquatic Centre
Outer Shadow: The outer shadow should project interesting patterns on the surrounding environment. The pattern projected by a disco ball is quite an interesting one, and that would be nice to replicate. In order to mimick that, inside of the cells are hollowed to allow light to pass through unmodified in an irregular pattern of little specks. The planned effect would be similar to that of a disco ball and/or the bokeh effect found in photography.
The combination of lighting effects both inside and outside of the lamp creates quite a moody environment.
Secondary Cell Structure with windows for light pattern
Projected light to mimic bokeh effect in photography
Light Pattern from a Disco Ball