Module 1: Ideation Luke Dempsey Week 2
638407 ENVS10008 19/3/2013
Coral Pattern
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.