SOUND REACTIVE SKIN

M.ARCH 3RD-YEAR RESEARCH STUDIO

/YEAR: 2023

/ INSTRUCTOR: JULIA KOERNER

/ PROJECT TYPE: FACADE RETROFIT

#3Dprinting #grasshopper #computationaldesign #acousticdesign

#noisereduction #climatology #retrofit #digitalfabrication #digitalcatalog

This research aims to design an innovative building envelope system that improves the acoustic environment without compromising the natural ventilation. Inspiration is drawn from two natural system, Cymatics and spider orb webs. Cymatics provides insights into the distribution of vibrations within a medium, which can inform the placement of apertures for optimal noise reduction. On the other hand, the structural and material properties of spider orb webs provides scopes to the vibration damping, which can attenuates structural-borne noises.

To simulate the Cymatic patterns in the air, the script was modified to generate 3D patterns. The outcome is visualized by point clouds.

A chunk of the building is analyzed by its wind speed, which serves as an indicator of ventilation.

The number of layers of the skin varies based on the directions of sounds. The more the layers there are, the more sounds are offset.

3D-printed Prototypes

In order to print the floating spheres without any support, the first series of prototypes were printed by half and adhered on a piece of tulle, which stitches each part together (top left). This technique gives the system flexibility to fit to different kinds of surface.

To leverage the use of FDM printing, the technique is escalated to print the spheres directly on a mesh, which is printed by a flexible material, TPU. The other half of the spheres are printed with brims as a whole piece, which can be easily attached to the other half.

The outcome is a flexible, stretchable gown that can be folded and transported efficiently from the factory to the site.