Virtual Environments: Fragility

Scott Rowe

Student No: 640473 Semester (2/2013) Group 12

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Appendix

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2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

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1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

Ideation Measurement Organisation and arrangement Digital design Reconfiguration Conclusion / Outcome

3 4 5 6 7

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5

Design Personal space Material systems / Precedents Panel and Fold / Perfect Fragility Digitalisation #1 Prototyping

8 9 10 11 12

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.4

Fabrication Fabrication Agenda Panel Refinement FabLab Digitalisation #2 Prototype Fabrication

13 14 15 16 17, 18

4.1 4.2

Reflection Critical Analysis integrating reflection Final Design Outcome

19, 20 21

Bibliography + Credits

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1.0

Ideation 1.1

Measurement

“Students will formulate design ideas through a series of empirical research; exploring material systems through careful observation and measurement of an existing object�

Presented to me at the beginning of Virtual Environments was the material system inflatable. To explore this material system I carefully analysed a soccer ball. After dissecting the soccer ball I discovered that it comprised of 20 hexagon and 12 pentagon panels with matching edges of 35mm.

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Ideation 1.2

Organisation and arrangement

After careful analysis the layout shown includes 9 hexagons and 6 pentagons arranged on alternating sides around the centre hexagon. This arrangement completes a semi-sphere.

It is this analysis, similar to that of Gaussian’s analysis of a surface's developability, that lead me to Euler’s Formula which can be used to calculate the possibility of a developable polyhedron (3D object).

Vertices – Edges + Faces = 2 The possibility of the soccer ball, and other shapes, can be validated using this formula on the panels used to make it up. As hexagons (6 edges, 6 vertices) and pentagons (5 edges, 5 vertices) make up the 3D object Euler’s formula demonstrates mathematically how this is feasible.

V–E+F=2 (5 + 6) – (5 +6) + 2 = 2 11 – 11 + 2 = 2 0+2=2 2=2

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Ideation 1.3

Digitalisation #1

Recreating the soccer ball in Rhinoceros 5 proved a difficult task. As PanellingTools uses a square grid, a hexagonal and pentagonal pattern couldn’t be applied to a sphere.

Rather the arrangement of hexagons and pentagons shown beforehand was digitalized using the commands polygon and ‘PlanarSrf’ with the tool End Osnap on. The command ‘Rotate3D’ was then used to rotate each panel 42 degrees above the centre hexagon as to complete the soccer ball.

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Ideation 1.4

Reconfiguration

Through the process of dismantling and reconstructing one can acquire a deeper understanding of the components, material properties and fabrication processes involved in the construction of an object.

Without reconfiguring the soccer ball I wouldn’t have known how the panels were connected, what the bladder was made of, what parts of the object where structural essential etc.

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Ideation 1.5

Conclusion / Outcome

Japanese Scissors – Adrian Heath, 2000

NURBS surface – Cheng, 2002

Through exploring material systems through careful observation and measurement of existing objects it is clear that precedents are an essential source for knowledge and inspiration for designers. The reading ‘300 years of Industrlal’ design demonstrates the importance of careful analysis and measurement of precedents.

As there are an abundance of design precedents, so to are an abundance of ways to measure them. Readings like ‘How to layout a croissant’ show how measuring is a skill that designers acquire over years of exploring different objects and different techniques to measure them,

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How to layout a croissont – Miralles, 1994

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“ During this module, students will focus on the effects that the second skin will produce and explore ideas of personal spaces.�

Design 2.1

Personal Space

The red areas indicate our groups agreed upon definition of personal space.

The area around the head protects one from being patted on the head and feeling inferior.

That around the chest area protects one from invasion at the front, as regular commuters on public transport we felt that we are comfortable with people standing close behind us.

Personal space around the left hand is emphasized, as everyone in our group is right handed and as such our left hands are less co-ordinated and more vulnerable .

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2.0

Design 2.2

Precedents / Material Systems

Rolling Bridge – Heatherwick, 2004

Oragami Geomorfos – Pasadas, 2010

The precedents and their corresponding materials systems displayed from left to right are Thomas Hetherwick’s ‘Rolling Bridge’ (skin and bone), Mauricio Velasquez Pasadas’ ‘Oragami Geomorfos’(panel and fold) and Niels Volkner’s ‘Eighty Eight’ (inflatable).

The ‘Rolling Bridge’ changes form from fluid to rigid which we thought we could incorporate in our design by giving our second skin the impression that ‘it is something that it is not’. Based on the human body the ‘Origami Geomorfos’ precedent was quite applicable to our second skin. It demonstrated the material system ‘panel and fold’s’ ability to give the appearance of frailness and eloquence. Lastly the ‘Eighty Eight’ exhibition comprising of 88 garbage bags used inflation as a means to create an active ‘breathing wall’. We thought that the movement that inflation creates could be used to create a controlled personal space.

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Eighty Eight – Volker, 2012

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Design 2.3

Panels / Perfect Fragility

After careful consideration we decided that our second skin design would protect our personal space through the idea of FRAGILITY. Similar to that of Mauricio Pasadas’ design or a wedding dress, we felt that if we could create a second skin that was so perfectly fragile, nobody would want to invade your personal space for fear of damaging your second skin.

To achieve the affect of fragility we believed that the panel and fold was the most suitable material system. Through creating a multitude of thin, hollowed up paper panels, the second skin would appear, but necessarily be, fragile.

Oragami Geomorfos – Pasadas, 2010

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2.0

Design 2.4

Digitalisation #2

To visualise whether or not paper panels would appear fragile we digitally designed a prototype using Rhinoceros 5. The pipes were created at 3 different length and placed upon to 123D catch model using the gumball tool with the commands curve, circle, sweep1, copy and paste.

This process of digitalisation helped us to understand our design and how to fabricate it.

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2.0

Design 2.5

Prototyping

Following the digitalisation we created prototypes to illustrate our fragile second skin idea. Shown above is the fabrication process for an ankle prototype which involved; 1. Cutting out a paper base following the contours of the ankle.

2. Rolling truncated paper pipes at varying lengths.

3. Using a hot glue gun to stick paper pipes the paper base in certain areas as to not interfere with the opposite ankle.

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3.0

Fabrication 3.1

Panel Refinement

From our original prototypes (section 2.3) we refined our panel design into the 3 tri-based panels demonstrated on the right. With frailness and fragility as our theme we experimented with the ideas of lace-like curves, hollowness and shattered glass.

The effect behind the shattered glass panel, pictured centre, was the use defragmentation to make the wearer appear intricate and complex. Inevitable the design was scrapped as we were keen to avoid any design that was too literal, in addition we felt that sharp edges had a more menacing then fragile appearance.

The decision to go with the curved panel, was finalized after we had digital designed and printed it using Rhinoceros 5 and FabLab. We found that digitalising the panel, produced a clean prototype, which we could physically hold, accurately portrayed our ambition of soft, hollow, fragile panel. After much debate we decided an extroverted panel (top) worked better than an introverted (bottom) because it felt less ‘trapping’

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“The group will continue to develop their design in this module with the aim to refine the design through further iteration of prototypes. Students will use the software to unroll their model into a cutting template. The design will need to be tailored to the body and the effects that the design produces must be explicit.”

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Fabrication 3.2

Fablab submission

Fablab proved helpful to our group in various aspects.

Primarily it removed the need to handcraft each panel which would have consumed many many hours of work. In addition FabLab also facilitated varying prototypes of different sizes and shapes, which could be easily altered on a computer. Conversely to this FabLab allowed us to create a multitude of completely identical panels, which was important to achieve ‘perfect fragility’.

“Laser cutters work by directing the output of a high-power laser, controlled by computer, at the material to be cut. The material then either melts, burns or vaporizes away leaving an edge with a high-quality finish” – FabLab Website.

We printed our panels on ‘Ivory Card 290 GSM’ using a laser cutter, dotted cutting lines were chosen instead of etched lines so that the prototype can bend in two directions. We found that using the laser cutter burnt the edges of our panels, which was the major contributing factor to spray painting our design white.

It’s interesting to note how restrictions and problems such as that influenced our design outcome.

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3.0

Fabrication 3.3

Digitalisation #3

Previous to this digitalization PanelingTools was utilized using the commands loft, ptGridArray, ptPanel3DCustomVariable and Point. Unfortunately PanelingTools uses a grid and could not accurately portray the arrangement of panels as shown in the stencil in section 3.4.

Instead the above digitalization shows a painstakingly effort of individually placing each panel on a lofted surface using the Gumball tool.

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3.0

Fabrication 3.4

Prototype Fabrication

Step-by-step the process of our final design fabrication was to…

1. Calculate, draw, trace and cut out a layout pattern of panels to use as a stencil 2. Wrap ‘subject’ in gladwrap then layer in packing tape to form tape sculptured base template.

3. Draw a six sided panel with three height variations in Rhino, send it to FabLab to be printed on white ivory card 290 GSM. Cut out panels and fold along etched lines. Glue end tab to finish.

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3.0

Fabrication 3.4

Prototype Fabrication

4. Use stencil to mark out layout pattern on tape sculptured base. Cut holes where panels are to be inserted. Insert panels and fold the bottom of each panel on the inside of the tape sculpture for stability 5. Continue stencilling and cutting out panel layout and inserting panels until the entire tape sculpture is covered.

6. Spray paint the entire prototype white to increase affect of fragility

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4.0

4.1

Reflection

Critical analysis integrating reflection

‘The brief calls for innovative design of a second skin; a wearable volume or surface that accommodates the body. The second skin will explore, measure, and/or negotiate the boundary of personal space’ Throughout this semester the overarching task was to create a second skin to express personal space, as the weeks progressed, so did our knowledge of precedents, design, digital and fabrication processes. It was through exploring problems, prototyping and following lines of enquiry (lecture 5) which provided us with rich learning opportunities.

Our final second skin design was heavily influenced by the tutorial, lecture and reading content conveyed over the Virtual Environments coursework.

As a first point of reference our group began to define personal space according to our own interpretation as a means to develop parameters for our second skin design. Using the idea that personal space refers to an area with invisible boundaries surrounding a person’s body into which intruders may not come’ (Sommers, 1967) we established our personal space as the area around us we felt least comfortable being intruded by others.

After establishing our second skin theme of ‘perfect fragility’ we began to design a wearable volume using the panel as our material system. After much brainstorming of ideas, exploring precedents, sketching and prototyping, it came to the point where computerization of our design was required to further develop our ideas and follow our line of enquiry.

We found that Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing gave us the ability to narrow the gap between representation and building (Iwamoto, 2009) Through the use of the NURBS based 3D modelling software ‘Rhinoceros 5’ and the online 3D capturing tool ‘123D Catch’ we were able to digital represent our bodies, upload these to Rhino, and digital model our prototypes before fabricated them. This allowed us to refine, adjust and most importantly accurately visualise our design before physically creating the prototype, thus facilitating a more accurate, professional representation of our envisaged design.

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Subsequently, after refining our second skin, especially our panels, to appear as fragile and eloquent as possible, we used the University of Melbourne’s ‘FabLab’ Computer Aided Manufacturing facility to easily produce mass amounts of accurate, calculated white paper panels, which we could easily cut and fold into our base layer.

The FabLab used a laser cutter to cut and etch approximately 80 white paper panels, saving us the time of individual cutting each panel, perfectly to size and form.

Throughout this semester I’ve discovered that advances in technologies facilitate an ease of transition between design and fabrication. As described by Lisa Iwato recent technological advances have led to ‘thinking and doing, design and fabrication, and prototype and final design becoming blurred and interactive’.

Personally I found the lectures throughout the semester to aid me with our design process and documentation, primarily through provoking and inspiring different ways of approach problems. Although I cannot listing everything I learnt from the a few ideas have stuck with me. For instance in Lecture 2 – ‘Material systems precedents’ the idea of transformability being common in nature yet rare in design made me think towards nature as a precedent. Or in lecture 3 – ‘Designing Ideas’ the idea of forms’ ability to change context, ie. fear and FEAR led to explore the different textures, colours and shapes and their affect our second skin design. The lectures also helped with me with design presentation and layout, each week the lectures slides were set out in a simplistic, easy to read manner, tips such as to photograph prototypes like an archaeology finding in Lecture 7 –‘Making’ helped me with the presentation of the journal tasks.

To aid with our design process, we explore precedents relevant to ideas of fragility and illusion. Our primary influence was Mauricio Velasquez Pasadas’ ‘Origami Geomorfos’ which used the body as a basis for design, folding techniques and tessellations were implemented to create an intimidating yet fragile effects. We found this exhibition to be applicable to our design as it centered around the human body. It is this precedent which led us to using paper as our main prototype’s material. Papers’ properties of sturdiness, range of colours, formability and availability inspired us to explore origami and test different styles of paper panels, some with holes, curves, points etc. After extensive testing and analysis we found that the curved panel, as discussed in section 3.1, gave the effect of fragility, illustrated in Pasadas’ dresses. The curves were non-threatening, whilst holes gave the delicate, unstable design that we had intended for.

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4.1

Reflection

Critical analysis integrating reflection

Another precedent which influenced our design was Thomas Heatherwick’s ‘Seed Castle’. This precedent illustrates the ability to create illusion through materiality and form, in terms of ‘Seed Castle’ the illusion is that the solid, unyielding building appears to be light and ‘fluffy’ thanks to the use of thousands of long, thin glass rods.

We discovered during our the fabrication process that restrictions arose which inevitability effected about design outcome. In some cases these restrictions aided decisions other times they led to alternations to the desired design idea. To list a few of the problems we encounter; the laser cutter burnt the edges of our panels, red paint didn’t present well on black panels, the tape sculpture base wasn’t as transparent as we had that it would be, and it also did not close up after the panels were added. All these problems led us to make unintended, yet still beneficial changes, to our design. Some examples of these unintended changes were to used white paper, spray the prototype white, have a more minimalistic base sculpture and not to use red spray paint around ‘vulnerable’ areas such as the heart.

In conclusion, our group believes that our second skin responds to the brief of protecting the user’s personal space through appearing so fragile that no intruders were dare invade it. We also believe that the appearance of fragility was facilitate a sense of purity, lightness, illusion and multiplicity.

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4.0

Reflection 4.2

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Final Design Outcome

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Bibliography + Credits

Heath, A, Heath, D & Jensen, A 2000, 300 years of industrial design : function, form, technique, 1700-2000 Watson-Guptill, New York, Selected Extracts Miralles, E, Pinos, C “How to lay out a croissant” El Croquis, 49/50, pp. 240-241 Sommer, R 1969, ‘ Spatial invasion’ in Sommer, R, Personal space : the behavioral basis of design, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J, pp.

26-38 H.Pottmann,A.Asperl,M.Hofer, A.Kilian (eds) 2007 “Surfaces that can be built from paper” in Architectural Geometry, Bentley Institute Press, pp 534-561 Heatherwick, T (March 2011) Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral [Video file] retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_heatherwick.html Scheurer, F, Stehling, H 2011, “Lost in Parameter Space?” AD: Architectural Design, vol 81 pp. 70-79 Kolarevic, B, 2003 “Digital Production” in Architecture in the Digital Age - Design and Manufacturing , Spon Press, London, pp30-54 Iwamoto, L 2009, Digital fabrications: architectural and material techniques, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, Selected Extracts Rifkin, J 2011 “Distributed Capitalism’ in The third Industrial Revolution Palgrave Macmillan, New York pp107-126 Marble, S 2008 ‘Imagining Risk’ In P Bernstein, P Deamer (eds). Building the Future: Recasting Labor in Architecture/, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, pp 38-42 Melbourne University FabLab , viewed 1 November 2013 <http://edsc.unimelb.edu.au/fab-lab> Thomas Heatherwick Studios, viewed 2 Novermber 2013 < http://www.heatherwick.com/rolling-bridge/> Nils Volker Exhibitions, viewed 2 Novermber 2013, <http://www.nilsvoelker.com/> Oragami Geomorfos Exhibiton, viewed 3 November 2013, <http://www.body-pixel.com/2010/05/02/geomorfos-by-mauricio-velasquezposada-gallery/>

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