TIMBLOCK //5G
Research Cluster 4, 2016-2017 M.Arch Architectural Design
UCL, The Bartlett School of Architecture
RESEARCH CLUSTER 4 Gilles Retsin, Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Soler Senent Vicente
5G: Mingche Wang, Yazhu Liang,Yanhua Yin, Tianyun Zhang, Yufei Zheng
The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL
CONTENTS
01 INTRODUCTION 1.1 research statement
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1.2 joint and reversability
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1.3 project overview
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1.4 comparison research
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02 TILE DESIGN 2.1 tile formation and different scales
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2.2 combination logic
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2.3 computational logic
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2.4 logic of different densities
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2.5 target system
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03 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 3.1 hierarchical system
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3.2 meta-tile development
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3.3 architectural element
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04 DESIGN AUTOMATION 4.1 architectural element: column
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4.2 architectural element: stair
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4.3 computation controlled domino house
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05 FABRICATION RESEARCH 5.1 material research
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5.2 fabrication test
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5.3 joint design
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5.4 CNC milling
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5.5 robotic assembly
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06 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN 6.1 generating process
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6.2 column analysis
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6.3 chunk design
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6.4 domino house design
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INTRODUCTION From continuous to discrete
BETWEEN LINEAR ANF SOLID In the digital architecture era, there are many examples using multiple material and fabrication metods to form architectures. Research cluster 4 aims on discrete design with digital material. The previous projects like voxatile, wirevoxel, mickeymatter and int all explored in certain ways to achieve discrete design. These projects differs from each other in many aspects. The most obvious is the form which shows in linear or solid patterns. Meta-tile found its position between linear and solid. The combination ways show linear connections and the tile itself is in solid form although it is hollow.
CONTINUOUS AND DISCRETE Although there is such a view that some architects seem to be reluctant to adopt the homogeneous and repetitive lattice-like structures associated with the digital materials, but the development of digital technology has increased the possibility of architectural form, from simple plane generation to complex shape simulation.
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FRACTAL GEOMETRY AND META-TILE Digital material assemblies as a simplified unit in discrete design need to be supported by the geometric theory. Fractal geometry is helpful to the composition and analysis of basic tile in discrete design. Fractal refer to the study of infinite complex geometry with self similar structure. Many of the object with a self similar hierarchy, in ideal circumstances, even with infinite hierarchy. The size of an object is enlarged or reduced, and the whole structure is not changed. Illuminated by fractal fractal geometry, our group proposed a way to response the scaling up of digital material in architectural design. This leads to the concept of a component: a large, discrete element that itself is composed of many small, serialized parts or particles. With small units, the geometry could operate as a data structure in a large number of design variables. These geometric elements are equivalent to the brick in the traditional building structure. These basic units are a series, and reversible for large structures. As a result of the units can be recombined, some parts are reassembly.
Comparison between previous projects
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INTRODUCTION Research statement
DISCRETE, STURDY, LIGHT, QUICK ASSEMBLY We want to use discrete timber pieces to create sturdy spaceframe structures and use robots and glue to quickly assemble the meta-part. With meta-parts we can make lager aggregations on site.
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Discrete pieces
Common material
Quick assembly process
Sturday and durable as aechitecture
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INTRODUCTION
Discrete joint and Reversability
Brick wall
Continous printing
Continous
Group INT dissolvable glue
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Wirevoxel welding
Lego Friction joint
Discrete Reversable
Additive Assembly of Digital Materials
Complex timber dissolvable glue
TimBlock reversable wood joint
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INTRODUCTION Project overview
Combination patterns
Discrete pieces
Joint design for interlocking
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Fabricate with CNC milling
Robotic assembly process
multiple scales
Transport Meta-tiles and construct on site
Scaling up using Meta-tile
Architecture scale
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INTRODUCTION Material and fabrication
COMMON MATERIAL Wood is one of the most common and traditional material that can be used in architectural construction. It is easy to reach and can be processed into mutiple prefabricated material. It is also environmental friendly and reproducible. Comparing to other construction materials like steel and concrete, wood is cheaper and lighter. For those reasons, we chose wood as our material and try to make it fit for discrete design. EXSITING PROCESSING METHODS Wood can be fabricated into many different kinds of building material. The most common one is timber, which has certain section sizes and is usually used in making small span structure like ballon frame. For large span architecture, another two kinds of wood are commonly used that are Glulam and CLT timber. They can be made into customed sizes and have high strength. The CLT timber is as strong as concrete.
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SMALL SECTION WOOD AND HIGH STRENGTH With the thinking of discrete design, the team TimBlock tried to find a way to make large span architecture with small section wood. Thousands of small pieces together with suitable joints can form strong structure for architecture. By using CNC milling, wood pieces can be processed accurately and quickly. Simple wood joints can join pieces tightly with glue. The special piece geometry help to form some truss-like structure in both column and floor pattern, which make the whole structure stronger and may use less material. Several pieces can be combined into some parts. Between those parts, reversible joints are used so that architecture will become reversible and can be re-assembled. If this proposal is realized, wooden architecture would be more and more flexible and easy to fabricate. However, the assemble of that many pieces accurately and quickly will be a problem for us to solve.
Glulam
Timber
Balloon Frame
Gridshell
Cross-laminated timber
Gridshell
CLT construction
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INTRODUCTION
General wood VS discrete wood pieces
Limited and constant column size
Small span
General wood architecture
Simplex plan
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Various column densities with discrete pieces
Large span and spaceframe structure
Discrete wood architecture
Flexible plan
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INTRODUCTION INT VS TimBlock
Glue joint
High density and vertical columns
Team INT
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Massive floor plan
Wood joint with glue
Columns with different angles and densities
Structural floor pattern in truss form
Team WoodBlock
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TILE DESIGN tile formation and different scale, combination logic, patterns and aggregations, physical model test and computation logic
The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL
DESIGN RESEARCH Design overview
THE HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM IN DISCRETE DESIGN According to result of the thesis report, the hierarchical system is an effective method to scale up in discrete design. From the logic rationality in architectural design, this paper proposes that a hierarchical structure can be an effective strategy to scale up from geometry, meta-tile to large-scale aggregation. On this foundation, inheritance logic can promote a system from part to whole, which may be suitable for design at the scale of architecture. The hypothesis of this paper is that the system can be seen as hierarchically scalable digital material in discrete design algorithms, and discrete system is a suitable approach to the automated design. In hierarchical systems, hierarchical inheritance and method combination can be applied to more specific operations. The system (figure 3) in discrete design is similar to the inheritance logic: setting a single object can become an abstract base class.
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Moreover, the object, as a component, can be simply combined and then grown infinitely. In the intermediate class, few objects with logic in the base class are a unit, and these units can aggregate to a meta-part. Retsin (2015) argues that meta-part is “a large-scale, discrete element that in itself is composed out of many smaller, serialized parts or particles�. Indeed, expanding an order of magnitude in the discrete assembly process requires a highly designed part with a particular material organization structure and behavior (Retsin et al., 2015). These two classes can be classified as the parent class, because their common purpose is to scale up so as to get derived class, and meanwhile, they use the same rule. The derived class still inherits features of the last class and sets modification rules to restrict the combination methods. Theoretically, hierarchical systems can improve the efficiency of design by repeating the use of sequences.
Basic class Piece
structure optimization
Intermediate class
meta-part
meta-tile architectural structure
HIERARCHICAL INHERITANCE
Derived class Architecture
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DESIGN RESEARCH Tile parameters
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Simplify
Connecting surface
Chamfer
Tile with joint
Single pemutation groups
3 different scales
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DESIGN RESEARCH Wood block generation
Discrete wood frame
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General wood frame
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DESIGN RESEARCH Combinational logic
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TILE COMBINATORICS
Multiple tile combinations with the loop pattern
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Few objects with a random combinatorial pattern can constitute a unit. Unit formation creates the logic in this base hierarchy. Figure 6 proves that a chained continuous loop can be a hierarchical system from 2d to 3d and a unit. In this hierarchy, each piece is like a Voxel.
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Hierarchical system, meta-tile development and architectural element
The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL
HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM Combination logic and bounding box
To aggregate into a larger block, the units in the base hierarchy should be organized in a bounding box. Furthermore, the pieces or units generate a meta-part in the bounding box. the variation of number of pieces in units leads to the production of multivariate aggregations. In general, the bounding box is a cube or polyhedron. And this pattern is more freedom and variable in the hierarchical system. Inside the meta-parts, different units or pieces can be rendered in different forms. Also, the size of them is scalable or reduced with the variety of the whole structure. the elements in the bounding box can form new spatial lattice through the combined logic in the established order and organization model. the meta-part, as a whole, becomes a combination tool for application which not only facilitates adjacency relations but also simplifies the way it is connected. Hence, in the next hierarchy, the inner connections between the pieces or units can be omitted, and only the adjacency ways between the meta-parts will be considered.
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HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM From Meta - tile to Meta - part
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META-TILE SYSTEMIC HIERARCHY Meta - tile and Controlled aggregation
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META-TILE SYSTEMIC HIERARCHY Meta - tile and Prototyping structures
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS The rules for the internal column from 2D to 3D
Connecting surface
Different connecting pattern
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the Meta - Tile generation
the plane pattern
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Different columns
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Different columns
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Different columns
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63 pieces
60 pieces
32 pieces
28 pieces
60 pieces
36 pieces
84 pieces
64 pieces
80 pieces
94 pieces
50 pieces
96 pieces
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Connections between the columes
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Connections between single columns
Aggregation of single columns with the loop pattern
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Revolution of the Column
Layered structure Two dimensional formation: Material wasting
Truss-like structure Less material, stong structure, multi-density
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Structure with meta columns
The purpose of the intermediate hierarchy is to reuse the base class logic, so as to improve the efficiency of the hierarchical systems. Meta-tile, as a better manner, is proposed. Although meta-tile has the similar property of meta-part, the bounding box resembles tile of geometric logic. There are different units in the meta-tiles which have a bounding box of the same geometric logic with a self-similar structure in the grid relation. In some cases, the combination of meta-tiles is also followed by the underlying units or pieces in the overall framework. The hierarchical system in combinatorics and the repeated use of sequences can not only optimize the inner meta-tile but also adapt the desired resolution. Whether in base class or intermediate class, any composition between the basic units or the meta-tile should be restricted. these limitations are expected to reach a larger scale under less material and more stable structural conditions. Therefore, the base and intermediate class connections depend on the optimization of the structural interior and material. That will be related to the clustering problem of data set with multilevel-density clusters (clusters with different density and hierarchical structures between them). It is mainly used to study the the structure optimization that will be mentioned in the following.
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Different patterns and aggregations
the connected pattern between floor and colume 72
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Different patterns and aggregations
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Structue optimisation
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Flat surface
Draws grids for strctural optimisation
Floor plate grid (20 mm.x20 mm.)
Set support and load conditions
Bear point loads
Selected load case
Connection point between blocks
Fundamental structure pattern
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Basic floor & column pattern
In this optimization process, once the initial geometry of the component is defined and explained, it is usually used after the optimization of the overall free pattern. While the shape optimization allows you to deform the units in design, This is more efficient than creating new geometries and then meshing again. A variable density based topology optimization method was applied to the structure of the meta-part to to improve the hierarchical system. the hierarchical system with topology optimization of discrete structure is improved.This may make the design approach more reasonable.
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Generation of plane pattern
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Fundamental structure pattern
A variable density based topology optimization method was applied to the structure of the metapart to to improve the hierarchical system. the hierarchical system with topology optimization of discrete structure is improved.This may make the design approach more reasonable.By repeating the use of sequences of the rules, hierarchical systems can improve the efficiency of creating spaces.
Structue optimisation
Floor structure pattern
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT The colume detail
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Meta-part for domino house
Column detail
Floor to column transaction
Transaction detail
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT The colume detail
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Space frame reference
Truss-like structure detail
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Architectural chunk contrast
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Architectural chunk proposal
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT B-PRO chunk proposal
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Connection between floorslab and structure
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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Floor slab proposal
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DESIGN AUTOMATION Computational design research, basic growing algorithm, logic of different densities, target system and architectural element
UCL, The Bartlett School of Architecture
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ARCHITECTURE AUTOMATION Architecture element: slab
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Step1: Add load to the slab
Step2: Add support to the analyzing system
Step3: Achieve the result of force analyzing
Step4: Align piece to the force-analyzing result. The more stress in an area, the higher density of the pieces occupying.
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ARCHITECTURE AUTOMATION Computation controled domino house
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ARCHITECTURE AUTOMATION Computation controled domino house
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FABRICATION material research, fabrication test, joint design, CNC milling and robotic assembly
UCL, The Bartlett School of Architecture
FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication statement
The definition of digital material “truly digital material is a set of discrete parts which includes discrete connections and discrete spaces, which allows reversible assembly.” (Ward 2010, p7) “We define a digital material as a discrete set of components that can be of any sizes and shape, made of various materials and that can fit together in various ways (press fit, friction fit, snap fit, reflow binding, etc).” (George A. Popescu, Tushar Mahale, Neil Gershenfeld, 2006) “assembled from a discrete set of parts, reversibly joined in a discrete set of relative positions and orientations” (Gershenfeld et al. 2015, p122 )
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Material research
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3D printing Ideal for small pieces
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Different fabrication methods to test
Laser Cut
3D printing
Casting
plywood sheet
PLA filament
Liquid plastic Plaster Cement Jesmonite
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Injection molding
Manual Cutting
CNC Milling
Wax test
Softwood timber
Hardwood sheet
Plastic pellets
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Material test
Casting
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Casting Design & Process
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication test
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Material comparison
Comparison of different materials
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication test --- injection moulding
INJECTION MOLDING Tile design - clipping , hollow piece with tolerance
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication test --- injection moulding
INJECTION MOLDING Mold design - draft angle
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INJECTION MOLDING Mold design - draft angle
Part A of mold
The problems during casting test
Part B of mold
When two parts clip
The solution of mold design
Air vents on the 4 side surfaces of the mold
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication test --injection moulding
INJECTION MOLDING Mold design - pieces design test
Test description: we attempt design our project without any glue, so the tolerance and precision is very important to test to make two parts clipped perfectly. 1. first try test of toolpaths which are created in powermill software, the basic geometry looks fine, but the surface is not very smooth, also the tolerance 0.4mm is too big for the two part of hollow piece to clipe together. 2. second try test looks fine with the toolpaths in powermill, it shows the code for machine is sucessful, however the tolerance is still too big. 3. the third try with high density foam is the best result compared with initial tests. when the material is harder, more precise the pieces will be wwand clipping design will works better.
Male part
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Female part
Toolpaths and tolerance test with foam to make precise pieces with 3-axis milling machine HAAS
GREY FOAM: first try with tolerance 0.4mm for two parts of the hollow piece.
GREY FOAM: second try with tolerance 0.2mm for two parts of the hollow piece.
HIGH DENSITY FOAM — KIKA: third try with tolerance 0.1mm for two parts of the hollow piece.
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication test --injection moulding
Toolpaths of top side: 1.EM12-Model Area Clerance Strategy 2. EM12-Offset Flat Finishing Strategy 3. EM3-ModelRestAreaClearanceStrategy 4. BN12-Optimised Constant Z Finishing strategy 5. EM6-Model Rest Area Clerance strategy Tools of top side: 1.EM12 2. EM6 3. EM3 4. BN12 5. BN6 6. DR6 In total: toolpaths: 5 tools: 6 boundries: 12 time: 52 min 39 sec
Toolpaths of top side: 1.EM12-Model Area Clerance Strategy 2. EM12-Offset Flat Finishing Strategy 3. EM3-ModelRestAreaClearanceStrategy 4. BN12-Optimised Constant Z Finishing strategy 5. EM3- Corner Pencil Finishing 6 EM6-Model Rest Area Clearance 7 EM6-Model Rest Area Clerance strategy
Tools of top side: 1.EM12 2. EM6 3. EM3 4. BN12 5. BN6 6. DR6 In total: toolpaths: 7 tools: 6 boundries: 12 time: 60 min 24 sec 138
Piece test milling process
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication test --injection moulding
TWO SCALE SIZE MOLDS
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication test --injection moulding
INJECTION MOLDING Wax test
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INJECTION MOLDING Machining process
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication test --injection moulding
CHALLENGES OF INJECTION MOLDING
SMALL SIZE PIECE
3D Printing PLA Filament
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MEDIUM SIZE PIECE
BIG SIZE PIECE
Injection molding
Casting
Plastic pellets
Jesmonite
Manual cutting Timber
quicker easier cheaper stronger large quantity
CNC milling Wood sheet
too expensive not quick heavy
quicker lighter cheaper stronger precious
Robotic milling
challenge for fabricate
Wood blocks
cost a lot of time to set up
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication method for wood piece
Cut manually with miter saw
Cut manually with band saw, do chamfer with router
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Cut manually with band saw
CNC Milling
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MANUALL CUT SOFTWOOD TIMBER
FABRICATION RESEARCH Timber model test
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Timber model prototype
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Timber column
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JOINT RESEARCH
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JOINT DESIGN Chunk with joints
Divided B-pro chunk for assembling 168
Different custom sized joint for each part 169
CNC MILLING IN HARDWOOD SHEET
FABRICATION RESEARCH CNC milling model design
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Toolpath design
Programming toolpaths of top side
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Programming toolpaths of bottom side
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Hardwood sheet comparison and test
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Material test
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FABRICATION RESEARCH CNC milling process
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FABRICATION RESEARCH CNC milling process
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FABRICATION RESEARCH CNC milling process
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Waste material using
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FABRICATION RESEARCH Fabrication workflow
Customer order
Deliver order to factory
Transport and construct on site in architrctural scale
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CNC milling in pre-fabrication factory
Combine two parts in factories
Robotic assembly for mega parts
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ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
UCL, The Bartlett School of Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL SPECULATION Architectural scale
Meta - part is a scaling up component which is composed of basic units with different scales and combinations, and it seems to be a simple and practical method that is more easily adapted to the larger scale in architectural structure. The composition pattern of meta-part is determined by the basic unit, which has a more rigorous structural model on the fractal geometry. Meta - part can be disassembled and separated, because the geometry of the parts is easier to be assembled
ARCHITECTURAL SPECULATION Stress point analysis
ARCHITECTURAL SPECULATION Architectural prototype
ARCHITECTURAL SPECULATION Generating process and plane changes
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Column analysis
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Column analysis
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Column analysis
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Chunks
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Chunks
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ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Chunks
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ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE Domino and its dimension
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ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE The interior space
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ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE The back elevation
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ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE Crystallization into voxels
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ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE The material distrubution
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ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE Crystallization into voxels
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ARCHITECTURAL PROTOTYPE The back elevation
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The Bartlett School of Architecture MArch Architectural Design Research Cluster 4