Monocoque stands for a construction technique that supports structural load using an object’s external skin. Contradictory to the traditional design of building skins that distinguishes between internal structural frameworks and non-bearing skin elements, this approach promotes the heterogeneity...

Cartesian Wax is a continuous tiling system that structurally varies across its surface area to accommodate a range of physical conditions of light transmission, heat flux, and structural support. The surface is thicker where it is structurally required to support itself, and modulates its transparency...

Materials produced in modular units based on traditional industrial practices are inevitably confined to predictable, repeating patterns. A common example is the carpet tile, in which repeating patterns emerge despite the frequent desire for an evolving, nonrepetitive effect. StudioStampa is dedicated...

Designed by Paul Haeberli, Lamina 1.0 software facilitates the fabrication of large-scale free-form structures from planar materials like plastic, metal, or plywood. This fabrication technology can be applied to interior design, architecture, lighting, signage, and sculpture. Lamina 1.0 uses a computer...

Dimple Halftone is a new process intended to create a microlandscape of texture that, when viewed at different distances, can be recognized as a sharp image or abstract pattern. A reminder of the enlarged halftone canvases of the Pop Art era, Dimple Halftone actually encodes dots into the surfaces of...

XURF (EXpandable SURFaces) Systems generates continuously morphable curved surfaces. Inspired by biological membranes, the resulting surfaces are rigid yet pliable and are able to respond to a variety of surfacing needs. Developed by Milgo/Bufkin, XURF allows the transformation of any flatsheet material...

Erwin Hauer Continua is a series of designs for perforated and light-diffusing architectural surfaces. Originally developed in 1950, Continua screens were made of masonry materials painstakingly cast in complex molds. With the advent of current digital fabrication technologies, Continua screens are now...

Backlight Images are three-dimensional solid-surface topographies created from digital images. Developed and manufactured by the R. D. Wing Company, the Backlight Image process transforms user-provided images into reliefs within the surface of 1/4-inch-thick, translucent DuPont Corian. The images are...

Voiceprints is an experiment in the translation of audio information to visual imagery. Artist Pierre Proske records a person’s voice into a microphone, analyzes the audio file for frequency content, loops the sample, and then generates a variety of textile patterns arranged according to the individual’s...

Ombrae System is a patent-pending computer-based image-processing system that allows for any digital image to be embedded directly into any material substrate. The image is not a transfer or material composite, like a hologram, but is made from physical three-dimensional pixels or “optical tiles.”...