Transmaterial » process

Flight Assembled Architecture

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:33 +0000

Flight Assembled Architecture is a demonstration project that exhibits research conducted on flying machine enabled construction by ETH Zürich professor Raffaello D’Andrea and architects Gramazio & Kohler. The first installation to be built by flying machines, Flight Assembled Architecture utilizes software-controlled flying robots to place foam bricks individually in order to construct a large open-weave structure. Imagined as a scale representation of a 600 m tall towering city, the installation “addresses radical new ways of thinking and materializing architecture as a physical process of dynamic formation,” says D’Andrea.

Contact: ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Dukta

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:00:16 +0000

Dukta is a timber forming system that uses precise incisions to impart flexibility. Developed by Christian Kuhn and Serge Lunin, the method allows stiff wood panels to be easily shaped in three dimensions. The near rubbery flexibility is achieved with staggered, regularly arranged incisions. Different cutting options expand the scope of possible applications, and the simple method is suitable for various wood products such as plywood, fiberboard and solid wood. The process may also be applied to plastics and metals with similar effect.

Contact: Dukta, Olten, Switzerland.

Dynamic Performance of Nature

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:00:51 +0000

Situated sensing technologies have created unprecedented ways with which to achieve a new synchronous relationship with the world. According to Portland-based design practice SoftRigid, the ability to observe the behavior of our environment through an orchestration of high-tech sensing devices displayed through dynamic architectural interfaces will enable a new form of environmental perception. SoftRigid’s installation Dynamic Performance of Nature embodies this ethos by utilizing an array of locally- and globally-distributed open-source environmental sensing devices integrated with a dynamic and communicative material assembly.

The project captures live data about weather such as wind speed and direction, temperature and relative humidity, and other measurable environmental phenomena such as seismic activity, from around the world and translates it through full-color LED lighting embedded within semi-translucent HDPE. The installation communicates this information to museum visitors via custom processing scripts that display the information in illuminated flows of varying color, intensity, and direction which respond to the unique geometry of the wall’s overall form. According to the manufacturer, the assembly is designed to create an inspiring and informative user experience that imparts to its visitors this ethos of 21st century sustainability, seeking to transcend conventional applications of green techniques with something alive and integrated with the environment, connecting people to place through a synthesis of information, material, and architecture.

Contact: SoftRigid, Portland, OR, USA.

Rastra

Blaine Brownell — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:00:17 +0000

Rastra panels are large building blocks with a grid of internal channels that serve as a stay-in-place wall form for residential and commercial structures. Once a complete floor is set in place, the channels are reinforced and concrete is poured to achieve any desired strength. A Rastra wall is capable of withstanding earthquakes, hurricanes, and other forces of nature, because the system of channels is designed to provide maximum strength with minimum amount of concrete.

The Rastra panels are made of recycled post-consumer foam plastics placed in a cement matrix. This composition unifies the best properties for a wall; it is durable, lightweight, and quick to install, and also provides high thermal and acoustic insulation. Rastra is resistant to fire, mold, insects, and rodents. It also has a cementitious surface to which stucco adheres well.

Contact: Rastra Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
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3D-Printed Wellboard

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 27 May 2011 14:00:27 +0000

Wellboard is a lightweight, cellulose-based material pressed into a variety of profiles for use in exhibition, shop and furniture design applications. 3D-Printed Wellboard employs an image-transfer process developed by Okalux entitled Okacolor. This innovative printing method allows digital images to maintain their geometrical integrity despite the deformations inherent in the contouring process. The combination of custom digital imagery and specific profiles can generate layered visual effects.

Contact: Well Ausstellungssystem GmbH, Hannover, Germany.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Self-Repairing Matrices

Blaine Brownell — Mon, 02 May 2011 00:00:40 +0000

The fact that structural damage can go undetected in many materials means that some products are often over-engineered. However, substances that can provide information about their internal stresses—as well as trigger reliable self-healing properties—allow manufacturers to be more confident in using lighter weight materials. Self-Repairing and Sensing Matrices can also survive longer than their conventional counterparts, thus reducing the use of virgin materials or petroleum-based resources. Natural Process Design has thus far made airplane wings and other components of this material, which has been successfully tested for flexure, compression, and shear.

Contact: Natural Process Design, Inc., Winona, MN, USA.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Órgano

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:00:35 +0000

Órgano is a sculpture designed by the Spanish artist Eusebio Sempere and built in Madrid, Spain. Composed of a three-dimensional array of polished stainless steel pipes, the installation rotates to filter and reflect sunlight dynamically.

Recently, researchers at the Institute of Materials Science in Madrid tested the acoustic properties of the sculpture, and found that Órgano also behaves as a phononic crystal capable of filtering and modifying sound waves. Listeners positioned on one side of the installation will hear tonal modifications of sounds projected from the opposite side—an aural analogy to the visual effect of light passing through colored prisms.

Scientists at the Transport Research Laboratory in the UK are currently researching the application of Sempere’s geometry to reduce noise along rail networks and roadways.

Contact: Fundación Juan March, Madrid, Spain.

QuaDror

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:00:07 +0000

QuaDror is described as a new structural joint offering myriad design applications at a variety of scales. Designer Dror Benshetrit of Studio Dror unveiled this new geometrical approach at the recent Design Indaba conference in Cape Town. Recalling the strategy of the diagrid, QuaDror uses diagonal framing members to carry gravity loads while providing good resistance to lateral loads. Compelling animations on the QuaDror website allow viewers to witness planes of simple flat materials quickly transforming into elegant structures.

QuaDror’s multi-scalar application is an advantage, allowing the joint to be applied in small models, buildings, and bridges alike. Given its rapid assembly and light weight, it may also be utilized in disaster recovery housing. Perhaps the system’s greatest contribution is the convincing demonstration that form and performance are mutually beneficial.

Contact: Studio Dror, New York, NY, USA.

Raycounting

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:00:59 +0000

Raycounting is a method for generating form by registering the intensity and orientation of light rays. 3D surfaces of double curvature are the result of assigning light parameters to flat planes. Developed by Neri Oxman, the algorithm calculates the intensity, position and direction of one, or multiple, light sources placed in a given environment and assigns local curvature values to each point in space corresponding to the reference plane and the light dimension. The models explore the relation between geometry and light performance from a computational-geometry perspective. Light performance analysis tools are reconstructed programmatically to allow for morphological synthesis based on intensity, frequency and polarization of light parameters as defined by the user.

Contact: MIT Media Laboratory, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Zcell

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:00:31 +0000

Zcell is an engineered foaming cell-structure technology that provides customizable material solutions related to protection requirements. Developed by South Korea-based DXD Inc., Zcell technology offers a broad range of lightweight cushioning and protective benefits with improved structure, performance, function, flexibility and consistency in cross-linked foam components and products. Zcell allows for unlimited cell structure patterns, multiple molding processes, multiple materials and combinations, as well as unlimited configurations.

Contact: DXD Inc., Busan, South Korea.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.