Digital Fabrication Workshop at Columbia University

I came across this from an Autodesk email; these students at Columbia are doing something very similar to what we are:

http://designreform.net/2008/11/19/orchestration-workshop/

EX 03

I've been having trouble with the seed surface that was given to us. It will select the whole surface when I click on it normally, but when I try to use the paneling tools on it, only part of the surface will select. I tried the approach Calvin used, where he created contour lines from certain slices of the surface, and then lofted between them to recreate the shape. But I kept getting funny shapes when I did this.

So I went ahead and just created a shape that I would like to panel across the surface. I used a small rectangular connection at each interface. This connection would clamp down and hold each larger piece together.

Hoberman Spheres & Geodesic Domes

I have something called a Hoberman Sphere at home, which is a plastic expanding ball. It's method of connecting the pieces could be helpful for us in designing the pieces for the flock wall. It uses pins at certain joints, and what looks like ball and socket joints at other areas. See pictures above and below

http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/HobermanSphereOctahedron/





Geodesic Domes are somewhat similar to what we're doing in this class. This photo below of the connections that hold the dome together could be helpful in how we design our connections. It's basically a section of round tube with holes around the perimeter for bolts. The long connecting members are arranged around the outside of the tube, and the bolts fit into sleeves welded to the long members.


I also found this image of the British Museum in London. The lattice structure covering the courtyard looks very similar to ours, it looks like the size of the triangles change with the distance between the rotunda and the square walls of the inner courtyard, but I can't tell for sure.

EX 01

Here's my field created from 400 aggregates. I started with a image of a tessellation that I found online, and used that as inspiration. I liked the way the lines connected in the tessellation, and so that gave rise to the thin rectangular cut outs on the four sides. I left a small square at the center of the shape to hold the piece together. I colored the aggregates red and the background a shade of gray because it gives good contrast. I then removed an angled slice from each of the four sides to add interest to the shape. I read that the aggregate shouldn't extend outside the 2'x2' box, so I made no connections between the pieces. In order to form a connection with another piece, the aggregate would have to cross over this boundary.

First Blog Post!

hey, hey, hey, first blog post ever.