Generating 3 quick fire designs, I became quite interested in the curvy, wavy, watery-like textures that emerged from my image sequence. Not really knowing what I was making, I played with layering, and cut outs that mimic this ocean wave, water design. The shadows generated from the layers and the light casting through the gaps and cut outs intensifies the waves and organic shapes.
Expanding from paper, I collected materials from previous projects and just started playing around with these materials with not much intention. I found some clay that I had used last semester and some mirror board, thinking along the lines of moving through fort lane and the body of water that used to situate there, I rolled the clay onto the surface which created this wavy type of surface. I began exploring this with other materials such as black acrylic and clear acrylic. Each time the results were very different, while also rolling in different directions. The gaps where the clay did not imprint, and the heaviness of the clay on top creates these pockets of opacity.
I played with photographing under different lighting conditions, using the flash on my phone, no flash, using the light box to highlight the patterns, the blue light from the projector dramatically changed the patterns and highlights the areas where there is no clay so well - it creates a depth that regular lighting didn't capture.
With the old school projector available, I took my clear acrylic piece and projected that one surface. It showed all the detail in a larger scale, the imprints of my fingertips, the texture of the clay itself, I like the white and grey of the texture and how this enhances the patterns. It was really cool to see the texture enlarged.
I also scanned each surface which was the best documentation of my surface designs. The rich darkness and the highlights of the clay, it best captures the lines, textures, patterns, the waviness, the curves. These black and white images sparked an idea of possibly engraving these surfaces into wood. This could be an interesting way to explore the potential of my surface design.
Design Precedents
Blitz Music Club ( Simon Vorhammer)
Made out of black lacquered MDF, more than 10.000 ‘valleys’ and ‘ridges’ spread over a length of 25m. "Its shape is based on the behaviour of flocking birds and swarming insects. At no point does the pattern repeat itself" (Retail Blog Design, 2017). This algorithm has been created by a CNC machine, firstly made as a 3D model. It provides a necessary acoustic diffusion and an even sound absorption.
Cloud Wall ( Crawford Architects)
The fins were inspired by the corrosion patterns found on a piece of steel. These sketches formed into vertical, parallel sections made out of aluminium. "The fins were lifted into place by crane and welded to clips bolted to both the addition’s concrete foundation wall and the heavy structural steel frame that supports the rest of the studio. All of the rivets, screws, bolts, welds, and even pencil marks were left exposed and unfinished, just as they would have appeared underneath a sheet-metal skin—as they are typically used" (Charles Linn, Architect Magazine, 2011).
Revolving Brick Serai ( Farhad Mirzaie and A.P.P Architects & Associates)
This façade is made out of turquoise and azure bricks. They are "angled in a parametric design – creating sweeping and curved lines through geometric equations which simulate organic structures" (Michaela Stehr, Visi, 2021). Attached in a grid form, metal beams attach each brick that allow them to rotate swiftly.
Other Designs I was interested in:
Surface Design
From my initial surface designs in class, I wanted to make them 3D and have more of a texture to them. This led me to explore laser engraving, increasing the depth of the engraving more and more until it actually completely cut through. The detail the engravings and cut outs capture from the original design is quite remarkable. The engraving explores more of the shapes and curves, which are more visible than the original. I wanted to further explore the shapes and curves so I decided to shade a piece of paper over top of the cut out, then traced the lines this made.
This was so successful I then repeated this with the black acrylic surface design.
Now that I had these lines, I wasn't sure how to develop this into a surface design. Thinking about how a surface design could become a façade, I began connecting the lines, working them into shapes. These shapes then overlapped and I thought about making them into layers, and how these layers can work together to create a façade that is almost like a contour. A contour of the water that once existed in Fort Lane. I did not want the whole façade to be a contour, so when drawing the shapes, I left gaps in the design. Then I figured out which shapes would go on what level of the contour, drew these shapes based on the layer and it was ready to test out on material.
Different types of materials came to mind for the façade, I didn't want a solid material like metal or wood, I want to have the transparency of water. Something that is translucent but has some opaqueness to it. In the art store I was looking at the different acrylic and found this white frosted type which the light could still shine through and decided I wanted to see how this would work with the layers of my surface design.
After I had cut out the pieces, I laid them on top of each other. With the different layers, more light shines through depending on the amount of layers, and the opaqueness still allows you to see the hidden shapes that are being overlapped.
Knowing that I don't need to change the design, I began thinking about the fabrication and joinery of the façade. How could these join together without disturbing the design or opaqueness of the material?
I tested out gluing the acrylic together, using rivets, and using slits to join them. All three of these methods work but all had some faults. Gluing all the pieces results in air bubbles and it messes with the opaqueness. The rivets use too much force and pressure which in my test it actually broke the acrylic. I like how the slits worked but I don't like the detail of the metal, so I decided to retry this method but with acrylic holders. It took a while to get the correct measurements for the holders to fit but once it worked I actually liked the simplicity of the design, and the small detail of the joinery. Now that I have tested out the joinery I need to recut my pieces with slits in them for the holders.
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