No abstract
Digital Steam Bending is a design and fabrication research project that investigates the historically relevant, regionally significant technique of steam bending using advanced parametric software modeling, STAAD structural analysis, and computer numerical control (CNC) fabrication methods to reenvision the nearly forgotten technique of wood steam bending developed by Michael Thonet in the 19th century. In doing so, Digital Steam Bending performs several operations: it reclaims a forgotten technique of fabrication and reframes it through the lens of contemporary digital craft, it claims new ground in the traditional periphery of architectural practice through shifting scales, and it confronts the difficulties of digital design and digital form generation through applied material practices. It also gestures toward the possibilities that regional resources and craft may leverage against high-carbon globalized manufacturing.Digital Steam Bending was conducted as a series of interconnected feedback loops in which material resistance, formal manipulation, and digital tools were each allowed to influence the others. Material testing on various wood species began simultaneously with the development of formal digital models, where built-up aggregations of unique but similar individual parts were parametrically modified to derive possible means of tectonic connection and overall form in search of spatial, architecturally scaled assemblies and structures. Locally harvested, FSC-certified, air-dried white oak evolved as the optimal material due to its high density, consistency of grain, natural durability, and local abundance. Several base components were designed, tested, and refined before ultimately arriving at full-scale fabrication. The assemblies were then installed and documented as an exhibition at the University of Michigan's Taubman Gallery and a full-scale gateway structure at Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, MI, during Art Prize 2010.
No abstract
Design increasingly becomes a matter of balancing between the different agencies, boundaries and implications of architectural intentions and material performances. To synthesize these new constellations, complex design systems can be decomposed into flexible and scalable integrations of autonomous, heterogeneous sub-models. When each sub-model has its own goal, the making of design decisions, as well as the registration of their impact, becomes distributed throughout a computational model. This research explores the notion of agency within event-based models. Event-based models decompose continuous systems into components. These components are not designed to work with other components in a traditional sequential mode, or to share a common time-step, but instead communicate asynchronously. This characteristic is particularly well suited to supporting and synthesizing multiple agencies.In this paper we distinguish between three forms of agency: material agency, structural agency, and design agency. We present an event-based modeling approach that supports and synthesizes these types of agency by linking interdependent sub-models. The application of this approach is demonstrated through two case studies: Transmissive Assemblies (Figure 1) and Reflective Growth. Diagram of the surface of the installation Transmissive Assemblies
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