Category Archives: 3D Printing

TEAM: CARLO CALTABIANO & YASHASWINI APTE 

Concept:-  

Our 3D Print Brick pattern is inspired from the structure of a honey comb. However, the rigid hexagonal shape and the uniformity of the honeycombs have been modified integrating it with other polygonal shapes. These modules are varied in size and intensity to resemble a spider’s web. The idea was to read the voids as much as the solids akin to the Zaha Hadid’s ‘Mesa Table’ which was one of the case studies undertaken. To achieve a more organic form and to avoid rigidity, the surfaces have been gently curved.    

            +                =   

 basic module                                          spider web 

 

                     final derived brick pattern                   

 

 

           

Procedure for 3D Modelling:- 

Step 1: A single line polygonal pattern was drawn out which formed the basis of our 3D modelling. This was done by marking random points on the opened up surfaces of the brick. Using ‘Voronoi diagram’ a pattern was drawn out. This pattern was modified and redrawn to achieve the  required density required to balance out the solids and voids & to realise the spider web-like effect.

Team members:  Antonio Tamez y and Daniela Quesada Rivas

Process

We decided to begin with an agreed triangulation design fro the composition of the mass, and then individually experimented with different trial bricks:

The first dealt with the extrusion of curves to form poly-surfaces as the body and structure of the lego brick.  However this resulted in a bulkier configuration than originally envisioned, and we encountered problems boolean-joining the volumes.

Group: Erina Filipovska and LuzMichelle Lavayen

Assignment: 3d printing/ digital fabrication.

The inspiration for the 3d brick came from an Arabic pattern which we used to make the skin of the brick.

Since the pattern consisted lines and circles, we used that particular one to correspond to the shape of the brick which has flat surfaces and circled pipes. We started modeling the brick in Rhino, working on the separated surfaces which we made to be 3mm thick. We offset the lines of the pattern, joined all the lines, so we could have closed polylines in order to extrude them and make them solid. By Boolean difference we were able to make the desired holes in the 3mm surface.   Since the pattern is made to supplement itself, we used the basic one twice for the longer side and once for the shorter side. We copied the surfaces in order to make the whole skin of the brick. The circled geometric forms were designed to be where the pipes of the brick should have been, so we were able to use the form as a base of making the pipes.

Since this is a 3d printing model, we wanted to do something in the inside of the brick too. So using the places where the circles intersect the lines we made solid boxes connecting the circled surfaces inside the brick, from one side to the other but connecting the opposite points.

That way we got interesting structures inside the brick which can be seen throw-out the skin.

SEATTLE CENTRAL LIBRARY; OMA

The 34,000 sq. m. building has the capacity to house 1.45 million books, arranged in a non-conventional manner to entice visitors and promote physical books in a digital age. The spaces created by the wrapping skin house programmatic functions in four different floating platforms. The functions and their relationship to each other dictated the design of the building, and then a steel and glass skin was used to wrap and form the spaces, thus resulting in the unusual shape of the building, and the necessity for a structural skin. The circulation flows through the different spaces that overlap each other visually, though not always on the same plane of elevation. The structural façade facilitates this by allowing a suspension of different spaces, and allowing visual permeability through the design of the structure.

source: archinet.com

source: oma.nl

source: stgb.blogspot.com

TOD’S, OMOTESANDO; TOYO ITO

A building designed to house the high end Italian shoe retailer, it is distinctly a project that uses its structural façade to stand out from its surrounding retail architecture. With a limited frontage on an important retail street, the building needed to make a visual statement without relying on excessive storefront display. The entire skin of the building was used to create a visual identity. The structural concrete and glass skin in conceptual form is an abstraction of the trees that line Omotesando street. The façade serves a second purpose, being a structural element, it frees the interior spaces from the need of columns, or load bearing interior walls. The interior paces are therefore more freely designed without any additional constraints to what is already a narrow footprint to work with.

source: archrecord.construction.com

source: artisticstation.blogspot.com

CASE STUDY I – MESA TABLE

PROGRAM: Mesa Table for Vitra 

MATERIALS: Polyurethane base, Fiberglass top, Metallic paint finish  

The Mesa table has evolved from an architectural experiment by Zaha Hadid which was to do with creating connections. The ideology goes back to the basic components of ground, structure, surface and creating a world with extruded connections between these two horizontal planes. These connections become the structure of the table. The outcome is a ski-fi like structure where the voids express the form as much as the solids. This sculptural creation appears elastic stretching out to form the supporting base of the table. It is an amorphous, fluid, flowing, delicate and at the same time tenacious base structure. While the top of the table is composed of four separate triangulated components, they are ably connected with the polyurethane ‘tentacles’ to form an organic composition. The chosen materials successfully achieve in the realisation of the envisaged flowing form and concept. (Source for images & reference of text:  http://www.design-art-book.com/2008/05/table-mesa-vitra-de-zaha-hadid.html, http://www.zaha-hadid.com/furniture-product-design/mesa )

CASE STUDY II – VILLA IN KITASAKU, NAGANO, JAPAN  

ARCHITECTS: Kotaro Ide / ARTechnic architects

PROGRAM: Villa

MATERIAL: Concrete shell structure

The villa consists of a large shell shaped structure positioned in the middle of the woods. The shell enclosure forms the roof, floor and external wall of the house. Stemming from a desire to design a place that would be in sync with nature, the architects envisioned a large shell structure floating above ground. The use of concrete and lifting of the structure has effectively aided in dealing with the humidity in the area. The entire structure is composed of a two dimensional curved surface wherein the larger mass opens up higher along the convergence of the two masses. The J shaped structure consists of different size oval cylindrical masses cut with curves in the central portion of the structure. The straight part of J, a smaller mass is connected to the curved part of J, a larger mass. The concrete shell thickens and its width increases towards the side of the building to take care of the structural requirements. The floor is raised above the ground, with the lower half of the shell structure protruding greatly towards the outside, supporting the terrace at the same height. The curved shells have minimal openings consisting of two circular skylight punctures at the top to allow the flow of natural light, thus maintaining and emphasising the solidity of this main structural element.  (Source for text and images: http://www.archdaily.com/11602/shell-artechnic-architects/ )