Digital Tectonics – Fabrication Ecologies

Microbial Ecologies

francisco.castillo@iaac.net — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 07:17:30 +0000

Microbial Ecologies (ME) is proposing a speculative scenario in which is able to explore new robotic fabrication processes as a framework for investigating the generation of (bio)artificial systems. These systems allow us to regenerate and protect the soil erosion and encourage healthy plant growth using interconnected 3D fiber systems. The research aims to explore a heterogeneity of fiber structures at a broad range of spatial scales. The heterogeneity and interconnectivity of the 3D fiber system within soil makes it a biodiverse microhabitat for the diverse microbial population and vegetal systems. The system that ME is proposing has a pivotal role in microbial interactions, therefore It is able to amplify the biodiversity of ecosystems.

Microbial Ecologies focuses on the development of fiber structures to characterize soil at multiples scales that are relevant for micro organisms.

More Information

“Digital Tectonics – Fabrication Ecologies” Research Line FINAL PRESENTATIONS!

admin — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 11:54:49 +0000

On the 26th of June in IAAC from 02:00 pm to 09:00 pm

Tutors:

Claudia Pasquero
Marco Poletto

International Jury Board:

Manuel Gausa - IAAC Dean
Areti Markopoulou - MAA Director – IAAC
Thomas Ermacora - Lime Wharf
Ulrika Karlsson - Stockholm Faculty of Architecture
Neil Leach - University of Southern California
Jaume Avellaneda - ETSAV-Department of Construction
Juan Carlos Sanabria - Veritas University in Costa Rica
Edouard Cabay - AA School of Architecture
Jordi Pagés - Max de Cusa Architects
Manja van de Worp - AA School of Architecture

Stigmergic Fibers – A new approach to material behaviour

jean.akanish@iaac.net — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 18:26:05 +0000

Stigmergic Fibers tackles the prospect of fiber aggregation under the influence of varying environmental and material properties, to produce controlled boundary and spatial conditions. The project was initiated by research on plant fiber and biology. To extract information from the behavioral methodologies of plant growth and structure, various experiments were conducted on differentiated growing conditions.

By means of air pressure we separate individual fibers from a spool of roving, that when sprayed at a specific arrangement of obstacle in a certain manner. This created conditioned and repeatable aggregation patterns of the fibers. A water based adhesive was added to this process in order to increase surface tension between the fibers and produce longer spanning fibrous connections and surfaces. Thus, allowing us to scale up our prototypes in an effort to produce on-site an ephemeral architectural habitat that would merge natural phenomenon with robotic fabrication.

DIAGRAMS

Connection Analysis

Connection Catalogue

Obstacle Spray Protocol

Bounded Spray Protocol

Branches Bio-Fabrication Protocols

charusilawong.marisa@iaac.net — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 18:23:18 +0000

With the focus within the design community towards green technology; there has been an emergence of bio- composites. Some make the statement that bio-composites work better than standard composites. Hemp posses a great fiber that should be utilized within bio-composites. The branches of hemp, with their hollow core, work exceptionally well at retaining resin thus creating a more solid material. Focusing towards the innovative properties involving bio-composites we have discovered our thesis. How can we manipulate the fiber properties of hemp through branching?

With a relatively short growth cycle of 120 days and the ability to be planted densely at a rate of 3 to 5 hundred plants per square meter hemp has great potential to become a cash crop. Hemp is a plant that has a wide range of uses. In fact, “cannabis sativa” means “useful” (sativa) “hemp” (cannabis). The plant is very tall; ranging in height from 1.8 to 4.8 meters with majority of each hemp plant being comprised of a thin stalk, with no natural branches, and relatively few leaves. How can we train a plant that wants to grow straight up with no branches?

While many crops have been biologically manipulated over the years to increase yields, hemp has stayed fairly old-fashioned in its growth. Plants have been forced in many different directions; whether this is by a specific type of farming practice or going so far as to genetically modify the organism itself. More and more today we see a shift back towards natural practices. While some contemporary farming practices still rely heavily upon GMOs or heavy handed farming techniques, we see a niche market to utilize natural practices and augment the growing environment to manipulate the plant’s growth in a specific way.

We will work towards hacking the plant through branching. Increasing the yield of the hollow branches that have good fiber development these fibers could be utilized in bio-composites, a burgeoning new territory of design. A major competitor to hemp is the flax plant which has a shorter height, thus creating a simpler fiber to extract, by hacking the hemp we hope to create a better plant. While some contemporary farming practices still rely heavily upon GMOs or heavy handed farming techniques, we see a niche market to utilize natural practices and augment the growing environment to manipulate the plant’s growth in a specific way. Utilization of new technologies such as the 7-axis robot and other tooling procedures will become ingrained in the study. Monitoring our project from the beginning through the end will help us define a detailed development of fabrication protocols.

booklet:

http://issuu.com/vince42/docs/branch_bio-fabrication_protocols

Video :

https://vimeo.com/69259997

Research Website :

http://fabricationecologies.wix.com/hempdatabase

Hemp component reactive to humidity > Hygro Pavilion

gabriela.gonzalez@iaac.net — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 08:43:33 +0000

Research project final presentation > Hemp component that reacts to humidity, without the help of any external source of energy or mechanism, applied to Eco-machinic Pavilion, located in IAAC campus, Valldaura-Barcelona.