By placing three circles and drawing the tangent lines connected to the tile’s predefined edge canals, we managed to create a  chaotic   grid system of intersections. Piping the lines with variable width provides the desired water flow effect, while the complexity of the final outcome makes each tile cooperate with its adjacent ones, in a way that their edges are diminished.

The joints were designed to take advantage of the 3d printer’s ability to create small, yet detailed 3-dimensional objects. Each joint has multiple holes to allow rods to fit in 8 different directions.  The dynamic movement of the structure resembles that of a curtain. The structure can take several forms by sliding the joints through the rods: the looping (side) rods slide along a central rod arc. The transition exposed in the photo overlays is between two basic positions: one where the side rods are lying flat on the board and one where they form a full scale volume following the arc.

We created joints of 3 different sizes. Each of the two largest joints connects half of the side rods, so that they are able to rotate from a common point, whilst the smaller joints fix the ends of the rods, allowing linear movement along the arc that passes through the central joint channel.

Printing on the z-corp machine (composite powder) limited the joint’s strength, so further experimentation on possible forms was challenging due to the joints breaking, but nonetheless, we discovered the component’s tension thresholds and exploited its capabilities.

GROUP 02
Karl Francalanza
Dimitrios Aidonis
Tobias Grumstrup Lund Øhrstrøm

Moving rods – movie

Rods are still

Structure in full shape

Joints on the structure

The printed joints

The structure is a simple constructive assembly system that allows us to experiment in a single object multiple and different types of joints and their possible variations/combinations that became our primary research, seeking to minimise waste.

The pentagonal footprint force us to generate horizontal elements that are connected by various elements in the vertical direction. The combination of both, horizontal and vertical parts is what generates height increase and stabilisation of the system when connected.

We also explored the void as an integral element in our structure, which reduces weight and helps with the distribution of the different parts to achieve an effective balance in our structure.

The result is, when unassembled; a compact structure system, easy to pack and transport,  extremely easy and quick to assemble based on the interlocking, bending, sectioning and clipping joints experimented and tested in different models and digital joinery. When assembled, is also stable and can be manipulated without the risk to be destroy.

Dimitrios Aidonis | Michele Braidy | Gustavo Triana

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