The milling process has been evaluated with three different ballmills: a 12 mm diameter one to remove material, a 6 mm one diameter to mill the designed shape and a 3 mm ballmill to finish the outputs.

Once the mold was finished we applied 4 coats  of sealer and let it dry. Then we applied a layer of vaseline so that the cement did not stick into the mold. Next step was to pour a mixture of cement, water and additives. The mixture dried for 8 hours. After taking the piece out of the mold, the surface has been cleaned out of the vaseline and the oil has been applied to uniform the finishing.

To be continued… (once we have more tiles) 

3d printed joints have two categorical ways to interact with thin fiberglass rods. The joint may either constrain the rod, or traverse along its length. In this design, we explored the possibility that each 3d printed component could introduce a new control point to the geometry of a rod’s vector, in addition to the “joint” operation.

The geometry of the 3d printed components is derived from this objective. The closed loop of an orientable surface is perpendicular to the rod’s vector on the apex that the rod passes through, and parallel to its vector on the apex that offers a second control point. The loop geometry is also designed to 1) minimize material without sacrificing the component’s bending strength and 2) meet additive manufacturing’s desire for geometrical self-support during printing.

The exercise was to design a vertical structure consisting of different kinds of connections with wood material. Our goal was to use the necessary number of vertical joints that accentuate the curvy figure of our structure… and of course, aim higher!

Our first prototype was to assemble one module (composed of 4 identical pieces). Using the interlocking technique we connected the modules with horizontal joints. With the use of the bending technique, we connected vertically the other set of modules. The structure was simple, very stable and had the possibility of reaching 3 meters.

We decided to push the connections further, and experiment with the material.

Instead of 4 units, we now used 5, and instead of horizontal connections, vertical ones were replaced, giving the structure a more minimalistic approach.

The organization of the joints along a 360 degrees angle substituted the use of any further structural elements for stability.

After experimenting with the profile of each strip, the joints enabled the exaggeration of the curves and hence magnifying the bloom effect with the possibility of going higher.

The evolution from horizontal to vertical joints

The procedure: heating and wetting of wood, bending, and intertwining

Group members: Hristo Kovachev, Maria Laura Cerda, Rasha Sukkarieh