Is it possible to create shape with light? Can a hexagonal grid be disguised by casting light upon its tiles? This questions where the main drivers behind the Bermuda Tile concept. Creating a tile that at a simple glance would show little relief yet once was casted on it, a strong relief would be revealed and a completely different pattern would arise.

To achieve this with 7mm profiling was more difficult  than expected, since shadows are not as long and defined as desired. Given the case, the design set of to be done with simple, long lines that would cast long defined shadows, complimented by smaller, less defined sub-shadows. The triangle was selected as the primitive for both hard and soft shadows. By drawing 3 concentric triangles (out of three opposite vertices) and then displacing them and tilting them with different rotation angles. Afterwards, the resulting surfaces between them and with the borders where further triangulated  to create the softer shadows. This smaller triangles got the needed tilt by the joining of its vertices with the main triangles and boundaries.

Finally, the tile was run through Rhino Cam using two 12mm pens carving out the main geometry and then doing a parallel finishing for the details to come out. The milling, mold, and casting procedures followed and finally polishing the pieces for further detail exposure.

Rhino Cam Simulation

3D Model

This tower was conceived by the exploration on the material and it’s stress and bending capabilities. The design process started out by testing the best of wood’s properties; tension. A component was created to explore the strength and limits of bending and twisting and the possibilities of clipping and holding under tensile strength. Several prototypes were created until one final component which combined the best bending and stretching behavior with simple and versatile clipping joints.

This single piece is the morpheme from which the tower is built. It’s significance though comes when it is paired with another single piece. The legs are joined top and bottom with each other to become the building block. This joined state places both pieces in tension that locks them together and becomes a strong piece that withstands tension, compression, bending, and twisting.

Finally, once the components where all assembled, we started exploring the possibilities of connections and the resulting form. This process led us to several forms, from simple stacking to create a stout, solid tower, to vertical climbing by connecting ends and using the wood’s tensile strength to tighten the structure. The shape chosen is an ode to the material and the component and the infinite possibilities that the combination of both bring forth.

Group 4 : Chirana Sumendap, Karl Francalanza, Pablo Marcet