The aim of this exercise was to create a kinetic structure with rotational movement with minimal number of 3d printed joints. It is a free standing structure made up of 20 2mm fiberglass rods, through two 3D printed perforated rings of dia..
The form resembles a conical cylinder which when rotated at different angles form different shapes. The form can also be on par with a whirling dervish which dances and rotates to is own tunes so as the structure which rotates, twists and turns to its capabilities.it is a portable structure and facilitates movement in x and y direction independent of the board it is fixed to. The bending properties of the fiber rod is utilized to the maximum resulting in various twists and turns.it is fixed to the board by laser cutting the board in the shape of the perforated ring.

The 3d printed ring has holes on the top in the shape of a flower and also holes on the sides at 30/60 degree which facilitates the angular twists and movements. The entire structure is centrally supported by vertical rods which helps the form to collapse. The end result of collapsing/bending is a floral pattern symbolizing a flower. The structure can be pushed and twisted to the extreme resulting in various complex shapes. The structure works of the simple mechanism of pushing and twisting.

http://youtu.be/V3mn_wL5ndY

The basic concept behind the whole design was to have dynamism in a vertical design by using one single element, and the possibility of this element to either move in the vertical axis so as to either merge the vertical rods inwards or expand them outwards or rotate the element in horizontal axis creating a spire effect in the vertical rods.

The Structure consists of two basic joints 3-D printed. One of which is a spherical egg shaped joint which is made by joining two hemispherical pieces together. The hemispherical pieces have ten holes in each piece which allow the vertical rods to go through making it possible to move this joint in the vertical axis, both the hemispherical joints get locked into each other providing the rotational flexibility in the horizontal axis.

There are five more identical joints which tie two vertical rods together under the spherical joint, the main function of these joints is to make the joints rigid or flexible near the base, which can be done by moving these pieces in the vertical axis. The closer they are to the base, greater rigidity the vertical rods have in the base, as you move these pieces farther away from the base, the vertical rods become more flexible near the base. this causes the vertical robs to either concave in or convex out near the base.

We were able to achieve a composition which is vertical in nature, but which can be able to change its geometry ( Straight vertical members or Spiral), height and radius.

The design of our tower was driven by several criteria: || maximization of material usage
|| repetition of a single member
|| achieving of several possible configurations

As a result of a successful implementation of the first and the second criteria, we were able to make use of 97% of the available material, consequently reaching the height of nearly 5 meters in the virtual model simulation. Nevertheless, the height of the virtual model was modeled in the “perfect world” conditions, thus not reflecting such important physical criteria as material stress capabilities and the vertical load distribution in a structure of this type. Having assembled several sections of the tower into their envisioned arrangement, we confirmed that such material as wood fails in direct correlation with the grain its cut along and the amount of stress it experiences in the thinnest joinery areas. We realized that in order to reduce the stress||strain loads in our tower we need to drastically reduce the total height of the structure and hence tackle the third design criteria, multiple configurations using a repetitive single element.

The base unit of the structure is a slightly curved uniform strip of wood that interlocks with two more identical elements to form a stiff, yet elegant triangle. Further mirrored upwards the newly formed two triangles visually mimic an “expanded metal” element, and are connected via cross-joints in the center and longitudinal joint at the vertices of the triangle. Once unified into one and rotated 30 degrees the units begin locking into each other, thus reinforcing the overall structure of the tower. Lastly, to break the uniform look of the structure we introduced the “turning torso” movement, physically rotating one third of the overall tower height by 15 degrees at each joint.

95 % use of material

Top View

Assembling pieces to form a triangle || 2 triangle form one unit || 2 units joined by cross joints

Scale Comparison

STOPMOTION