Exhibit Opening

Exhibit Opening

Exhibit Opening

Exhibit Overview

The gallery prior to opening.

Update!

heres a little update with our prototypes. The full scale wall is now up in the commons to enjoy! more pics on diagrams and so forth soon!

'team banzai

FRAGMENTS & REFINEMENTS Gallery Exhibition

Gallery of Architecture and Urbanism
2131 E Hartford Ave
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211

Exhibition Opening Event:
Thursday, April 22, 2010
7:00PM-9:00PM

Exhibition:
April 23, 2010 through May 14, 2010
Monday-Friday, 9:00AM-4:00PM

By melding parametric design and experimental fabrication, fourteen designers transform common materials into provocative proof-of-concept architectural systems. The exhibition includes material artifacts, full-scale prototypes, structural studies, a ceiling installation and two wall installations. These fragments tap into the latent complexity of materials through an iterative process of discovery and refinement.

Designers:

Umesh Dhimal, Tom Foley, Kevin Hinz, Jim Hinze, James Lewis, Jodi Masanz, Peter Nguyen, Paul Pedretti, Dace Russell, Kevin Schneider, Michelle Sletten, Brandon Spoehr, Andy Stigen, Colleen Stuber, Prof. Kyle Talbott

GALVANIZE System_Tooling_2.0

This video shows how the components are constructed from the combination of steel track and salvaged wood.

The propagation of the component creates a single rib. There is a total of 18 ribs in the installation.

Hard at Work

The Derivative Design Group hard at work for the exhibition.

GALVANIZE_component_propagation

The individual component

Small scale growth

Mid-scale growth

mid-scale lateral propagation

Drape

Vapor

Carapace

Team Firefly Progress

Using a spiral matrix pattern, we have been melting pieces of .030 PETG over museum board components that are melted together to form modules. The resulting draping pieces of plastic gives the underside a sinuous fabric-like glowing effect, while the top has a smooth scale-like surface.

Relationship Between Experimentation and Theory

(This is really a comment on Kevin's post from March 10, placed in the main thread in order to draw attention back to the question.)

The question of the relationship between experimentation and theory is a sub-set of the larger question: what is the relationship between action and thought? The answer is: thought drives action, and it is subsequently informed by action. This is the core lesson of the feedback loop. To act effectively, we must guide our actions with knowledge acquired from our observations of the world, and to enhance and expand our knowledge of the world, we must engage it in action. We must explore and discover. The relationship between action and thought is not unilateral, in which one element dominates the other, because we are integrated beings, possessing both a body and mind. We need both to survive and to thrive. To paraphrase Ayn Rand: A body without a mind is a zombie, and a mind without a body is a ghost. Both are archetypes of the undead.

Experimenting is an action. It is a way of doing the work of design. Its antithesis is perpetuating, which is the mainstream’s dominant way of working. That is a different action. So the question really is: what ideas (i.e., what theories) are coupled with these actions? What are the ideas that complete the necessary coupling of action and thought in the work of architects? Perpetuating … what? Experimenting … for what? Experimenting is pointless as an end-in-itself. It must be directed, guided by a curiosity about something. It is always guided by an idea (explicit or implicit) about what is important to explore and discover about the world. In other words, every act of experimentation implies a value-judgment – a choice to explore this as opposed to that, which implies that the selected subject of experiment is more important than alternative subjects not pursued. Every act of experimentation expresses a view of the world – a view of what is important about the world or life in it.

Perpetuating is the same. What does one choose to perpetuate? Every act of perpetuation involves a choice, and thus, it too expresses a view of what is important.

So what have you been experimenting with in your projects this semester? What aspects of the world have been drawn out and accentuated? What conventions have you accepted and perpetuated in your work this semester? Answering these questions will lead you toward an understanding of the view of the world embodied in your work. It is a good way to begin to see what your work means.

Article from national discussion on thesis

Discusses how different theoretical structures in practice can be used as models for structuring thesis.

http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=96699_0_23_0_M

Project: FireFly

Our group plan is to use software to generate a pattern plan, around which we will melt small
plastic components (pictures coming soon), which will then be assembled into larger groups that
will in turn make up our ceiling prototype. We have access to an unlimited number of plans and
must make some design decisions about how the overall expression develops.

There are over 1000 different options here to choose from, some more attractive than others. It
would be interesting to try a voronoi but I think it will express stability. I for one, am interested in
movement, so we will see how the project unfolds. Notice how the plan above varies between static
and dynamic with subtle changes such as tangential alignment or simple moves like shifting the
regulating point lists.

Although the video is at 8x speed, it is sooooooo slow; I did not have great access to movie
software at this time and will have to do better next time. Hopefully there will be more to come
(and more elegant videos) as the plan gets applied to 3 dimensions.

WORMY BRIDGE

material@museum- board

Your Old Fashioned Covered Bridge

Just like the one your Grandma used to go through...


sorry about the missing diagrams...they weren't available at this posting
The bridge does have a complete set of plans and will be available soon at a store near you.

Growth of Plastic

Radiolara Spackling Bridge






Study Model: two layers of mesh with spackling pattern in between

Prototype with one layer of mesh