Structure with Foam&Plywood--digital model

Face Lift

Facade system and structure

Robot pokes different sized apertures into water jet-cut panels and them places them onto a pegged structure system

RoboPlaster

Cutting out Tool

Mounting

 Drying

Peeling

Tilt and Twist

Form before plaster

Sample of 60 degree twist and 30 degree tilt

Sample of 120 degree twist and 60 degree tilt

Tool and wire cage used on robot

Finished pieces being suspended for display

Plaster String Tool

Two Layered Plate for String Twist

Left: Larger hole to allow for the thickness of the string and knot

Right: Medium hole for stockings and small hole for strings to feed through

Pinch, Pull, and Progress

Primary attempt: non-robotic, understanding the reaction to a static grid

Second attempt: Jogging the robot with a rudimentary jig and string cage

Design for final precise jig to be laser cut

Robo Pinch and Pull

We tested two ideas of pulling and pinching; one where the form was decided entirely by the concrete and another where it was contained within nylon. The intersecting fishing line here changes its rotation as well, leading to ideas about the parallel change of containment and angle of a supportive "grid".

With the parameters of a shifting grid and a slumped vs. a taught material, we can control either everything with the robot or just a single factor with the robot.

Process Videos of Felt Catenaries

Speeding up drying time

Catenaries

Response to 7 Retooling for Mass Market

Response to 7 Retooling for Mass Market 

The homogeneous pattern emerged with the urbanisation has the tendency to be interrupted by parametric work relying on digital fabrication. While, Sears Tower in Chicago or Bank of American Plaza in Atlanta could also be considered as effective interruption of repetitive stereotypes of skyscrapers. The insufficient heterogeneity is the consequence of pursuing labor saving instead of the typical modern design’s incapability. Undoubtedly parametric work contains more possibilities as the fundamental theory is still establishing. Moreover, its higher magnitude of complexity ensures dynamic shapes and then the spaces. However, its domains concentrate on stretched vertical or horizontal spaces which modern architecture handles less successfully. According to Professor McCullough, “parametric work better in domains whose subject matter is engineered form itself, especially in mechanical components for complex assemblies such as vehicles.” It works less well when function weights out configuration. One danger of parametric design is its lack of established judging principles. The general concerns of the turning the city into experimental land by suddenly eruption. Besides, since parametric design contains biomorphic feature then blurs its existence as an artificial product, whether it will leads giddiness and discomfort when it obtain enough density as described in uncanny valley theory? Third, the homogeneous in the worldwide is not avoided as all designs are based on imitable algorithm . Whether parametric design will evolve and absorb local elements as Neo Regionalism? As the construction material are small to adapt multiple changes, it contains gap to translate tradition prototype into utilizable way. Will the parametric design follow some unprecedented logic, such as language, to make separation on area? Personally speaking, I do think modern architecture will narrow itself into specific area to do further research which will be endless.

   

*Uncanny valley: the uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of human aesthetic which holds that when human features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among some human observers. The valley refers to the dip in a graph of the comfort level of human as subjects move towards a healthy, natural human likeness described in a function of  a subject’s aesthetic acceptability. Examples can be found in the field of robotic and 3d computer animation.