ddf final m3 journal
DESCRIPTION
ÂTRANSCRIPT
1
DIGITAL DESIGN + FABRICATION SM1, 2016 M3 JOURNAL - SLEEPING POD
Jie Li, Annabelle Roper, Laura Rawlings(743319, 699112, 695220)
Josh Russo - Group 7
2
Introduction
PROTOTYPE SUCCESSES
The prototype as it stands has a lot of successes and failures, which
gives us direction moving forward. We have created some nice
material effects, which we would like to carry through to the final
model. These include the rippling effect created by the loosely
attached fabric to the mesh system and the transparency of the pod
(see image 1). Moving forward we would like to exaggerate these
material effects to explore depth and enhance the experience of the
user and those viewing the pod from the outside.
PROTOTYPE FAILURES
We occurred difficulties when creating a bone structure that would
be strong enough to hold the pod in an arch position (see image 2).
We also had difficulties when joining the mesh system to the bone
structure. Moving forward we need to pay more attention to the finer
details to give the pod a polished and professional look. We will do so
by exploring different digital fabrication options.
Image 1: Rippling effect and transparency created in protoytpe.
Image 2: Prototype being held in outstretched position as it couldnt support it’s own weight.
3
Design developmentADDITION OF BONES EXAGGERATING MATERIAL EFFECTS
EXPLORING DEPTH RETHINKING JOINTS
Image 3: Bones for the pod to be laser cut from MDF sheets. Image 4: To exaggerate the material effects, transparent fabric will be used eitherside of the mesh system
so it can sill be seen. Also the addition of a second layer of the same system in a different material.
Image 5: Section of the two seperate layers, showing the depth of the material system. Image 5: The MDF bones will include holes so the mesh system can attach seamlessly.
4
Design development + fabrication of Prototype V.2
Image 6: Laser cut MDF bones, seperated from sheet
and holes popped out.
Image 7: Outer layer made from two different
thicknesses of tubing fixed with black electrical tape.
Image 8: Ropes tied together with while string, fabric
to be fixed to either side and sewn on the string ties.
Image 9: Rope and Fabric form inner layer and
tubing forms the outer layer. Both are attached to the
MDF bones.
5
ELEVATION
EXPLODED PERSPECTIVE
PLAN
6
Architecture in the Digital Age - Design + Manufacturing/ Branko Kolarevic, Spon Press, London c2003
Briefly outline the various digital fabrication processes. Explain how you use digital fabrication in your design?
Reading Response Wk 6
Two-Dimensional FabricationAs the name suggests, two-dimensional fabrication is limited to two-axis of motion of the
cutting head, material bed or a combination of the two. For example, sheet material
can be cut along the x-axis and y-axis only. Technologies include plasma arc, laser
beam and water jet cutting.
We are using laser beam technology, which is a two-dimensional fabrication technique,
for the bones for our sleeping pod, which will be made from MDF sheet material. Laser
cutters use a focused beam of high-intensity infrared light in conjunction with highly
pressurized gas to make precise cuts in sheet material.
Subtractive FabricationSubtractive fabrication involves the removal of a specified volume from a solid material.
In this instance the cutting head, material bed or combination of the two have three
to five-axis of movement. Technologies include electro, chemically, or mechanically
reductive processes.
Additive FabricationThe principle for all additive fabrication methods is that the digital model is sliced into
two-dimensional sections of which the information transferred to a processing head
and is used to create a three-dimensional model in a section-by-section fashion. An
example of additive fabrication is 3D printing.
Formative FabricationIn the formative fabrication process materials are reshaped or deformed through the
means of mechanical forces, restricting forms, heat or steam.
Image 10: CNC Milled Styrofoam moulds.
Image 11: Zollhof Towers, Frank Gehry.
Image 12: MDF bones laser cut file.
7
Reading applied to design
How does the fabrication process and strategy effect your second skin project?
The digital fabrication process does not benefit the main body of the pod
due to the random nature of the material systems chosen. It is important
to note that digital fabrication has its limitations, and craftsmanship
and the art of making things with your hands is still applicable in today’s
society.
We did however utilize digital fabrication when creating structural bones
for the pod. In this instance, laser cutting allowed us to create precise
arch shaped bones, with neat holes for fixing materials to. We also
benefited from the strength and thickness of the materials available to
be cut. For the bones of the V.2 prototype we used 3mm MDF, which was
much stronger than the cardboard used in the prototype made at the
end of module 2. We need to develop the design of the bones for the
final design however, as they are still not strong enough to support the
material system. This will be easier now we have tested the performance
of the previous laser cut bones.
Image 13: V.2 Prototype design supported by laser cut MDF bones.
Image 14: MDF bones after laser cutting. Image 15: Close up of precise holes created for fixing materials.
8
Digital Fabrications: architectural + material techniques/Lisa Iwamoto. New York: Princeton Architectural Press c2009
Describe one aspect of the recent shift in the use of digital technology from design to fabrication?
Reading Response Wk 7
The recent shift in digital technologies being used in all stages from design to
fabrication has led to the architect being once again more involved throughout the
whole process of the project. The increasing precessence of digital technologies in
the architecture industry has allowed the architect to regain the aspect of their role
that is oversight of the construction process.
The ease and flexibility of digital technologies makes many aspects of the design
and build process easier and more creative. Architect can easily create a complex
design on a computer modelling program and then translate that into a physical
model to test out certain aspects easily by 3d printing, laser cutting, CNC routing and
many more. Digital technologies have made this step so fast in contrast to traditional
methods that it gives the architect room to test new ideas and come up with new
construction methods, new visual effects, new uses for traditional materials or new
materials all together, without much need to worry about cost and time constraints.
With this new complexity in building effects and techniques architects have made it
harder to construct using traditional building methods but again digital technology
allows them to come up with new methods to both fit with the aesthetic of their
design and make construction efficient.
The precision of digital technologies has also added to this aspect, some of the
joining techniques of material effects would be impossible and extremely time
consuming if they had to be carried out by hand. The precision has meant that the
designer can measure up and calculate everything beforehand and test it, then
fabricate the building precisely in separate parts to then be put together on site.
Digital technologies has made it easier for complex buildings to be broken down
and constructed with the ease of flat pack building. Because of digital technologies
the architect or designer is involved in all aspects of the design and construction
process from testing to construction.
Image 16: Precise joints fabricated with digital technologies, and large projects broken into pieces to be
assembled on site. Images from text
9
Reading applied to designReferencing from the lectures and readings, what is the implication of digital fabrication on your design ?
Digital fabrication has had a significant impact on our design. Without digital fabrication
methods our design would have no form, stability, structure or depth. We have used digital
fabrication methods to explore the function of the main bones in our sleeping pod. It began
with just two bones. We had two arches laser cut from 3mm MDF board.
We tested it out with our second prototype after trying to hand cut boxboard for the first
prototype. Our first prototype did not work well at all, by choosing hand cutting instead of laser
cutting we could see first hand how much harder it was. It was slow, tiring and the boxboard
was not strong at all. So when we received our laser cut MDF we knew we were on the right
path. The laser cutting had made that whole process so much faster and we could use much
stronger materials than we would have used if we were hand cutting the bones.
After having the first bit of laser cutting done we were happy to try more. The speed of the laser
cutting had real implications on our design. We were able to quickly design our arches on Rhino
and pan out exactly where everything was to be and then send it off to get cut. This speed
of designing to fabricating has made the design move forward much faster than if everything
was done by hand. It has meant we could design more intricate patterns, think about other
possibilities for what we could do with the rest of the design now that we know the main
structure will hold. If we were still doing things by hand we would still be trying to figure out how
to make the bones strong enough.
The laser cutting also meant that we could precisely measure out and plan for all the joins we
were going to need. Through testing we were constantly changing how many joins we would
need, where they would be joined and how they would be joined. We were able to think of
the best possible way to join the many elements of our design together and then fabricate the
bones precisely to make the joins as perfect as they could be. The ease of fabricating what we need exactly with speed made the designing process faster and allowed us to be more creative with what we could create.
Image 17: First laser cut Rhino file and image. Basic design that was flimsy and too few and not
specific enough joins.
Image18: Second laser cut Rhino file and image. The deisgn has been developed, become
more structurally sound and has specific joins for each element.
10
Prototype development
Image 20: This image shows the extreme flexing in
the MDF arches. The patterning in the black piping
however is looking really nice. The mix of thicker
and thinner piping makes a unique pattern. The
front of the black piping needs to be attached to
a MDF arch.
Image 21: This photo illustrates the pattern of the
material and rope. The joints in the rope need
to be perfected to look less messy. The material
however is performing just the way we intended, it
is sheer so that both the sleeper and the rope can
be seen partially through the sleeping pod.
Image 19: An overall view of the second prototype with someone sleeping inside it. There are many
things that need to be resolved in our design as of yet. The picture shows the flex in the MDF, the
unfinished joins of the rope and material and the black piping to the MDF.
11
The design has much to improve on.
First we need to redesign the MDF arches. Each bone has
an upper and lower layer, in this prototype they are quite
separate, we will need to connect them more along the
whole length of the arch. We will also need to think about
how to thicken the arch either by cutting thicker MDF or
gluing.
To develop our design we will finesse all of our joint elements.
We need to tidy up the rope ties and the ends of the material.
Somehow we need to figure out how to fix the material to the
MDF bones.
We want to explore the possibility of somehow stretching
the material to interact with the top layer. We also need to
somehow manipulate the material to make the most of the
moire effects of the sheer fabric.
We need to explore methods of connecting all the ends of
the rope and piping at the ends of the arch where they rest
on the table.
REFLECTION + MOVING FORWARDImage 22: This photo demonstrates the structural instability of
the sleeping pod. The MDF arches are too thin and are not
attached to all the layers in the sleep pod. This has meant that
the sleep pod is not stable. The MDF is also not laser cut to make
it most structurally stable.
Image23: This photo shows all the joins of the different layers. The
white layer is tied to the MDF. These ties are messy and need to
be fixed. The black piping also looks messily put together, the
joins should not be of tape.
12
Prototype optimisationMATERIAL EFFECTS
We created some really nice material effects
in the V.2 prototype, now it’s just a matter of
exaggerating them even further.
For the inside layer, sewing the fabric to the rope
created really lovely rippling effects (see image
24). To make this even more dramatic we will use
a greater area of fabric and bunch it with every
stich to the rope (see image 27). This will hopefully
still have the rippling effects but have added
depth. The added material will also allow the rope
to retain all its movement, where as in the V.2
Prototype the smaller area of fabric restricted the
rope from moving in all directions.
We are quite happy with the aesthetic of the
outer tubing layer as it is, it creates a nice flowing
spiderweb effect (see images 25 & 26). the only
thing we need to tweak is the distance between
the joins, so as to allow more movement and
create larger gaps (see image 28).
Image 24: fabric sewn to rope.
Image 25: Pattern created with tubing.
Image 26: pattern created at the
top of the outer layer.
Image 27: Attaching a larger area of fabric to the rope to create exaggerated rippling effects.
Image 28: Creating larger spaces between joins to allow the tubing to stretch further.
13
MATERIAL EFFECTS
Testing effects Effects on Personal Space
One of the main aims of our sleeping pod is to create an inviting and
comfortable interior volume for sleeping in and a harder, scarier exterior to
communicate to others the need for personal space.
One of the main ways we have done this is through the use of different
colours. The inter layer is completely white, which gives the interior a softer
aesthetic, similar to that of white sheets on a bed. The outer layer is a
contrasting black, which has a harder and less inviting aesthetic.
Also the differences in material choices for the inner and outer layer help to
create different experiences inside and outside of the pod. The inner layer is
made from fabric and thin rope, which is soft to touch and molds around the
body. The exterior tubing on the other hand is hard to touch and takes a lot
more force to mold.
The choice of fabric is something we did a lot of testing on. We want the final
model to have a rippling effect but still be transparent so the user of the pod
can still see out, avoiding the feeling of disconnectedness for the outside.
Image 29: Testing different fabrics to see the way they crumple and how transparent they are.
14
Prototype optimisationDIGITAL FABRICATION
The main issue with the previous laser cut bones
was that they were not strong enough to pull out
the plastic tubing. Also the gap between the inner
and outer bone meant that they had too much
flex. Making the laser cut for the prototype was
not a complete fail however, because it was great
having the scale physical model to test the material
performance in order to develop the final laser cut
bones.
The first improvement we made to the bones was
to make them 12mm thick as opposed to 3mm,
meaning each bone had to be cut four times and
glued together (see image 30).
The next change we made was to fill in the gap
between the inner and outer layer. We did so with
a zigzag pattern to add strength and continue the
pattern of the fabric and rope system (see images 31
& 32).
Image 30: laser cut file, showing four of each bone and the way they were sized and arranged to fit on eight 900x600 sheets of MDF.
Image 31: Zigzag pattern etched on the front and back bones to
match the aesthetics of the sleeping pod.
Image 32: Zigzag pattern filling in the gap in the bones and creating
strength.
Image 33: Smaller holes for fixing the plastic tubing with cable ties and
slightly larger holes for fixing the rope with string.
Image 34: Larger holes in the inner bones for ropes to be attached
through.
15
DIGITAL FABRICATION
Effects on Functionality and Aesthetics
After the bones were glued together and left to dry over night,
they were extremely strong and it was next to impossible to
bend them at all. In terms of functionality this was a huge
success because we should now be able to pull the sleeping
pod out evenly. The thickness of the bones also should allow the
pod to stay in an upright position.
The precision of laser cutting has had a large effect on the
quality of aesthetic produced. We chose to compliment the
fabric and rope system by etching a zigzag pattern onto the
bones (see image 37), which will act as a guide when we paint
them. Laser cutting also allowed us to create precise fixing holes
on the bones, meaning there should be no messy joins.
Image 35: Laser cut before being removed from the sheet. Image 36: Bones being left to dry after being glued together.
Image 37: Dried bones ready for painting. Image 37: Etched detail and fixing points.
16
Prototype optimisationDETAILS AND JOINS
There are four main join aspects we need to improve. First there is the join be-tween the black piping and the mdf bones, second is the joining of the black piping, then the joins in the rope weave pattern, and finally the join between the fabric and the rope layer.Joining the black piping to the mdf we need to find a secure but discrete meth-od to do so. This is because the force of pulling the stretchy weave is great. We tested black tape and cable ties, the cable ties worked best. This was because with the tape we had to wrap it around the whole mdf width which was not discrete, where as the cable ties could easily be looped through holes in the mdf close to the piping so it was more hidden. The joining of the black piping to itself is also quite similar to joining it to the mdf, it needs to be strong but it’s profile should not be too large as to distract from the smooth curves of the piping in an arch. We tested cable ties and black tape again but for this joint the black tape was the best option. This was because it was wrapping around two bits of piping at were similar size so it had a very flat profile and was strong.Joining the rope to itself we wanted a join that fitted with the aesthetic of the rope. We tried white tape but this didn’t have a good fit with the rope. We also tried wrapping and knotting string around the rope, this worked the best.Finally the most difficult is joining the fabric to the rope. We were really only left with the option of sewing as glueing gets too messy and because our fabric is sheer you would see this mess. We came up with sewing a loop through the two layers of fabric and around the joins on the rope weave so that the full effect of the matterial looking like it is floating would be true. We also had to find a way of joining the edges of the material to either the mdf or the rope so that they would look finished and not just look like messy cut edges. We tried glueing this mate-rial to the mdf but it was messy and the glue took off the paint on the mdf. We ended up sewing loops again around the joins that were through or on the mdf ribs. On the edges that were at the ends of the arches we folded and sewed the material to the rope.
Image42: Plan view of the sewn loop around the rope
joins connecting the edges of the two layers of fabric to
the rope layer.
Image 39: Plan view of the knotted side of the rope
joins. The knot is small and discrete.
Image 40: Plan view of the folded and sewn end of the
fabric. By folding and sewing over the ends of the rope, the
rope is also secured to ensure uniform movement of the
ends of rope.
Image41: Perspective view of join of two ropes through
and MDF arch.
17
Image 47: Left: The testing of white tape to attach the rope together, doesn’t look nice.
Image 48: Right: The string wrapped around the ropes and then knotted. This looks much nicer and fits with the
aesthetic.
Image 49: Left: The joint where cotton thread was sewn around the rope joint to join the rope and fabric in a
discrete way.
Image50: Right: The folded and sewn ends of the fabric to finish it off and connect the ends of the rope to the
fabric.
Image 43: eft: The testing of the black tape to attch the black piping to the mdf.
Image 44: Right: The black cable tie, its much less obvious and very secure.
Image 45: Left: The testing of the black tape to attch the black piping to itself when the weave is not
stretched.
Image 46: Right: The black tape performing well while the weave is stretched. In both cases the tape is not
distracting from the smooth black piping.
DETAILS AND JOINS
18
2nd Skin final design
PERSPECTIVE
PLAN
ELEVATION
19
EXPLODED PERSPECTIVES
20
Fabrication Sequence
Step 1: Removing bones from MDF sheet and
popping out fixing holes.
Step 2: Each bone was made from four identical
pieces which were stacked on top of each other,
glued and left to set in clamps for 24 hours.
Step 3: Bones were romoved from temporary clamps. Step 4: First a layer of white spray paint was applied
to the bones and left to dry overnight. Then an edge
marked out with masking tape for the plack paint.
Step 9: We then stiched the fabric to either side of the
rope, using the marks we created as guides for where
to stitch.
Step 10: By using double the width of fabric to rope,
we created a puffy rippling pattern for the inner layer.
Step 11: The inner layer was then attatched to the
bones using the same string that eas used for the
knots.
Step 12: Once all sections were attatched any
overhanging pieces of fabric were stitched back to
the rope to create a neat finish.
21
Step 5: When paint was completely set, the masking
tape was removed to reveal a clean line.
Step 6: The rope was them measured out and
tied together with string.The knots were glued and
trimmed when dry.
Step 7: We then marked out the pattern of the knots
on a large piece of paper but stretched the pattern
out to double it’s width.
Step 8: This piece of paper was used as a guide to
create marks on the fabric where it would be sticked
to the rope.
Step 13: The tubing for the outer layer was then
measured out and and joined using black electrical
tape.
Step 14: When each section was completed we
pulled it out to chech that it wasn’t missing any joints.
Step 15: The tubing sections were then joined to the
bones using cable ties.
Step 16: when all sections of the tubing were
attatched the cable ties were trimmed and any long
ends of piping were trimmed.
22
Assembly Drawing
Image 51: Bones stacked on top of one another and glued together. Image 52: Ropes attached with string to create mesh system.
Image 53: Fabric attached to either side of the rope uning needle and thread. A greater area of fabric
to rome mesh to create a puffy effect.
Image 54: Plastic tubing attached with black electrical tape. Pattern goes two thin tubes then
one thick one.
23
EXPLODED ISOMETRIC
24
2nd Skin
25
26
Appendix
27