Research's IaaC - Students Research - Digital Tectonics

kryn_stallation

MAA Students: Diego Lopez Ibarra (Mexico),Gamze Gunduz (Turkey), Viraat Kumar (India)

introduction

_ about the studio

thesis

materials&experiments

_crystal

_controlling crystal growth

_references

_scaffold

_mesh experiments

_thread experiments

_floatation

catenaries

_references

machine

_machinic control

design process

on site

conclusion

Research Studio: Digital Tectonics

Studio Instructor: Marta Malé-Alemany

Studio Assistant:Brian Peters

Project Summary:

Kry(n)stallation is a construction process that mixes two wasted phenomenons found in nature in order to model and rigidify inhabitable temporary spaces of low cost and reusable materials. Floatation and crystallization.

It’s geometrical shaper method takes advantage of the force of floatation on lineal soft elements (like threads or ropes) in order to lift some parts and sink other ones, achieving a desired form. These spaces are dictated by the position of the threads on a base and the placing of some punctual items that improve or reduce the buoyancy effect on the thread, such floats and weights.

The second natural process is the stiffening of those threads and it happens thanks to the particles of floating crystals in the solution, triggering the growth of crystals on the submerged group of threads under a supersaturated solution. Crystals would cover each thread in a specific period of time, merging the crystals layer of one thread to the closest layer, creating a single crystal “stone”.

This supersaturated solution can be produced under controlled conditions (like borax or sugar) or can be simply find on site in the Dead Sea owning to the fact it’s waters contains a particular amount of salt that crystallizes

Before the submersion of the threads a pre-treatment of them is done, a half automated, half manual.

The computerized part prints an “instructive” on the thread itself and on the base where it will be placed. This information is generated on a computer and is communicated by a kit of portable devices described next.

A machine colors with dots where the floats, weights and connections to other threads should be placed on the thread. A fourth color indicates the initial and final edges of the thread that should be connected to the frame or to other thread. These edges are labeled by a small label printer, that relates the threads to a frame printed on a continuous paper printer and pasted on a solid surface (like wood).

The dipping technique of the group of threads would depend of the supersaturated solution (a manufactured tank, a site filled with the solution or the Dead Sea) and will result, after the crystallization, in a temporary resistant structure. The material can be reused after the melting, even the crystals .

Thesis:

designing geometry

machinic control

coding the thread

application

crystallization

material behavior

change through time

W-underland

MAA Students: Mohamad Ghamlouch (Libanon),Morten Bulow (Denmark), Marko Vukovic (Serbia)

Research Studio: Digital Tectonics

Studio Instructor: Marta Malé-Alemany

Studio Assistant:Brian Peters

Project Summary:

The ecological and collective intelligence through which nature operates has stimulated a new approach to architectural design & construction (1). This

multidisciplinary approach draws largely on existing synergies between biology & computer science. In particular, the study of self-evolving biological

systems & organisms (2) & the inherent interrelation of architecture to its natural environment have affected current architectural thinking by putting the

emphasis on the generative process of the structure, rather than the end product itself. Key biological concepts such as adaptation,homeostasis,emerge

nce & self organization may be translated in architectural practice,in order for the man made artifi cial structure to be ‘alive’, that is,to achieve equilibrium

with its natural environment. Lamarck’s concept of adaptation ensures the fi tness of a system by causing changes as a response to environmental pressure,

but also allows for the fi t system-organism to infl uence its environment in turn. Self-organization characterizes the properties of a system such as the

continual adaptation to a changing environment & the strong aptitude to restore itself without centralized control or supervision. Self-organizing parts of the

system or else autonomous agents carry out simple local rules without the insight that they perform a global task or that they participate in global organization

In architecture, we could consider a homeostatic and self-organizing structure as a structure which adapts dynamically to the changing environmental

conditions;a living system,a ‘breathing’ organism in equilibrium with its ecological environment. The main research question this project addresses is what

innovative techniques of design, construction and materials could prospectively be developed and eventually applied and sustain man made architectural

systems which are mostly adaptive,homeostatic and self-controlled, without option to a vast supply of materials and peripheral services.

The ecological and collective intelligence through which nature operates has stimulated a new approach to architectural design & construction (1). This