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Simbiotek Product Display Case
Simbiotek Product Display Case
2220, Fern Street, San Diego, CA, United States
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Simbiotek Product Display Case
2220, Fern Street, San Diego, CA, United States
This display case was created to showcase our products in retail locations. The pattern is designed to morph from a grid of rounded rectangles to vornoi shapes that represent Simbiotek's rapid prototyping and scripting integration into our product designs. A more technical description is below - nherent to many cell patterns in nature is the relationship between
cellular density and armature thickness. Essentially material is
allocated based on the diameter of the cell. The larger the cell the
thicker the wall. Inversely the more tightly packed and dense the cells
are the smaller their diameter and the offset of the cell wall, however,
the increase in populating cells leads to an equal amount of material
distribution regardless of density or diameter. The result can be seen
in the recent jewelry display case sent to the Dots and Loops in Nova
Scotia and throughout the animal and plant world. Although aesthetic in
this application the pattern is structurally sound when load is applied
parrallel to the plane.
The script was originally developed for the Column 5 publication by
Amanda Bruot and myself but its mathematical roots emerged during the
design of the meta bracelet and table currently being manufactured by
Arcadia Contract Furniture out of La Palma, CA. Back
then then my knowledge of scripting tools like grasshopper was
non-existent and required me to lay down points and control density
manually which the voronoi command in Rhino would transform into a
cellular diagram color coded based on area of the cell. I would then
have to count the number of cells, find my minimum and maximum cell
offsets, subtract the min. from the max., and divide that by the number
of cells ultimately giving me offset distance to increase from one to
the next.
Example:
100 cells
min offset = .0625″
max offset = 1.5″
max-min = 1.4375
1.4375″/ 98 = .015
(98 because the min and max are already accounted for)
The .015 is then the offset distance to increase from one cell to
another. So then if the min is .0625″, the next smallest cell will be
.0625″ + .015″ equallying .0775″ and so forth. One can see how this is
an exhausting process. Luckily my colleague in the M.Sc program, Ms.
Bruot, is a grasshopper wiz and considered this logic in the
construction of the VoroMorph definition which will be posted as soon as
the publication gets printed. The script was developed for a
installation in Gould Court which is inside the College of Built
Environments at the University of Washington. The goal was to explore
extreme cantilevered conditions in nature and harness some of that logic
in the design of a cantilevered canopy for Gould Court’s cafe.
GouldVoromorph2This
years Column 5 theme required all entries to deal with issues of access
and/ or excess in architecture. The extreme cantilevered design of the
installation allows for maximum “access” to the cafe space that it
hovers above providing a screen for privacy from the bridge above while
concerns for excess are dealt with by allocation of material based on
structural need. The installation grabs onto two vertical surfaces and
one horizontal quite similar to Tom Wiscombe’s dragonfly installation at
SCI-Arc. Three organisms we studied for their cantilevered
conditions were the lily pad, dragonfly wing, and the bird of paradise’s
petiole. Looking
at dragonfly wings one can’t help but be struck by its intricate
patterning. The top portion of the wing is defined by beam-like behavior
consisting of quadrilateral cells while its bottom morphs into 5, 6,
and 7 sided cells for flexiblity. This allows the wing to maintain
stability and flexibilty at once giving the dragonfly unmatched
manueverability while in flight.
The
lily pad on the other hand has evolved very differently because of
forces exhibited on its understructure which consists of cells that
gradually decrease in depth as they reach the outer diameter. Unlike the
dragonfly wing, this pattern consists of almost entirely
quadrilaterials with few pentegonal cells because its surroundings
dictate a need for stiffness. While structural the pattern has also
evolved in response to buoyancy and vascular necessity. Finally the bird
of paradise’s petiole has evolved into an incredibly robust structure
capable of holding up the weight of a sun bird that lands on it to drink
up nectar. The petiole opens up releasing sticky pollen onto its feet
which it then carries over to the next plant ensuring pollenation. The
petiole is very small yet its ultimate strength and young’s modulus is
higher than douglas fir!
These concepts are all built into the script. There are many
parameters that yield a variety of patterning from the incredibly
ordered and branch-like to the seemingly chaotic and cellular which was
the main idea behind the jewelry display case. Hayley and I design very
differently as those that are following our blog have noticed. Hayley
utilizes analogue methods displaying highly ordered geometric patterns
while I have a taste for computationally derived messy biological
patterning. The display case shows off both of our tastes in that it
consists of chaotic cells composed of 5, 6, and 7 sided shapes that
morph into ordered quadrilaterals. One more example of how opposites
attract!
cellular density and armature thickness. Essentially material is
allocated based on the diameter of the cell. The larger the cell the
thicker the wall. Inversely the more tightly packed and dense the cells
are the smaller their diameter and the offset of the cell wall, however,
the increase in populating cells leads to an equal amount of material
distribution regardless of density or diameter. The result can be seen
in the recent jewelry display case sent to the Dots and Loops in Nova
Scotia and throughout the animal and plant world. Although aesthetic in
this application the pattern is structurally sound when load is applied
parrallel to the plane.
The script was originally developed for the Column 5 publication by
Amanda Bruot and myself but its mathematical roots emerged during the
design of the meta bracelet and table currently being manufactured by
Arcadia Contract Furniture out of La Palma, CA. Back
then then my knowledge of scripting tools like grasshopper was
non-existent and required me to lay down points and control density
manually which the voronoi command in Rhino would transform into a
cellular diagram color coded based on area of the cell. I would then
have to count the number of cells, find my minimum and maximum cell
offsets, subtract the min. from the max., and divide that by the number
of cells ultimately giving me offset distance to increase from one to
the next.
Example:
100 cells
min offset = .0625″
max offset = 1.5″
max-min = 1.4375
1.4375″/ 98 = .015
(98 because the min and max are already accounted for)
The .015 is then the offset distance to increase from one cell to
another. So then if the min is .0625″, the next smallest cell will be
.0625″ + .015″ equallying .0775″ and so forth. One can see how this is
an exhausting process. Luckily my colleague in the M.Sc program, Ms.
Bruot, is a grasshopper wiz and considered this logic in the
construction of the VoroMorph definition which will be posted as soon as
the publication gets printed. The script was developed for a
installation in Gould Court which is inside the College of Built
Environments at the University of Washington. The goal was to explore
extreme cantilevered conditions in nature and harness some of that logic
in the design of a cantilevered canopy for Gould Court’s cafe.
GouldVoromorph2This
years Column 5 theme required all entries to deal with issues of access
and/ or excess in architecture. The extreme cantilevered design of the
installation allows for maximum “access” to the cafe space that it
hovers above providing a screen for privacy from the bridge above while
concerns for excess are dealt with by allocation of material based on
structural need. The installation grabs onto two vertical surfaces and
one horizontal quite similar to Tom Wiscombe’s dragonfly installation at
SCI-Arc. Three organisms we studied for their cantilevered
conditions were the lily pad, dragonfly wing, and the bird of paradise’s
petiole. Looking
at dragonfly wings one can’t help but be struck by its intricate
patterning. The top portion of the wing is defined by beam-like behavior
consisting of quadrilateral cells while its bottom morphs into 5, 6,
and 7 sided cells for flexiblity. This allows the wing to maintain
stability and flexibilty at once giving the dragonfly unmatched
manueverability while in flight.
The
lily pad on the other hand has evolved very differently because of
forces exhibited on its understructure which consists of cells that
gradually decrease in depth as they reach the outer diameter. Unlike the
dragonfly wing, this pattern consists of almost entirely
quadrilaterials with few pentegonal cells because its surroundings
dictate a need for stiffness. While structural the pattern has also
evolved in response to buoyancy and vascular necessity. Finally the bird
of paradise’s petiole has evolved into an incredibly robust structure
capable of holding up the weight of a sun bird that lands on it to drink
up nectar. The petiole opens up releasing sticky pollen onto its feet
which it then carries over to the next plant ensuring pollenation. The
petiole is very small yet its ultimate strength and young’s modulus is
higher than douglas fir!
These concepts are all built into the script. There are many
parameters that yield a variety of patterning from the incredibly
ordered and branch-like to the seemingly chaotic and cellular which was
the main idea behind the jewelry display case. Hayley and I design very
differently as those that are following our blog have noticed. Hayley
utilizes analogue methods displaying highly ordered geometric patterns
while I have a taste for computationally derived messy biological
patterning. The display case shows off both of our tastes in that it
consists of chaotic cells composed of 5, 6, and 7 sided shapes that
morph into ordered quadrilaterals. One more example of how opposites
attract!
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