myLight is a “Do It Yourself” luminaire intended to provide a user with a memorable experience and appreciation for design and fabrication. Made from durable mylar, myLight is hand assembled by the user following a video as a guide. The object becomes more than simply a store-bought lamp as the user is involved in its production and takes pride in its assembly. PROJECTiONE is focused on process in conjunction with final results. myLight shares this experience directly with users. The visual complexity of the laser cut system adds to its beauty while the simple method and repetition of assembly makes it easy and fun to build. We hope the process can be a shared experience for multiple users gathered around a single myLight.

myLight is based on a component system that can be modified to create multiple shapes, sizes, and colors of luminaires, and the current system has been designed for easy handling and assembly by any user. The “Teardrop” is our first version in the line and is now available for sale! Please check back for more styles to come in the future.

Teardrop $375.00 USD
Luminaire Dimensions: 11”w x 17”h
Contents: 15’ UL listed cable and socket assembly, polystyrene hardware and cable tie, 286 laser cut mylar components
Custom designed / fabricated packaging
Made to order, ships in: 1-2 Weeks

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INTRODUCTION:

Radiance covers a standalone brick fireplace in a mid century ranch home in Broad Ripple, Indiana. The clients rarely used their existing wood-burning fireplace and wanted to change its function. We proposed an ambient lighting piece that still hosts traditional qualities of the hearth. As an artist and an architect, the clients’ liberal and eclectic design aesthetic allowed for a great degree of freedom and risk-taking during development. They considered this project as commissioned artwork rather than a client-based architectural intervention, adding to their collection in the home. Radiance is intended to exploit the qualities of the hearth by re-centering the focus of the home and providing an ambient environmental effect.

The project was initiated through the clients’ interest in our plyLight sketch prototype, based on its subtle reactive lighting effects and human tracery. We expanded on these ideas, focusing on visual and systematic complexities of the work. By creating simple geometry and interactions at local levels we could render complex reactions and forms in the overall scheme. Though it was developed and organized through its sub-components, the result is a continuous system which reacts uniformly.

DESIGN:

Radiance was inspired by various shelf mushrooms, based on their form, organizational structure, and component geometry. The mushroom has a distinguishing set of gills that alternate in lengths from the stem’s center point. The lengths of these gills forms a repetitive pattern intended to cover the largest surface area under each mushroom cap. This pattern has been abstracted into our system to arrange each pod, defined as a radial set of 16 plastic components with an LED placed directly behind each. The wiring for the LEDs is embedded within the surface of milled MDF, further expressing the pod’s organizational system. A Passive Infrared Sensor is located at the centroid of each pod, acting as the trigger for the parts around it.

Surface area coverage was important for the project as the poured plastic components and electronics are expensive and time-intensive. The patterning made coverage of the fireplace feasible meeting both our design criteria for density and fit within our timeline. A Grasshopper definition was developed to create the overall pattern and generate final fabrication files, including toolpaths for acrylic and MDF milling, as well as wire length calculations for each component.

DETAILS:

We constructed a steel frame that would enclose the existing fireplace, giving us the ability to fabricate most of the project offsite and assemble, predominantly, in their home. The frame bolts together so it can be disassembled for travel and reassembled onsite. All hardware is recessed in the frame to maintain clearance around the fireplace, and each corner embeds set screws in order to tighten against the fireplace and level out the project without drilling into the brick. Three sides were assembled completely before sliding the piece around the fireplace. Then the fourth access wall was then assembled utilizing embedded magnets in the MDF for attachment to the steel.

The MDF is the structural armature for all wiring, sensors, circuit boards, and plastic components. On the front side, the main LED wiring is exposed to express the organizational pattern while the reverse side contains all sensor, power, and serial wiring. Color is applied to this layer and masked with clear acrylic.

The acrylic acts as a protective layer for the paint and brings out the richness of its color. Its milled areas catch the light of the LED’s, traveling through its clear portions. This tooling occurs in areas where the pods do not overlap, further expressing order as well as adding texture.

To create an ambient and subtle reactive lighting piece we found it is necessary to dim all 512 LEDs individually. To do so, we developed our own Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufactured through a third party vendor. This PCB houses our Integrated Circuits (TLC5940NT dip-28, made by Texas Instruments) utilizing Pulse Width Modulation (PWM or dimming) on each of its 16 outputs. This allows for the individual fading of each LED. Each of our PCBs corresponds with a pod of 16 elements. These elements pulse slowly out from the center when the sensor is triggered. The Passive Infrared sensor (PIR) is controlled by allowing only a small viewing angle through the acrylic surface, blocking infrared light from all but a designated cone of space off of the surface. These viewing cones have been tuned based on the existing spatial conditions of furniture, walls, and function of the home. Pods are in groups of three and run independently off of eleven individual Arduino Pro Mini microcontrollers.

Each urethane plastic component is part of a multistep mold making process. We began by iteratively 3D printing potential forms. The positive powder prints are then sanded and coated in preparation for a two-part urethane rubber. Points in the mold were created to locate 3d printed jigs used to place a bolt and plastic spacer in each part which fastens to the MDF. We chose Smooth-Cast 325 as our poured plastic material due to its fast cure time, durability, and translucency. 512 hand poured components were created at 12-13 parts per hour with very little variation between parts.

INTERACTION:

There are two pulses that occur after triggering a pod’s sensor. A primary ‘pulse’, that fades to full intensity and quickly fades off, followed by a secondary ‘pulse’ which fades on quickly but dims slowly over nearly a minute. This pattern can be interrupted as new users trigger a pulse creating the dynamic lighting affect seen in our video.

Similar to the lighting effects of fire, Radiance creates dynamic changes in intensities across it surface. This makes the piece enticing to watch and because the pulses fade in and out so smoothly the lighting is not overbearing. There is a distinct difference in the lighting qualities throughout the day and into the night as the piece becomes more and more the central component bringing warmth and light into the home.

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bitMAPS was initiated through a client’s interest in a sketch prototype, and developed as an inexpensive patterned wall system. It integrates a custom design through a repeatable mold and integrates multiple functions of the room. The project is intended to create a clean but complex texture that is engaging to sight and touch, encouraged through embedded switches, custom storage compartments and openings for light and air ventilation.

The prototype was developed using sheets of intentionally pierced bubble wrap as a vacuum form mold for plastic panels. The process was further refined with a repeatable High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) mold. The dimpled panels are created by vacuum forming .06” white polystyrene over the mold. Edge conditions were particularly important to address, each panel had to interlock perfectly to generate the appropriate tiled effect using a hexagonal “bubble wrap” pattern. Positive, negative and flat plugs were milled and inserted into the mold based on printed templates. Oriented strand board was milled for each panel to accommodate for the negatives of the corresponding polystyrene tile, acting as spacer and providing the system with rigidity.

The patterning of the panels originated from a bitmap image. Each pixel was carefully choreographed to communicate a pattern at multiple scales. This tuning was achieved using a specifically designed grasshopper definition; slide bars allowed for variable proportioning of positives negatives and flat pixels, as well as variations in distortion and noise.
For this specific residential application, bitMAPS was applied on two walls and the ceiling of the client’s bathroom. Fluorescent cove lighting was integrated, washing the adjacent painted walls with light. Many features of the space which would normally be separate components were integrated into the paneling system, resulting in an unbroken pattern. The light and vent switch are completely hidden, integrated behind the panel system using capacitance sensing. Simply moving your hand in front of the specific dimples engages either the lights or fan. The “console” houses the majority of the bathroom’s accessories. Custom panels extrude and recess from the rest of the system, hiding the magazine rack, toilet paper dispenser, and iPhone holder within a series of polycarbonate shelves. Other considerations such as the fan vent and skylight feature perforated panels allowing the passage of light and air.

The balance between analog and digital techniques was critical to this project. Because the vacuuming forming process reveals every imperfection in the mold, it was necessary that the base mold and plugs be precisely machined. The timing of the vacuum process required similar precision in order to maintain consistency throughout the project. In order to remove the excess material after forming, a stationary armature was attached to the bed of the 3 axis router, locating the part for cutting by a saw bit.

This project has provided an opportunity to develop an idea into a feasible product, which incorporates building systems and various functional elements while serving to define space. The integration of a unique, client-driven, pattern into this system adds another layer of meaning into the finished piece that addresses a client’s specific needs. Hopefully, this process will lead to future clients and further development of the system.

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We would like to invite everyone to attend our final thesis presentation this Thursday April 15th at 1:45 – 4:00pm in the College of Architecture and Planning’s first floor gallery. The presentation will cover our entire body of thesis work / research, and will be followed by an open discussion. The exhibit of our work will remain on display in the gallery until May 10th.

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What is PROJECTiONE: We are a collective of four designers/fabricators/students pursuing a common question. Our project is based on a shared love of making, a pull towards new understandings of technology and a unique and uncommon design aesthetic.

We have reached outside of the University through our website PROJECTiONE.com creating a network of readers who have followed our project as it has developed. The website has helped to brand PROJECTiONE as its own entity. PROJECTiONE.com is a reflection of our process. We take pride in highlighting our details, methods and finished work. We feel that our design is strengthened through the bold and strong communication of its history.

Logistics: We work as a collective. Our design/fabrication/branding decisions are based on argumentation and compromise as any good partnership must be. However we have narrowed down our decision-making to three types: logical argumentation, passionate pursuit, and collective gut reaction. There are times when a reasoned argument is necessary to establish why a certain decision should be made and it takes a reasoned ear to hear it. At other times a member of the collective will pursue a course on his/her own to a point which the collective may latch on to or pull against. And finally but most infrequently a member will make a suggestion which is immediately agreed upon by all members of PROJECTiONE. There is no one way to document all the decisions that go into any one project and we therefore share all credit for each design detail and interactive experience. Though we have various strengths approaches to design, we are partners in the pursuit of our common goal.

Status: There is a failure in modern theory and practice to address the increasing availability of digital tools. The current theory of digital fabrication is focused predominantly on the new tools of making, CNC machines, rapid prototyping technology and BIM and parametric modeling software. We believe that these tools allow for a shift in the methods of an informed practice but do not and cannot exist without a tangible relation to the human aspect of design and making, what we call the analog. Secondly there is a growing recognition by schools and theorists that interactive architecture is inevitable and though slow to adapt, architecture will need to address the proliferation of augmented reality and reactive systems. These have become accepted across our society and the expectation is clear that our buildings must respond to environmental (background/ambient) and human (foreground/direct) stimuli.

Many projects highlighted in periodicals and in academic journals are based on intangible software tools rather than the tangible constraints of making. It has been argued that CNC equipment has allowed for the development of unique components such as contoured blobs and therefore these projects do consider the realities of fabrication. We feel that such an approach is limited and forces the irrelevant digital form into a wasteful object, and is ignorant to the details which are essential to architecture’s success.

Our project is engaged in the question of how digital and analog methods reinforce one another in support of a practice constrained by the realities of making.

Arc: Through a series of projects, explorations and interventions PROJECTiONE investigated this question. This broad spectrum of approaches enabled a varied and diverse understanding. We started the year with an intervention in an exhibition space, performed a series of interviews with top designers and fabricators in New York City, developed product scale designs and pursued full-scale client based products. Each project can be viewed uniquely but collectively it defines the arc of our searching.

Our first project Projection was an opportunity to reflect on how we worked with the digital and analog tools at our disposal. This was an introspective process allowing us to focus very specifically on how and why we made design decisions using a laser cut, three-axis CNC mill and steel fabrication equipment. In order to gain a broader perspective of how practitioners address these issues we met with a group of designers and fabricators in New York City. The interviews that we undertook during that trip reinforced our understanding of how small digitally savvy practices address making. In reflection it became clear that our approach required us to be serious fabricators and serious designers, a feat few of the firms have achieved.

We discovered that a practice grounded in making must straddle the threshold between design and fabrication but also between analog and digital. Based on internal reflection and an understanding of our contemporaries’ position, we moved forward with several small-scale products. Each of these projects highlights a unique understanding of the boundaries between analog and digital and was also an exploration into how our practice can and must embrace material explorations and research.

Finally we moved into the realm of large scale client based projects. This set of projects gave us some insight into the challenges of adapting our methods and practices to the needs and requirements created by a client. Again each project addresses our question on multiple scales. How can a large scale project become aesthetically unique using the analog and digital tools available? How can a client’s design and performance requirements align with our own interests in the conversation between analog and digital? And how can this project become a serious attempt at creating a sustainable practice that addresses these pressing issues?

In educating our clients we were able to reflect on these questions. We have learned the value of clearly conveying our ideals to the clients through these projects. The evidence of our success and failure in answering these questions is in the documentation of our process through video, images, models, and contracts.

Reflect: This project has been most valuable not because we have seen these projects in their completion but we see ourselves in each detail. We committed ourselves to each decision and process from design to fabrication and understand that our value does not lie in the sum of our projects but the sum of our experiences.

This is PROJECTiONE.

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A special thanks to our thesis studio professor Josh Coggeshall for his enthusiasm and support throughout this process, and the Institute of Digital Fabrication for providing us access to the tools and space required to accomplish these types of projects. We would also like to thank our advisors, Bob Koester – Director of Center for Energy Research, Education and Service, Sonne Palmer – Professor of Architecture, Paul Puzzello – Instructor of Architecture, Donna Sink – Instructor of Architecture, Mahesh Senagala – Chairperson of the Department of Architecture, and Dr. Carol Tiernan.

LIGHTFORMS is based on the same production system used in Luminares. The profile curve of the shade is first generated in Rhinoceros and can be customized to any shape. A Grasshopper script interprets this curve, determines the number of components needed, and lays out each simple component with its necessary intersections. The parts are laser cut from mylar and hand assembled in descending order using a series of simple locking joints to link piece to piece and column to column. This produces a highly precise and strong shade that retains extreme detail and ornament. Time saved in production of digital files is spent on the assembly of the piece, allowing for entirely custom elements that are assembled similarly. The development of the project has been driven by physical prototypes continually feeding back into the script in order to add more complexity.

The colored diffuser is achieved by applying a gradient unique to each component, allowing each part to be read both independently and as a whole. The color was laser printed on mylar, and precisely located in the laser cutter bed before being cut. This technique lets us apply in color(s) or patterns to any shape, increasing possible outcomes.

The custom scale and shape of LIGHTFORMS are highly accessible because the most complex portion of the process, the geometric calculations, are automated using a script. Our intention is that these can be sold in clusters of a few, or scaled up towards a site specific installation of many more creating an etirely unique environment.

Currently, those shown are on display as the Begley Art Source Gallery in Evansville, IN.

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The Begley Art Source, A Division of the Evansville Museum Shop, has recently invited us to feature a selection of our work in their gallery. The Begley Art Source is a consignment gallery for artists and designers, and has consulted with area corporations and individuals to develop their art collections, heightening connoisseurship and broadening appreciation and understanding of the visual arts. This represents our first step towards commissioned work and development of product design marketed towards a specific user group.

A new 3.5 foot by 2 foot CNC Marker composition entitle COWS was completed. Using a new technique of creating line work in Rhinoceros, the image was rendered with brown and blue marker on a heavy weight paper, stretched over a thick wood frame. The intention is that this piece would become part of a series of graphic and organic CNC Marker compositions reaching up to 10 feet in length. Five different mylar LIGHTFORMS were designed and assembled for this specific installation, ranging in size between 9 and 15 inches in height. They currently illuminate the front space of the gallery, and are also intended to develop as a series of different colors, scales and shapes. Plylight is also featured, located in the day lit meeting area. Over a two-day period a full scale Bodhi Tree was sculpted as the centerpiece of PROJECTiONE’s featured work. The Bodhi Tree was composed of 3,000 pieces of laser cut maple and cherry veneer, and took 24 hours to assemble.

Our work represents the first site specific installation featured at The Begley Art Source gallery. We hope that placing our work at this location will spark commissioned work for new ideas or adaptations of these concepts at a larger scale.

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This version of Bodhi Tree was customized and designed for a residence in Evansville, IN. The clients originally articulated the desire to replace an existing plastic tree, with something more expressive and elegant. The system was reinterpreted for this specific application, consisting of more than 3,000 wood veneer components, which were redesigned at 2/3 scale of the original piece for residential use, increasing the complexity of the overall pattern and rigidity of the system. The wood species and pattern chosen was based on existing color tones and design of the space. In order to streamline the installation process, the components were prefabricated, sorted, and packaged offsite and brought to the client.

We considered Bodhi Tree for this application due to its necessary involvement between designer and client. Over a two-day period the system was installed with the direct involvement of the family members, who helped with the overall design intention and assembly of the final piece. In this way, Bodhi Tree became more than a foreign object placed in their living room. It became an experience that the family will remember as well as an object that redefines how their space feels and is used.

We found this interaction between client and designer/fabricator interesting as it relates to our process. The client’s direct involvement with the design and assembly changed how value was placed on the project, as they became more than a consumer. They were part of the assembly and decision making process, directly affecting the outcome of their project. Assembly became more than labor, and design became accessible. We hope to continue engaging in this type of client relationship in the future.

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This is a prototypical process growing out of our previous experiment CNC Pen, combining precision digital tools with loose analog tools. This method has been further developed as a study of the relationship between these tools. The process includes translating a raster image file into vector format, separated into various color levels. These vectors are then turned into surfaces and translated into g-code for the router. In this instance we have used a 3-axis CNC router to drive 12 Copic Ciao markers on museum board. The precision of the machine is offset by the bleed of the marker and the porous nature of the board. Feed rate and Z values relate directly to speed and pressure of the hand. The image chosen is of the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence Italy from our time there this summer, specifically for its character and color. The nature of this technique and of the place seemed to align. While a certain level of precision is maintained through this process, the inevitable inconsistencies of markering transform the product into something looser. This close relationship between the digital and analog and the innovative use of these tools grows directly from our design platforms.

The product took over 12 hours of file prep and 16 hours of machine time (with testing), embodying our feelings on efficiency. The result was not created faster than a hand rendering, nor does it appear to be machined. The method allows for a new way of making. Repetition and customization are provided for in the process, as well as a dialogue between digital and hand craft. We are happy with this result and look forward to pursuing the next step. For us this piece represents the very important first step in the process.

In an attempt to begin understanding the marketing of our process and design thinking, we have decided to market and sell this outcome. The hope is that the documentation and representation of process will allow a consumer to understand its making, becoming less concerned on only the outcome. The product gains value through its process of making.

This prototype is for sale on ebay here.

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Information about the wood was collected through a Computed Tomography (CT) Scan. This technology is traditionally used for visualizing structures within the body. The CT scan takes X-rays of the wood in section using increments as small as 5 millimeters. The scan of curly maple (above) reveals the grain of the wood.

This data was translated into three-dimensional information by tracing a single grain line in Rhino. The resulting vectors were lofted to create a surface which represents one year of growth in the tree’s history. This process was incredibly time consuming; over 125 sections were analyzed to produce an outcome that was as accurate as possible. Once the surface was generated it was translated into G-code using Mastercam for our three-axis CNC router.

The evenly milled surface was achieved using a half inch bull nose bit with a 1/100th of an inch step over taking over an hour and half. Due to the complex nature of the grain, the milled surface did not precisely follow a single grain line as we had intended. A sanding process was necessary to remove imperfections and smooth the surface. The final piece was finished with Tung oil which protects the wood, enhances the patterns in the grain, and expresses a much richer wood tone.

Although the results from the curly maple were beautiful, using a wood with a looser grain would have been a much better fit for this process. The challenge came from manually interpreting the imaging data into vectors; because the grain was tight it was easy to confuse the grains from one image to another. The juxtaposition of the natural form of the tree’s curvatures and the rigid edges of the sawn lumber makes a statement about the conflict between industrial processing and the materials natural tendencies.

It reminds us of Michelangelo’s slaves; in each unfinished sculpture the curvature of a human body emerges from a large cube of marble. The project embodies the concept of the value of inefficiency. Although this process was tedious, the final outcome is much more valuable because of the time and care that went into making it. The only way to produce this was through a CT scan repetitive tracing, and cautious sanding. The result is a beautifully worked piece of wood that a passersby cannot resist touching.

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Pop Panel is an exploration in the relationship of mold creation and customization. The manufacturing of molds for vacuum forming is often the most cost intensive process, making it difficult to create mass customized objects. Bubble wrap is an inexpensive and fun material to work with that solves many issues of customization. It can be popped in selected patterns and vacuum formed much easier than traditionally made molds, providing variation across a panelized system.

The panels are created by vacuum forming .02” clear acetate over the selectively popped bubble wrap. A piece of MDF is placed beneath the bubble wrap to create an edge condition and allows the panels to match their neighboring panels. The clear acetate can be painted on the inside, allowing for further customization.

The edges of each panel fit into grooves that have been milled from plywood. Between these grooves are large holes that allow access to the panel from behind. Once the panels have been placed onto the plywood, each cavity is filled with expanding insulation foam (Great Stuff). This creates a rigid system and allows the formed panels to adhere to the wood.

The pattern tested was derived from an abstracted photograph, however, the system or idea could be deployed in a manner that users/customers could submit images and graphics that could be translated into Pop Panels. By designing a system of production and allowing others to create the pattern, we can produce a flexible, mass customized product.

also…
this is fun too.
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Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer created a vocabulary for Human Computer Interfaces (HCI) and Tangible Media in their paper “Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits and Atoms”. They describe “foreground” interfaces and “background” interfaces which are distinct in that foreground interfaces allow users to “grasp and manipulate” where background interfaces are ambient and do not require direct user interface. We are focusing on the idea of foreground interfaces which connect the user to their surroundings.

plyLight is a rapidly developed prototype made up of 44 hand soldered circuit boards. Each board contains three LED’s, a photoresistor, a Darlington transistor, and various resistors and capacitors. By using only analog electronics components, plyLight does not require a processor to function. These boards, which are powered by 12 parallel 9V batteries, are embedded between two milled pieces of plywood. Cavities for the LED’s and photoresistors are milled into the plywood leaving only a thin veneer between the components and the surface allowing the exterior of the object to appear as a plain piece of plywood.

When a user swipes a hand across plyLight the photoresistors are shaded and turn on the three LED’s clustered around it. The LEDs illuminate circles on the board’s surface and the previously simple plywood becomes a display interacting with the user. These discrete interactions take place across the board allowing the user to leave a trace of glowing LED’s behind their hand. The LED’s fade after a hand moves across the board and the effect is that of visual tracers of sparklers at night or of drawing on wet sand which quickly fades back to a flat surface.

The implications for this interaction are not bounded by a singular idea or function. The interface was developed with the understanding that this could be implemented for multiple projects and purposes. The boards could be wired to a microcontroller which communicates with a computer and could begin initiating lighting sequences on its own or in relation to a building system’s function (e.g. control of lighting, sound, or actuated surfaces).

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FABRICATION>>
Over the past year PROJECTiONE has been engaged in an ongoing project, focused on innovative fabrication techniques paired with traditional materials, in partnership with the Institute for Digital Fabrication. reBarn began in November of 2008 with a large donation of reclaimed barn wood from the Newton family’s local “Pennsylvania-style” barn. Working with the Muncie parks system, West Side Park was chosen for its potential to enhance the public recreational trail along the White River in Muncie, Indiana. reBarn aims to provide single or multiple users with a semi-programmed platform that is suitable for a variety of uses. While its use is not specifically determined, a sense of human scale and proportions is embedded in the layout of the panels, and its form is pulled specifically from the site as it creates a third levee above the river.

It was important for us to use the wood as efficiently as possible, maintain the history and quality of the material, and employ innovative strategies for its application. Rather than completely removing all imperfections, we made the decision to utilize the uniqueness of each piece and expose this on the project’s surface. In order to make milling of the barn wood viable, each piece was de-nailed, power washed, and any area that was unusable was removed. Each board was then numbered and its species, length, width, depth, and interesting characteristics were recorded. The quantity of stock totaled 275 pieces, averaging at 80 inches long and 6.5 inches wide with a consistent depth around1 inch for a total of about 300,000 square feet.

Cut files for each wood component were created using an unrolled version of the 3D model in Rhino. This catalog of digital dimensions of available wood allowed us to efficiently and precisely nest the digital cut files into the stock. Because each board was a different size and many were torqued or bowed, a unique process was developed to secure the wood to the bed of the router. Using the table’s suction a sheet of plywood became the waste board, while each piece of barn wood was drilled down to the waste board with several screws, securing every part nested in the board. The position of each of these screws had to be carefully determined before the milling process and written into the files.

Connections between individual wood components and panels were informed by a partnership with Zahner Metals. In order to offset the traditional material and hidden fabrication techniques, we involved Zahner in the process early on. We visited their shop in Kansas City to discuss materials, tolerances, and processes. The continued discussions with their engineers via phone and email allowed our team to finalize the aluminum components. This resulted in five water jet cut aluminum surface panels, and over 350 variable aluminum joints.

Each three or four sided wood panel is made up of a series of individual components, connected by a continuous dovetail joint that runs around the perimeter. The wood panels are connected to each other by aluminum joints, embed in the assembly process. Each aluminum joint accommodates the specific angle between one panel of wood and its adjoining panel. Consideration of the sequence of assembly and fabrication was equally important as the development of the joinery techniques.

All pre-assembly and fabrication has been completed. In-site installation will take place in November.

INSTALLATION>>
reBarn began as a dialogue between the history of its primary material, barn wood and contemporary tools such as CNC technology. This dialogue balances digital and analog processes, natural and man-made materials, and traditional and innovative details. The assembly tectonic was informed by the traditional cross-bracing that occurs behind the skin of a barn. This technique was employed using a locking dovetail system, creating a framework to begin developing the form.

The overall form was developed with special consideration for the site, retaining a relationship between nature and the user. Placed within a man-made levee created by the Army Corp of Engineers, the installation has a directional flow which references the movement of the river. As users adjust into the multiple positions for sitting and reclining they have the opportunity to recognize the small rapids in the White River, the sycamores directly upstream, and the public passing by along the adjacent White River Trail.

Subtle details were employed to express the age of the wood. The precise filleted space between each board references the way barns age naturally. The expansion and contraction of the exterior wood creates gaps in the siding, resulting in a uniquely filtered quality of light on the interior of the barn. This weathered quality of old barns is embedded within reBarn.

The depth of each piece of wood deviated slightly.  Because we wanted to maintain the aged surface of the wood and avoid time consumed to plane each board. The dovetail tectonic allowed for the variations in wood to be accounted for within the tip surface. The final assembled panels are not exactly in plane but this variation is synonymous with classic wood barns.

reBarn was installed over a seven-day timeframe. We utilized a list of coordinates generated from our digital model, determining the site placement of the structural concrete elements with a traditional two point / arc intersection method. The barn wood and aluminum panels were connected using custom aluminum components cut by A. Zahner Metals.

In order to support the shell structure during installation, temporary structural support for the panels was needed as the aluminum components were bolted together. Because of the extensive prefabrication, installation and assembly of the panels on site took little time. In order to increase the rigidity of the shell structure, it was necessary to add sub-structure and cross bracing to the original design. This phase of the installation was the most time consuming, but was required to insure the longevity and safety of the project. Ten minutes after completion a group of ten children “stress-tested” our project and proved it successful.

The material’s history is highlighted by the old boards creaking as you walk over the structure. Its regionalism is expressed by the inherent textures and character. Some boards retain the initials of the barn’s previous owners; other boards show places of wear from animals. These features tie the wood directly to its origins – the Newton farm in Cambridge City, IN. The contrast between aged materials and the precisely patterned aluminum panels strengthens the effect of each creating a richer whole. This relationship also provides for a direct connection between the analog and digital worlds.

reBarn has been a year in the making. If you are in the Muncie area, we are having an opening this Thursday, November 19 at 5 pm to celebrate its completion.

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Over the past weekend we took on the task of moving Arcus Animus from its site in the Architecture Building to the Center for Media Design in the Letterman Building on Ball State University’s Campus. Arcus Animus was originally completed as part of an Inconvenient Studio’s exercise lead by Philip Beesley from the University of Waterloo/PBAi and sponsored by the Institute for Digital Fabrication.

The animation of Arcus Animus responds to the movement of users under and around the installation. The system is comprised of six infrared sensors, four Arduino microcontrollers, fifteen solenoid valves, and fifteen air muscles. Communication between these components is driven by processing-based code, which animates a mesh of impact-resistant acrylic, silicone, bamboo, and mylar.

In order to accommodate the new site, and hide wiring or tubing it was necessary to drill through drywall and remove small sections of ceiling tile. Working over the weekend has allowed us to avoid the University politics involved with this type of building modification.

The most challenging aspect of the work was the reconfiguration of the installation to a fit a linear space. In order to make the system operational again, components had to be replaced, and most of the bays rewired. The process tested our soldering skills as well as involved our past experience with Arduino programming. Further development the code, allowed us to reprogram the system and heighten the level of response to the user.

Arcus Animus will make its debut at the IDMAa Conference the first weekend of November.
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Next semester we plan to expand the scope of our thesis work to include a full scale client based design problem, we will provide a demonstration project within our critical position. We invite those interested in our work to contact us with their unique design problems and opportunities. This potential project will primarily take place next semester and is intended to explore the development of an external program-based architectural application that frames our thesis work.

Previously, our project development has been internally driven, based on our own interests and generated programs, and we realize that for our position to be understood outside of an academic context we must connect with and design for others. Additionally, we are looking towards manufacturers and material suppliers that could benefit from our skill-set in rebranding themselves and rethinking their methods or purpose. Our processes are often influenced by the integration of materials and industry early on, creating the potential to drastically change the way established techniques or materials are used in design and construction.

Please contact Elizabeth Boone if you are interested in working with PROJECTiONE.

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Past Industry Partners

A. Zahner Metals
Arrowhead Plastic Engineering
Indiana Limestone Fabricators, Inc.
Midwest Metal Products

Past Sponsors

Buente | Buente Architects
Capstone Real Realty
LHI Lighting
The Estopinal Group
VPS Architecture

Past Material Donations

David R Webb Co
Laird Plastics