Meat & Bone Vases and Bowls...

A few additional examples from the Meat & Bone series - where the usually discarded/ removed, but in its own right quite strong (if brittle) and beautiful, FDM support material is allowed to perform the role of a protagonist in the final design. Also, as in the previous submissions, here the different software based settings for distributing the supports are used as design components, i.e. the 'white bits' (made of ABS plastic) are distributed and the supports are allowed to 'grow' up to brace them - consequently the somewhat funky shapes of the brown bits...

An additional engaging quality about these designs is that, in a way, they openly acknowledge, even celebrate a bit, the slight degrees of unpredictability and randomness, even 'imperfections' (in a wab-sabi sort of way) of the digital fabrication processes, which still all too often are considered as almost faultless - 'we can make almost anything' - kinds of machines/ fabricators... These designs aim not to do that, but instead take a step back, and try to recognize the true material, sensory (textural, aural, olfactory, proprioceptive, etc.) digital & virtual, thrills and seductive qualities affiliated with making things through the various Buildware/ CAD-CAM processes... 

More related submissions to come in the future...

 The Meat & Bone (M&B/ MaB) Castle Vase...

The CAD (Catalyst Ex 4.2) version of the Castle Vase...

 The MaB Wing-Commander Vase/ Bowl...

The MaB Ring Bowl... 

Book-Corner-Seat...

A while back we moved to a new, slightly bigger, residence here in Qatar. We decided to rent it unfurnished as, quite frankly, the furniture the landlord was proposing to give us looked like something from Liberace's SM chamber... Consequently we decided to (along with buying some of the more necessary pieces such as mattresses, living room sofas, etc. immediately) design a number of bespoke pieces ourselves... After extensive searching for a decent carpentry shop, we finally found one in the old industrial area which seemed to be both willing and able to produce something from the materials we defined, and according to the standards and level of detail we expected... After a number of false starts and prototypes we finally received our first set of furniture a short while back... We're very happy with the results...

This initial piece featured is the Book-Corner-Seat, which was designed for the landing on our top floor. It, as its name suggest, sits in the corner of the landing which is flanked by entrances to our bedrooms, and provides a focal point, as well as a casual, bit more private, 'hang-out' place where to read, chat or daydream... We're in the process of getting a thin cushion made for the square seating area... 

Included below are some additional images of the design, as well as its buildware prototype, in action...  

More related furniture submissions to come in the future... 

Design Details No. 03 - Lego Building Instructions...

During a recent trip to Copenhagen I bought a Lego rendition of the Farnsworth House - something I suspect I did probably more for myself than my children... What was interesting, however, was that the completed build, which was finely assembled by my architect wife and youngest daughter, was perhaps less engaging than the instructions outlining the assembly process of the Lego house. Having spent countless hours over traditional paper-based construction drawing (plans, elevations, sections), these Lego building construction instructions, with their narrative format and axonometric views providing a sequential step-by-step breakdown and timeline of the builds various stages, were a very suggestive revelation for how a different set of, even more complex and multifarious designs, could potentially be dealt with and explained...

How could these kinds of inforgraphics-esque sequences of instructions be applied in the clarification of various script based design conceptions (Grasshopper, GC)? How could they be used, through an ipad or its like, as a means for conveying dynamic construction drawings on site? Could these kinds of, much clearer and intuitively understood, illustrations be used to describe both the more technical (structural, mechanical, electrical, services, etc.) components as well as the more pictorial and conceptually explanatory (shown to clients & colleagues) types of 'drawings' (& animations) be used to turn today's construction-drawings into a more accurate and more easily implementable format reflective of the more recent developments used to conceive pieces of architecture..?

There's much to muse about...

 Stages 10 (above, above) and 27 (above) of the assembly process...

 The Completed Lego build of the Farnsworth House...

All drawn illustrations sourced from the instruction booklet accompanying the Lego building...

Buildware Morandi...

An initial design related submission from the 'Meat & Bone' series of buildware fabricated artifacts. All of these designs have been made through the FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) process, in which the usually discarded (or diluted away) support material (the dark brown sections of the designs) is included as an inherent component in the completed design. In this instance the various software based settings for how such supports are distributed (with names such as, 'basic', 'smart', or 'sparse') are also played with, resulting in a variety of different shapes and applications of such supports (i.e. the brown bits were't directly modeled, but the Rhino made main shapes - fabricated of ivory white ABS plastic - were positioned within the model and build-frame so as to 'allow' the support material algorithms to 'fill' the gap according to the aforementioned settings)... 

This initial set was, in a roundabout way, inspired by Giorgio Morandi's paintings... 

More 'Meat & Bone' designs in future blog-submissions...