UV Bonded Glass - Two Way Condiment Dispenser...

One from the archives, the Pourpour Condiment Dispenser, made of UV bonded glass... The designs two cavities are perpendicularly angled in such a way that when one pours from one end, the other end doesn't leak... 

You can find a set of different renditions of the design on our website by clicking here...

FabLab Torino, Italy...

A few images from the FabLab in Torino...

Above & Below: Inventors through various mediums and ages...

Using (a) Beesket as a Template for a Buildware Based Ubiquitous/ Mass Customization Retail Experience...

The triple-cavity capsule into which the chosen 'flavor-bolts' can be inserted...

During a recent trip to Seoul I had a chance to visit a juice/ slushy/ yogurt bar named Beesket, which used a quite ingenuous means for allowing its customers to chose and determine their choice of yogurt, smoothy, or juice flavors. As one enters the bar, the first thing one is confronted with is a desk full of triple-cavity, honeycomb shaped, containers in yellow and red. Yellow ones were for yogurt and the red ones for smoothies (they also seemed to have a set of green containers, intended for juices, but these weren't available during my visit)... To make a selection one picked up either a yellow or red honeycomb container, depending on what type of a viscous beverage one wanted, and proceeded to insert, what here are referred to as 'flavor-bolts' form the wide selection of available flavors (which ranged from strawberry to broccoli) into the container's three available cavities. Above each flavor bolt station there were a number of flavor combination suggestions. Some of the flavors available were, at least for me, quite exotic. During my fist visit I had a sweet-potato, melon and grape flavored yogurt, during my second visit I tried a broccoli, red-pepper and apple flavored one - both were delicious. Once the capsules are full one takes it to the cash-register where the whole capsule (including its content) is scanned in one go, and one receives a small receipt summarizing ones flavor choices and on which the beverage's calorie count is displayed. After payment the drink is completed fresh within ten minutes... 

The profile view of a striped 'flavor-bolt' is held in the hand, above the 'Grape' and 'Melon' flavored stations...

As a conceptual approach, the Beesket model could provide an interesting template for how the, recently much debated, notion of mass/ ubiquitous customization in the context of buildware (CAM) could be applied, particularly in relation to retail (an interesting example of how such notions in a web based context can be seen here). Key here seems to be the constraint of choice, or perhaps it should be formulated, as a process of choreographing choice. What Beesket does well is limit the options of types of beverages, and the number of ingredients in them, it provides. It does so 'simply' by formatting the medium through which such choices are made - the triptych pods that determine the type of beverage, and the flavor 'bolts' that appoint the flavors of a beverage. That's it... But the system doesn't feel restrictive, as the variables and flavor combinations still remain plentiful.

This principle could be adapted to how a buildware made artifacts could be formulated. As suggested above, occasionally excessive choice can be overrated. Too many options - colors, details, sounds, flavors - can result in cacophony. A more limited palette, where each option provided contains a inherent quality, provides a more appropriate method for settling on a decision - making a choice.     

Grape - purple, Melon - Green, Pear - yellow, and Apple - red flavored stations...

Thus, in conceiving something to be fabricated through means where the constraints are more open, unlimited, when compared to most more traditional methods of making, a updated, new, paradigm of conception needs to be developed and accepted. Here this might entail something as straightforward as a menu of artifacts, accompanying by a limited list of features, properties and qualities that can be added or amended. In this instance these might include... 

In the case of the chosen technology... 

• Size limit: Determined by the build chamber volume, determines the maximum and minimum build sizes... 
• Material: What buildware materials are available/ usable..? 
• Buildware settings: What settings - print resolution, tessellation settings, etc. are used..? 
• Time limit: Is there, or should there be a viable, maximum time limit for printing something (for something produced in a retail context)..? 

In this context the artifacts fabricated through buildware could be determined or limited by... 

• The type of artifact fabricated, based on their intended use (one could print personalized mobile covers, not knives or gun components), complexity and form (based on the constraints of the Fab technology used and available materials)
• The color 
• Add ons - customized handles, spouts, lids, textures, perforations, fasteners, etc. 

Although somewhat trivial in scope such elements could potentially provide a surprisingly rich range of design variations, enough to accommodate the most ascetic as well as ostentatious tastes... 

  

The self-service flavor bar...

Key here again would be the choreography of the act of determining and choosing how the artifacts of the objects can be manipulated. This can be achieved by providing suggestions, examples, for what can be done, as well as include variations for what types of adaptations, manipulations, the technology can make. It might also be useful to show set the parameters of a build, i.e. show, for example, the maximum and minimum size of a build, how fine or crude the resolution of a build can be (and how this correlates to the time it takes to realize a build), etc. By patterning the setting in which these choices are made provides an additional set of control factors that allow one to manage, read and understand, better what this type of an endeavor might entail... 

The receipt summarizing ones flavor choices and the beverage's calorie count...

These types of somewhat, call them, default activities intended for laypersons would need to be accompanied by those that demonstrate a slightly more inherent and experimental understanding and use of related technologies - i.e. the above actions should be realized in collusion with professional (Buildware-savvy) designers, as these could provide examples of future directions of both artifacts, but also of how the digital fabrications means themselves could be developed. The relationship between all the parties involved should be (multi) reciprocal... 

Design Details No. 5 - Laser-Cut Mashrabiya - the Making of...

A few images, and a short video, of the previous post's laser-cut mashrabiya's design and fabrication process... Initially the intention was to make a set of mashrabiyas out of a single sheet laser cut. Unfortunately, due to various logistical mismatches, we weren't able to get them fabricated in the UK and had to get them made locally in Qatar, which in this instance resulted in us using the Fab-Lab at VCUQ. This entailed that all the panels had to fit within the build-frame of the Labs laser-cutter, which only allows for cuts (or etchings) no larger than 60 by 45 cm in size. This introduced its own set of assembly related issues, as the mashrabiya had to cover a window roughly 125 by 250 cm in size... 

In the end though, it all worked out very well, and the installed mashrabiya seemed to be very well received. Even the, very subtle - almost moire like - 'flickering' (see clip below) of the panels worked out well due to the  adjacent AC outlet... 

For earlier examples of laser-cut mashrabiyas we've made, please click here ,here, here, and here... 

Above and Below: The Velcro (hook & Loop) attachment panels by which all the design's elements are suspended...

Above and Below: Close-ups of some of the mashrabiya panels...

Above and Below: Sketches showing/ proposing how the panels should be attached to the window soffit...

Some close-up details of some of the mashrabiya panels...

A short video showing some initial test exploring the 'flicker effect' of some of the mashrabiya panels...

Some earlier tests of cutting patterns and different paper types (including Arabic newspapers) and paper treatments...

Laser-Cut Mashrabiya - MoA Exhibition at the Mosaic Rooms, London...

A few images of our laser-cut mashrabiya, currently being shown by the Museum of Architecture's Home exhibition at the Mosaic Rooms in London's Kensington... 

Laser-Toast - Probably the Best CAD-CAM'ed PBJ Sandwich Ever...

Close-up of the top laser-toasted bread slice...

A fandango food folly, of sorts... Here a laser-cutter was used to cut/ etch - toast - some slices of bread for a Peanut-Butter & Jelly Sandwich... Each of the sandwiches slices is divided into twelve, numbered and matched, 'bites'. Each bite includes corresponding, same size, cavities into that secure that equal quantities of both peanut-butter and jelly are distributed into each of the numbered bites. The cavities of the middle slices are misaligned in comparison to each other to make sure the won't mix and become too gooey before the mastication phase... A number of different cutting settings were used to create a variety of bespoke cuts across the toast planes. The 'toasting' patterned (wave-like) cuts are dense and shallow; the 'bite' cuts are a bit deeper to allow for each of the twelve bite segments to break off; and the cavities for the peanut-butter and jelly have been cut all the way through...

The laser-cut Peanut-Butter & Jelly sandwich was the best ever Buildware (CAD-CAM) made sandwich I've ever had..! 

Top, left to right: Top Slice, Top-Middle-Slice, Bottom-Middle-Slice, Bottom Slice...

Exploded view of the PBJ Sandwiches layers...

Top and bottom sides of the assembled PBJ Sandwich...

The cavities of the middle-slices are misaligned in comparison to each other, thus assuring an equal quantity of both peanut-butter and jelly in each bite...

A number of different settings were used to allocate different types and depths of cuts across the toast planes...

Each numbered 'bite' breaks off easily from the PBJ Sandwiches main body...

A sequential breakdown of the CAD-CAM PBJ Sandwiches 'bites'...

The assembled CAD-CAM PBJ sandwich...

Close-up of the Bottom Slice...

A short movie showing the making of the CAD-CAM PBJ Sandwiches Top Slice...

Shubbak Exhibition at the RIBA...

A few images of the laser-cut mashrabiya screens we did for the still ongoing Shubbak exhibition taking place at the RIBA in London.

A big thank you to Melissa Woolford and Heather Picov from the nous Gallery who organized the event, Paul Brady from Independent Architects who helped with the logistics and took the above photos, and, of course, Miguel Fonseca who detail designed, managed and supervised the fabrication of the mashrabiyas...

The exhibition concludes on September 24, 2011...

Click here for an earlier submission regarding the mashrabiya designs...

All photos by Paul Brady and Independent Architects (with whom we have an affiliation with)...

Above & Below - Some early sketches (non realized) for the connection/ housing points of the mashrabiyas...

Miguel Fonseca by the 'Cylinder Flap' Mashrabiya...