4.30.2007

LIGHTOUCH FINAL BOARDS


Images have been resized a bit to fit to web-scale.

board 3 final?


I think the only thing to do is add a little into the text about the light having the ability to be a color changing LED.

board 3 progress 5pm


adding a diagram of our LED lightstick

board 3 progress


Can't decide where to put exploded axon, and I need to format text.
Also need a good strategy for showing rearrangements. Any ideas?

board 1 progress


I scaled this one down to 10" wide and 72 dpi to fit on blog. But you should be able to see the outline chris put around the text.

4.28.2007

oh the progress I've made.....

progress on board 2 of 3
the cutsheet is temporary as well as the screenshots and text.
We need to print to see how big the screenshots are...

step by step

These are the steps roughly for our 6 screenshots.
Sam use the .eps files I sent you not these jpegs.


Step 1: User draws shape which is processed into 25 control point closed curve.

(slide missing)

Step 2: User places center point where hole is punched for light.


Step 3: User sets height which determines number of plates.


Step 4: User sets curve for spacing which changes the spacing between members and also removes some plates due to height variable.


Step 5: User sets scale curve which scales each plate according to a variable.

Step 6: User sets rotation curve which rotates each plate according to a variable.

4.27.2007

Fab.light fabrication



couple images of the non-progress I've made on fabbing a full scale mockup.

4.26.2007

software mockup two


didn't get much time to continue this, had to go to work...
height bar probably needs some notches to indicate we are restraing the amount of plates

4.25.2007

Software mockup


It's at about 70% right now, I'll hopefully upload more later.

'Its Full of Stars'

lighting color movement







Test of how light and color looks for steel light. I used a pretty low light

materials/render tests

None of these have lights in them yet this is just a test to see what they look like as objects and to test our renderer. I'll add more as the day goes on.
wood
plexi/frosted acrylic
steel
frosted acrylic and plywood as spacers

lighttouch board layout thumbnails


This is an idea that would use large background images to describe our process.

We take a photo of one of use behind a computer, we also would need a photo of a water jet or laser cutter in action. The last would be a photo w/ the rendered lights collaged in. This would carry the story along a pretty visual way.

I labeled each board in the thumbnails to describe the three steps of our loop process. The point being, that the design of this light is never done, though we facilitate the design and fabrication initially (software and laser cutting) the user facilitates the design and fabrication for the life of the product (re stacking and rearranging = fabrication + design)

So page one is geared towards the intial design w/ some of that lapping onto page 2, while page 2 is focused on fabrication and the behind the scenes stuff that we have to do to make this work, page 3 focus again on the user and how they redesign and refabricate the product.

So the boards go User/Designer/User which should show that it's a fairly collaborative effort between us to get this light to work. just a thought

Chris' Restack

4.24.2007

From Digital to Physical


Here is a sketch of the process diagram. As I was looking at the board mock-ups I had a thought about how pronounced this diagram is on the boards. I think that it is pretty obvious what the process is and this diagram can take a lesser role visually and it can be come be communicated verbally. Take a look and let me know what you think tomorrow when we meet.

4.23.2007

layouts part deux


rough mockup with my comments not sure why the blue bar turned yellow or why the red blob turned blue etc. ignore the colors I think there may have been a malfunction w/ my jpeg converter. though let's make sure we are using rgb for our indesign and photoshop files so we don't have any conflicts.////

4.20.2007

Magnet Resource


This should give us an idea of what's out there as far as magnets.
It looks like they have varying thicknesses and shapes and ferro fluid.
They also have coated magnets in various colors.

4.18.2007

LightTouch Requirements

So I was reading through the submission requirements and brief again, and it now says that we are only allowed 3 A3 sized images total. This means we'll have to be a little trickier with our presentation.
A3 is approx. tabloid sized paper.

We also need a name for our design. Any suggestions?

4.17.2007

Just Jerusalem Registration


I registered for the Just Jerusalem 2050 competition from MIT. The deadline is December 30, 2007. At some point we'll need to pick a focus area out of the five groups they give. Also as Sam will be taking a break from competitions for the time being we'll need to get a few more people. This is a large ideas competition, if you guys have any ideas of who would be interested let me know.

4.16.2007

Vertical Structure

Here's our conceptual structure for el museo. It think the form will really fill itself out with the weaving of the rope. It isn't perfect but if we add our semi-solid elements (ala weaving) into it I think it will be fine for our renderings. We need diagrammatic images of the plan and how our procession and gathering areas work within this structure. I can make a quick diagram tonight.
I also need to add the few horizontal 2x4s that are in the structure to this model.
2x4s are 16 o.c. in this... sam feel free to delete or add to the model as necessary.


Didn't make a lot of progress last night I had serious 3dsmax issues. I've set the veritcal elements of the structural on a 16" interval with the widest gaps being 4' and the smallest being 16"

4.12.2007

2x4 Test


Here's that same facade form from a few posts back with 2500 2x4's wrapped on it. Obviously these are too chaotic for it to work at this point but it gives you an idead of what all those modular elements look like in a cloud. I'm thinking our solution will be a much more rigid mesh of 2x4's that what you see here.






Full Scale Connection Mockup Partial

Here's an image of a quick mockup I did at work, it's showing a portion of the connector plates. I photoshopped in the horizontal 2x4's as well as the rest of the horizontal connector plates. You'll have to use your imagination a little to get the idea. Essentially I was testing the strength of using the plates themselves as lateral bracing. The connection was decently strong with cardboard, hopefully it will be fine @ 1/4" steel. This should allow us to have our vertical as well as horzontal pieces in order to make a mesh out of 2x4's.



total materials of the facade so far we have....
2x4 wood Studs
5/8" Through Bolts w/ washers and Nuts
(1) 5 x 10 x 1/4" Steel Plate (laser cut and etched w/ product number)

so still a fairly simple construction.

4.11.2007

Steel, Water Jets, and Strong Ties, Oh My!

I'd like the 2x4 construction to be simple ikea type of construction. By attaching part "A" to "B" and the attaching that to "C" we get complex shape "D" etc. We also know we will probably have to limit the amount of custom fabrication due to the budget. We also have to limit the amount of skilled labor, I'd like to setup a situation where someone with a saw and a drill could put this entire thing together. I was thinking of ways to support the 2x construction while wandering through Home Depot last night and I was walking by the Simpson Strong Tie section when it hit me that we could just use preengineered connectors for all the 2x4's. This means no angles for the framers to transfer, no complicated measurements, we figure it all out on the computer ahead of time and just hand them the piece with the compound and already set. I had a crazy thought that we might be able to use all standard Simpson connectors but doing some research on there site shows we don't have a lot of options for rigid connections at incremental angles.

THEN I realized that we could just make our own L straps, If we just 1/4" or possibly 3/8" steel we can do all the custom angles we want. The goal would be to get all the straps cut out of one 5 x10 sheet of steel, so the boards would show the cut sheet for each of those items and each strap would be water jet cut with holes for our bolts or nails as well at a smaller hole showing where the end of the stud goes. In addition we have each strap receive a number while its being cut so it just becomes a kit of parts for our unskilled labor to assemble.


To Chris:

We need to submit two boards, one will be the facade image the second board is of the details etc.

I like the form but I think it will look much better as just the 2 x 4 skeleton with a few areas of sun projection which could be the canvas. I really like the raw look of the previously posted of the construction materials and I think this project will look good pretty raw. We can keep a raw look and intergrate the weaving idea by using some new and reclaimed 2 x 4s so we get mix of gray and light wood colors.

I agree completely, the curvy form you see in the catfishbait post is the base form which will be made of hard rectilinear objects making it actually look more like the sketchup renderings.
I also like the idea of using various species or reclaimed members. It might even be interesting to experiment with what it would look like with some steel studs mixed in. As long as we design for the standard 2x module we should be able to mix in a huge variety.

I guess the next step is generating a 3D model that we can all work on. How do we go about that?

4.10.2007

Update:

I just noticed we are at 23% of our alloted storage for photos. If you are uploading something and you can get each image to under 50k that would be great.
If not, don't worry, we can always get more storage later on.

CatFishBait

So here are my conceptual models of the facade. The component on the left will be canvas tensioned and shape with cable or rope. The more complex form on the right that looks like it's being eaten by the canvas form is to be constructed out of 2x4s, I'm still thinking of connectors....
The procession is still in the way I described, entering near the container and then continuing towards the actual entrance. The high point of the structure as well as the overlap of the two main building materials will cue visitors towards the opening.
elevation




View from HVAC Area




Looking at entrance near container

It should be a nice blending of angular deconstructivist type forms against the very organic and flowing form of the canvas structure. I think the combination of those two forms could make for a really interesting and striking design.



view from the road


view from existing parking and existing main entrance

so conceptually thats it, I'll model what it begins to look like with actual building elements later today or tomorrow sometime. It kinda reminded me of a catfish eating a skeleton...at least in my head.