Diploma Studio 10 at Westminster University School of Architecture
Fractals vs Digital Fabrication
Since the last post on the 23rd October our students have been exploring how to materialise their research into fractals (which they generated with Mandelbulb3D). The conflict between endless geometry and finite material world creates a creative tension that pushes innovation in digital design and fabrication. From parametric equations to parametric design, students have explored fractals as self-generating computer images and attempted to control them, first through changing their variables and then by extracting the most appealing fragments and recreating them using Grasshopper3D . From pure voxel-based images to NURBS or meshes and to 3D printing, laser-cutting, thermo-forming, casting..etc… students are confronted to the limitation of the computer’s memory and processing power as well as materials and numerical control (NC) programming language such as Gcode.
Navigating through fractals, exploring their recursive unpredictability to create more finite prototypes is like walking through the forest and noticing a beautiful flower to design your next building – it helps to let go of a fully top-down approach to architecture, it encourages a collaborations with your computer and a deep understanding of machines and materials. It anticipates a world in which the computers will have an intelligence of their own, where the architect will guide it onto a learning path instead of giving him instructions. Using infinite fractals to inspire designs helps instill infinity within the finite world – bringing a spiritual dimension to our everyday life.
Below is a selection of our students Brief01 journey so far:
Manveer Sembi’s Aexion Fractal imported from Mandelbulb3D to Rhino and 3D PrintedAlexandra Goulds’ MIXPINSKI4EX fractalMichael Armfield’s parametric exploration of the Amazing Surf FractalMichael Armfield’s parametric exploration of the Amazing Surf FractalMichael Armfield’s parametric exploration of the Amazing Surf FractalHenry McNeil’s Fibreglass modelling of the Apollonian Gasket.Henry McNeil’s 3D printed support for his fractalHenry McNeil’s 3D printed fractal imported from Mandelbulb3d to RhinoHenry McNeil’s Fibreglass Fractal prototype from Ping-Pong and tennis ballsEd Mack’s laser-cut Fractal Dodecahedron.
Ben Street’s auxetic double curved paper modelsBen Street’s single curved paper modelsLewis Toghill’s composite shells with Jesmonite, plaster, wax and fibre glass
Alexandra Goulds’ flexible timber nodeManveer Sembi’s paper cutting for double curved paper sphereJames Marr’s single curved wood node with rotational geometry for subdivided mesh geometryNick Leung’s 3D prints of the different recursive steps of a space-filling curve
Rebecca Cooper’s Fractal truss study on parametric structural analysis tool Karamba3DManon Vajou’s burnt polypropelene studies
Arthur Mamou-Mani AA dipl, ARB/RIBA FRSA – is a French architect, director of Mamou-Mani Architects, specialised in a new kind of digitally designed and fabricated architecture. He is a lecturer at the University of Westminster and owns a digital fabrication laboratory called the Fab.Pub which allows people to experiment with large 3D Printers and Laser Cutters.
Arthur has been selected as one of the RIBAj's 2017 cohort of Rising Stars. He has won the Gold Prize at the American Architecture Prize for the Wooden Wave project installed at BuroHappold Engineering and since 2016, he is a fellow of the The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
Prior to founding Mamou-Mani in 2011, he worked with Atelier Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid Architects and Proctor and Matthews Architects.
View all posts by Arthur Mamou-Mani
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