Cymatic Development

Throughout this studio group we have explored natural, mathematical and physical anomalies and tried to find the hidden data within it. Everything that exists gives out some sort of sound or vibration and the process of visualising this is called Cymatics. In it’s elementary form it is is often the process of vibrating a medium such as sand or water in order the generate shapes.

The history of Cymatics originates from research into resonance by Da Vinici, Galileo and Robert Hook and then Ernest Chladini – Cladidi experimented with using a metal plate and sand to show the standing wave – or Chladini Patterns – a plate creates.

There are a multitude of other mediums that can be used to visualise sound or even generate sound from visual.

Cymatics is in it’s early days of exploration, it is a looking glass into a hidden world previously unseen and the list of scientific applications growing each day. Consider that sound has a form which you can see and that it can affect matter and cause a form within matter – now imagine the architectural applications possible.

Final Crit – Thursday 16th May

It was DS10’s Final crit yesterday which concludes our BRIEF03:TEMPLE. Wonderful day with a wide spectrum of temples showing the concerns and fascinations of a group of twenty-one architectural students in 2013. A myriad of political and spiritual statements on today’s society helped by parametric design tools and physical modelling. Here is the list of all the themes that emerged in the third term:

• Temple to Love and Lust in Brighton, U.K. – by Georgia-Rose Collard-Watson
• Temple to Revolution in Tahrir Square, Egypt – by Luka Kreze
• Temple to Making in the City of London, U.K. – by Michael Clarke
• Temple to Vibrations on Mount Neru, Tanzania – by Dhiren Pattel
• Temple to Crowdfunding the City of London, U.K. – by Sarah Shuttleworth
• Temple to Infinity in the Mojave Desert, U.S.A – by Andrei Jippa
• Temple to Augmented Reality near Oxford Street, London, U.K. – by Mark Simpson
• Temple to Gin, near Kings Cross, London, U.K. – by George Guest
• Temple to Permaculture, in Totness, U.K. – by Philp Hurrel
• Temple to Bees, in the Olympic Park, London, U.K. – by Jake Alsop
• Temple against Electro-Magnetic Radiations, in Snowdonia National Park, U.K. – by Chris Ingram
• Temple against Pre-Packaged Meat, in Smithfield Market, London, U.K. – by Alex Woolgar
• Temple to Bio-Polymers , in Thelford, U.K. – by Marilu Valente
• Temple against Consumerism, in Selfridges, London, U.K. – by Jessica Beagleman
• Temple to Online Knowledge, in the Sillicon Roundabour, London, U.K. – by Tim Clare
• Temple to the Awareness of Death, in Mexico – by Thanasis Korras
• Temple of Illusion, in South Bank, London, U.K.- by Daniel Dodds
• Temple to Water on the Thames, London, U.K. – by William Garforth-Bless
• Temple to Atheism in Lower Lea Valley Park, London, U.K. – by Emma Whitehead
• Temple to Light in Elephant and Castle, London, U.K. – by Josh Haywood
• Temple to Sun Worship in the Wyndham Council Estate, Camberwell London, U.K. – by Natasha Coutts

Thank you very much to all our external critiques: William Firebrace, Jeanne Sillett, Harri Lewis and Jack Munro.  Two weeks more to go until the hand-in of portfolios (28th May). Here are couple pictures:

Luka Kreze’s thorned tensegrity architecture against dictatorship on Tahrir Square – A manual to start a revolution.

Jake Alsop’s wax-generated temple for Bees

Chris Ingram’s Slate Community, away from electro-magnetic radiation

Marilu Valente’s Digital/Physical experiement on elastic bio-polymer

Marilu Valente’s diagramming of the bio-polymer stretch

Emma’s ‘Agora’ – forum for Sunday assembly – atheist congregation

Sarah Shuttleworth’s Temple to crowdfunding – Kickstarter HQ

Crowdfunded structure for Sarah Shuttleworth’s roof

Jessica Beagleman’s “Atelier” on the roof of Selfridges is made of sewed pieces of plywood/

William Garforth-Bless’Temple to Water using a thin fiber glass shell and floating components on the Thames

Philip Hurrell’s Temple to the Transition Movement in Totness, Devon

Daniel Dodds’ abstract for the Temple of Illustion

Tim Clare’s temple to online knowledge is an irregular gridshell following learning spaces

The story of a reciprocal structure and a temple to making by Michael Clarke

Wax Structures

These images show the results of some recent experiments using wax and water.
To achieve the structures I filled a container with hot melted wax, weighted it so it would sink, then dropped it into a larger container full of cold tap water (approx 10 degrees)
Due to the lower density of the wax it rises to the surface of the water, and in doing so exposes an increasing surface area to the water allowing it to cool and solidify on its way up.
This technique has resulted in some exciting organic flowing structures which I hope to analyse further and develop more architecturally.

‘Tired of Life in the Shadows’ – The ‘Glass Town’ of Tirol

‘Tired of life in the shadows’ arises from a quote from a resident of Rattenberg, the ‘glass town’ of Tirol, Austria. For 3 months every year the town is shadowed by the mountain it takes it’s name from, leaving it depressing and empty. This phenomenon has reached such a level that the town’s residents are struggling with as many as 1 in 5 estimated to be affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). As Austria’s smallest town (as few as 450 residents), it’s once booming economy focusing on the production of fine glass and crystal is now heavily reliant on the tourism the industry brings to the area. With the lack of sunlight in the winter months, tourism plummets to almost zero and growing emigration of the residents is only making situation worse.

My proposal seeks to rejuvenate the town, providing a public space for the residents, linking the old town with the railway station and showing off the town’s famous glass works. The proposal covers the dark mountainside in small heliostat mirrors bouncing light into the public spaces below and lighting up the dark shadowy mountain above. Mirror arrays across the skin of the predominantly glass structure of a main public building, are free to move in the wind and rain and direct ever changing light throughout the spaces. Residents and tourists alike are provided a park space wrapping around an open glassblowing workshop showcasing the industry at the heart of the local community, also situated immediately adjacent to the railway and toursit car parks. The key to the proposal is the ever changing qualities of direct sunlight, aided by the refraction and movement of light found in glass and water, as a focus to improve the health and wellbeing of the people reinforcing Rattenberg’s reputation as a cultural and glass manufacturing centre in the region.

For more information the associated research and development document will shortly be available at http://issuu.com/michaeljclarke

The Floating Earth Islands of The Zambian Twa Tribe

Flooding Movement of the Kafue River

The Zambian Twa Tribe

Material Experimentation

Growth Material Experimentation

It’s time to break the monopoly of Monsanto!

Companies such as Monsanto are pushing the parameters of agricultural biotechnology to develop to ‘super’ crops which are able to survive in conditions that previously they would have perished within. This depicts a positive image of a global agricultural firm such as Monsanto, though this is predominately not the case and although the new developments in crop growth is perceived to be the future it is as highly critised and linked to names such as ‘Frankenstein foods’. Can a technology giant/charity like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation compete against a global agricultural giant like Monsanto and provide an equal competitor? The ‘Floating Earth Islands’ provide the opportunity to harvest a GM free alternative for Maize crop growth whilst also providing habitats for the fish in the Kafue River, which the Twa Tribe farm. As the floods recede and the land is returned to a harvestable condition the Twa Tribe can inhabit the clay pot structures that once were required to prevent the floods from destroying the tribes crops and livelihood.

Evaporation Station – Black Rock City

Solar light bulbs light up poor communities

The Liter of light project installs 1 pound light bulbs powered by water, bleach (to prevent mould) and sunlight. The project was designed by the students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The bottle bulb harnesses the sun’s rays by refracting inside the bottle creating a 50-watt glow in a room. The project is being tested in the slums around Manilla, Philippines where open flames or homes tapping into the electricity grid caused more than 5000 fires last year. The ‘lights’ are estimated to save up to 40 percent on household expenses, and allow for the mother to do the household chores whist the children can study under better light.

The plan is to extend the project into India and Africa with a target of 1 million installations.

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