Material relationships: the textile and the garment, the maker and the machine. Developing a composite pattern weaving system

This research brings together the disciplines of woven textile design, zero waste pattern cutting and fashion design to form the Composite Pattern Weaving system; an innovative approach to woven garment design and construction which assimilates textile and garment lay-plan design and construction to produce engineered zero waste and integrally shaped woven garments, containing multiple fabric qualities, from a single length of woven textile. The approach challenges conventional textile and fashion design processes and systems by adopting a holistic and simultaneous approach to the design and production of textile and garment components; facilitating the integration of functional and sustainable design strategies to enhance garment durability and longevity through the implementation of a multi-method lifecycle approach to design. This research adopts the Transitional Design Methodology; an alternative approach of working between traditional and advanced technologies which challenges the constraints of the two modes of production whilst capitalising on their advantages. This cyclical iterative approach emphasises the importance of the relationship between the maker, materials and the machine(s), whilst recognising the potential for a transitional dialogue and knowledge transfer between all aspects of hand and digital production. Employing both modes of production in parallel, the Transitional Design Methodology facilitates a reciprocal relationship whereby concepts, designs and ways of working evolve as the maker moves between modes. Through the production of zero waste woven garment prototypes using hand and digital weaving technologies, the research establishes new integral shaping techniques and woven garment construction methods to minimise material production, consumption and waste, and identifies some of the limitations of fully-fashioned and composite garment weaving. The garment prototypes embody the learning and knowledge derived through the application of the Transitional Design Methodology. They demonstrate the advantages of working iteratively between hand and digital modes of design and construction to produce innovative (and interconnected) design outcomes, to advance skills and processes, and enhance personal practice

Applications of additive manufacturing in the construction industry

Additive Manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing, the process of fabricating components in a layer-wise fashion, has been increasingly applied in industries such as automotives and aerospace. In the 1990s, interest from the construction industry evolved through several experimental applications looking to reduce labor cost, waste material, or create complex shapes that are difficult to build using conventional construction methods. However, the full range of potential applications for construction have not been explored, and the industry’s involvement with AM is still considered at its early stages. As a first step, this thesis provides an extensive literature review of AM as it relates to the construction industry. This research identifies the most significant AM processes, compared to subtractive or formative processes, as well as some technologies and materials being used. A recommendation is given for potential advancements in applications for construction. The thesis also explores the use of typical small-scale material extrusion desktop 3D printers to print and test customized fastener-free connections. The intent of these connection tests is to explore novel ways in which AM technology can be used for structural and non-structural applications using commercial polymers. The connections were inspired by traditional wood joinery and modern proprietary connections. A four-point bending test was used to evaluate their potential structural performance in bending and to identify connection types that could be used for future investigations. Before AM can realize its full potential, interdisciplinary research is still needed to provide new materials, reliable printed parts, and new and repeatable processes. This thesis provides initial steps toward this goal by finding research gaps, identifying research trends in the area, and by exploring initial benefits and limitations for non-structural and structural applications in construction using available small-scale AM technology.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Transforming shape: a simultaneous approach to the body, cloth and print for garment and textile design (synthesising CAD with manual methods)

Printed textile and garment design are generally taught and practised as separate disciplines. Integrated CAD software enables textile and clothing designers to envisage printed garments by assimilating graphic imagery with 2D garment shapes, and 3D visualisations. Digital printing can be enlisted to transpose print-filled garment shapes directly onto cloth. This research challenges existing 2D practice by synthesising manual and CAD technologies, to explore the integration of print design and garment shape from a simultaneous, 3D perspective. This research has identified three fundamental archetypes of printed garment styles from Twentieth Century fashion: 'sculptural', 'architectural' and 'crossover'. The contrasting spatial characteristics and surface patterning inherent in these models provided tlýe theoretical and practical framework for the research. Design approaches such as'textile-led', 'garment-led'and 'the garment as canvas' highlighted the originality of the simultaneous design method, which embraces all of these concepts. This research recognises the body form as a positive influence within the printed textile and printed garment designing process, whereby modelled fabric shapes can be enlisted to determine mark making. The aim of the practice, to create printed garment designs from a 3D perspective, was facilitated by an original method of image capture, resulting in blueprinted toiles, or cyanoforms, that formed the basis of engineer-printed garments and textiles. Integrated CAD software provided the interface between manual modelling, design development and realisation, where draping software was employed to digitally craft 3D textiles. The practical and aesthetic characteristics of digital printing were tested through the printing of photographic-style, integrated garment prototypes. The design outcomes demonstrate that a simultaneous approach to the body, cloth and print can result in innovative textile vocabulary, that'plays a proactive role within the design equation, through its aesthetic integration with garment and form. The integration of print directly with the garment contour can result in a 3D orientated approach to printed garment design that is empathetic with the natural body shape

Transforming shape: hybrid practice as group activity

Printed textile and garment design are generally taught and practised as separate disciplines. Integrated CAD software enables textile and clothing designers to envisage printed garments by assimilating graphic imagery with 2D garment shapes and 3D visualizations. Digital fabric printing can be employed to transpose print-filled garment shapes directly onto cloth. During a recently completed practice-led PhD (1998-2003), I researched the aesthetic design potential of combining new CAD technology with garment modelling methods to create new innovative printed textiles/garments. The merging of physical and screen-based making resulted in a hybrid 3D approach to the body, cloth and print referred to as the 'simultaneous design method'. In 2001 this hybrid practice provided the catalyst for a collaborative textile research project at the Nottingham Trent University, UK. The group included surface, shape and multimedia designers. The key group aim was to explore the transforming effects of computer-aided textile design through dialogues between two and three dimensions. In parallel with my own practice, print and embroidery were considered from a 3D starting-point through the relating of geometric cloth shapes to the form. Each designer took an idiosyncratic approach to the selection and integration of imagery with the shapes. The novel consideration of the final modelled textile at the start of the designing process influenced each designer in different ways, leading to a collection of contrasting, original outcomes that were displayed in the exhibition Transforming Shape (UK 2001, Denmark 2003). The exhibition demonstrated the design opportunities (and limitations) of new and existing technologies, specifically the relationship between innovative textile imagery and three-dimensional form. The designs illustrated the premise that surface designs can be engineered through different pattern shapes and that engineer-printed shapes transform the body

Recovery From Design

Through research, inquiry, and an evaluation of Recovery By Design, a ‘design therapy’ program that serves people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and developmental disabilities, it is my assertion that the practice of design has therapeutic potential and can aid in the process of recovery. To the novice, the practices of conception, shaping form, and praxis have empowering benefit especially when guided by Conditional and Transformation Design methods together with an emphasis on materiality and vernacular form

Toyetic tooling: 3D printing and convergent media platforms

This research addresses convergence of 3D printing with digital games and media products and outlines opportunities for development in production of media related goods including toys and merchandise. It does this principally through a field study involving participatory access to MakieLab, a start-up using 3D printing in the production of user-generated, 3D printable toys directly related to game content. This study incorporates participant observation, a survey of prospective consumers and a netnography of online 3D printing repositories. The netnography investigates user interactions with media content enabled by 3D printing and finds emerging forms of fan-production and a related economy of fan-produced, 3D printable goods. Here the research contributes to gaps in understanding of what people are making with 3D printing, providing insights into what media products people reference, what they make and why. Noting the legally ambiguous status of fan activity and research momentum aimed at creating legislative responses to inhibit such activity this research presents MakieLab as an example of a market based alternative. The research describes MakieLab as a convergent media platform and documents how MakieLab designed products and platforms to facilitate fan production and to co-opting or commodotise fan production. This research contributes understanding of how 3D printing may provide new revenue streams for media producers and facilitate engagement between firm and consumer. The research finds in conclusion that 3D printing in conjunction with automated translation of game, film or animation content to user editable and 3D printable formats has potential to alter relationships between media firm and consumer. In doing so it identifies a role for 3D printing in transmedia, implications for evaluations of toyetic or merchandise potential, potential for between-media interactivity, in-media merchandising and development of convergent media platforms, commodification of fan art as well as commodification of creative making experiences. The research concomitantly considers implications for stakeholders involved in production of media related toys and merchandise indicating that convergent media platforms are likely to have significant impact for media producers