Xarxa d'espais creatius per a Barcelona: edifici servidor i d'equipaments

L’exercici es planteja com una contraproposta urbana al pla de l’ICUB Barcelona Laboratori 2006 – Fàbriques de la Creació. Es tracta d’una revisió del concepte de xarxa des de les realitats latents per a fer un diagnòstic real de la cultura a la ciutat. Es manipulen 3 grans grups de dades: ciutat – estratègies - disciplines. -La ciutat com a espai físic on detectar potencials preexistents i carències. -Les estratègies com a processos urbans per a la detecció d’espais d’oportunitat per a la cultura. -Les disciplines per a saber quines són les necessitats d’espai dels diferents artistes. L’edifici servidor, el Dipòsit de les Aigües, es planteja com un òrgan gestor de la xarxa que ha de fer-ne possible l’arrencada a nivell físic i virtual. El programa de l’edifici pot variar en el temps segons les necessitats de la xarxa. El lloc escollit vol exemplificar una estratègia d’apropiació d’espais obsolets retornats a la ciutat en forma d’espais productius

New design companions opening up the process through self-made computation

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-75).This thesis is about man and machine roles in the early conception of designs where it investigates computational methods that support creativity and surprise. It discusses the relationship between human and digital medium in the enterprise of Computer-Aided Design', and Self-Made Computation to empower the designer as driver of digital processes taking the computer as an active collaborator, or a sharp apprentice, rather than a master. In a design process tool personalization enables precise feedback between human and medium. In the field of architecture, every project is unique, and there are as many design workflows as designers. However current off-the-shelf design software has an inflexible built-in structure targeting general problem-solving that can interfere with non-standard design needs. Today, those with programming agility look for customized processes that assist early problem-finding instead of converging solutions. Contributing to alleviate software frustrations, smaller tailor-made applications prove to be precisely tailored, viable and enriching companions in certain moments of the project development. Previous work on the impact of standardized software for design has focused on the figure of the designer as a tool-user, this thesis addresses the question from the vision of the designer as a tool-maker. It investigates how self-made software can become a design companion for computational thinking - observed here as a new mindset that shifts design workflows, rather than a technique. The research compares and diagrams designer-toolmaker work where self-made applets where produced, as well as the structures in the work of rule-maker artisans. The main contributions are a comparative study of three models of computer-aided design, their history and technical review, their influence in design workflows and a graphical framework to better compare them. Critical analysis reveals a common structure to tailor a creative and explorative design workflow. Its advantages and limitations are exposed to guide designers into alternative computational methods for design processes. Keywords: design workflow; computation; applets; self-made tools; diagrams; design process; feedback; computers; computer-assisted-designby Laia Mogas-Soldevila.S.M

Xarxa d'espais creatius per a Barcelona: edifici servidor i d'equipaments

L’exercici es planteja com una contraproposta urbana al pla de l’ICUB Barcelona Laboratori 2006 – Fàbriques de la Creació. Es tracta d’una revisió del concepte de xarxa des de les realitats latents per a fer un diagnòstic real de la cultura a la ciutat. Es manipulen 3 grans grups de dades: ciutat – estratègies - disciplines. -La ciutat com a espai físic on detectar potencials preexistents i carències. -Les estratègies com a processos urbans per a la detecció d’espais d’oportunitat per a la cultura. -Les disciplines per a saber quines són les necessitats d’espai dels diferents artistes. L’edifici servidor, el Dipòsit de les Aigües, es planteja com un òrgan gestor de la xarxa que ha de fer-ne possible l’arrencada a nivell físic i virtual. El programa de l’edifici pot variar en el temps segons les necessitats de la xarxa. El lloc escollit vol exemplificar una estratègia d’apropiació d’espais obsolets retornats a la ciutat en forma d’espais productius

Flow-based fabrication: An integrated computational workflow for design and digital additive manufacturing of multifunctional heterogeneously structured objects

Structural hierarchy and material organization in design are traditionally achieved by combining discrete homogeneous parts into functional assemblies where the shape or surface is the determining factor in achieving function. In contrast, biological structures express higher levels of functionality on a finer scale through volumetric cellular constructs that are heterogeneous and complex. Despite recent advancements in additive manufacturing of functionally graded materials, the limitations associated with computational design and digital fabrication of heterogeneous materials and structures frame and limit further progress. Conventional computer-aided design tools typically contain geometric and topologic data of virtual constructs, but lack robust means to integrate material composition properties within virtual models. We present a seamless computational workflow for the design and direct digital fabrication of multi-material and multi-scale structured objects. The workflow encodes for and integrates domain-specific meta-data relating to local, regional and global feature resolution of heterogeneous material organizations. We focus on water-based materials and demonstrate our approach by additively manufacturing diverse constructs associating shape-informing variable flow rates and material properties to mesh-free geometric primitives. The proposed workflow enables virtual-to-physical control of constructs where structural, mechanical and optical gradients are achieved through a seamless design-to-fabrication tool with localized control. An enabling technology combining a robotic arm and a multi-syringe multi nozzle deposition system is presented. Proposed methodology is implemented and full-scale demonstrations are included

Water-Based Robotic Fabrication: Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing of Functionally Graded Hydrogel Composites via Multichamber Extrusion

Additive manufacturing (AM) of regenerated biomaterials is in its infancy despite the urgent need for alternatives to fuel-based products and in spite of the exceptional mechanical properties, availability, and biodegradability associated with water-based natural polymers. This study presents water-based robotic fabrication as a design approach and enabling technology for AM of biodegradable hydrogel composites. Our research focuses on the combination of expanding the dimensions of the fabrication envelope, developing structural materials for additive deposition, incorporating material-property gradients, and manufacturing architectural-scale biodegradable systems. This work presents a robotically controlled AM system to produce biodegradable-composite objects combining natural hydrogels, such as chitosan and sodium alginate, with other organic aggregates. It demonstrates the approach by designing, building, and evaluating the mechanics and controls of a multichamber extrusion system. Finally, it provides evidence of large-scale composite objects fabricated by our technology that display graded properties and feature sizes ranging from micro- to macroscale. Fabricated objects may be chemically stabilized or dissolved in water and recycled within minutes. Applications include the fabrication of fully recyclable products or temporary architectural components such as tent structures with graded mechanical and optical properties. Proposed applications demonstrate environmental capabilities such as water-storing structures, hydration-induced shape forming, and product disintegration over time.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory (Mediated Matter research group)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical engineering (Additive Manufacturing (2.S998), Spring 2014

Driving macro-scale transformations in three-dimensional-printed biopolymers through controlled induction of molecular anisotropy at the nanoscale

Motivated by the need to harness the properties of renewable and biodegradable polymers for the design and manufacturing of multi-scale structures with complex geometries, we have employed our additive manufacturing platform that leverages molecular self-assembly for the production of metre-scale structures characterized by complex geometries and heterogeneous material composition. As a precursor material, we used chitosan, a chemically modified form of chitin, an abundant and sustainable structural polysaccharide. We demonstrate the ability to control concentration-dependent crystallization as well as the induction of the preferred orientation of the polymer chains through the combination of extrusion-based robotic fabrication and directional toolpathing. Anisotropy is demonstrated and assessed through high-resolution micro-X-ray diffraction in conjunction with finite element simulations. Using this approach, we can leverage controlled and user-defined small-scale propagation of residual stresses to induce large-scale folding of the resulting structures

MetaMesh: A hierarchical computational model for design and fabrication of biomimetic armored surfaces

Many exoskeletons exhibit multifunctional performance by combining protection from rigid ceramic components with flexibility through articulated interfaces. Structure-to-function relationships of these natural bioarmors have been studied extensively, and initial development of structural (load-bearing) bioinspired armor materials, most often nacre-mimetic laminated composites, has been conducted. However, the translation of segmented and articulated armor to bioinspired surfaces and applications requires new computational constructs. We propose a novel hierarchical computational model, MetaMesh, that adapts a segmented fish scale armor system to fit complex “host surfaces”. We define a “host” surface as the overall geometrical form on top of which the scale units are computed. MetaMesh operates in three levels of resolution: (i) locally—to construct unit geometries based on shape parameters of scales as identified and characterized in the Polypterus senegalus exoskeleton, (ii) regionally—to encode articulated connection guides that adapt units with their neighbors according to directional schema in the mesh, and (iii) globally—to generatively extend the unit assembly over arbitrarily curved surfaces through global mesh optimization using a functional coefficient gradient. Simulation results provide the basis for further physiological and kinetic development. This study provides a methodology for the generation of biomimetic protective surfaces using segmented, articulated components that maintain mobility alongside full body coverage.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (Contract No. W911NF-13-D-0001)United States. Army Research Office (Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB), contract no. W911NF-09-D-0001)United States. Department of Defense (National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship Program (Grant No. N00244-09-1-0064)

Water-based digital design and fabrication : material, product, and architectural explorations in printing chitosan and its composites

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2015.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 63-66).Conventional digital design tools display little integration between shape formation and materialization resulting in disassociation between shape and matter. Contrarily, in the natural world shape and matter are structured through growth and adaptation, resulting in highly tunable and hierarchically structured constructs, which exhibit excellent mechanical properties. Working towards integration, rigorous bottom-up natural material studies have resulted in a novel multi-scale digital design and fabrication platform that is precisely tailored, viable, and a rich companion to develop sustainable explorations across application scales integrating shape and matter control. Specifically, the research introduces design and environmental motivations driving novel sustainable digital manufacturing of water-based biomaterial structures at the architectural, and product-scale. Water is harnessed to tune biomaterial properties, to guide shape formation by natural evaporation, and to fully recycle and reuse material structures. Initial outcomes demonstrate self-supporting structural constructs displaying multi-functionality informed by graded material properties and hierarchical distribution depositions. I discuss contemporary literature in water-based manufacturing, and detail methods of the novel additive fabrication platform that combines a robotic positioning system and customized multi-barrel deposition system. Important contributions of the platform development as a design companion serve to advance sustainable digital manufacturing and propel it towards biologically inspired and material-informed techniques. Integrated material-based design studies, novel technology development, and sustainable motivation, produce an invention that outputs functional biodegradable products, reduces the need for external energy sources for fabrication, operates at room temperature, uses mild chemicals, and could embed productive microorganism cultures due to the biocompatibility of the materials used, pointing towards new possibilities for digital fabrication of living materials. Finally, the work advocates for the designer to play the role of a cohesive thinker, as well as a rigorous science and aesthetics explorer, able to seed novel processes that emerge from material studies towards digital design and advanced fabrication. Keywords: new design companions; material-driven design; additive manufacturing; water-based digital fabrication; bio-materials catalogue; environmental engineering; architectural design; product design; biological design.by Laia Mogas Soldevila.S.M

Xarxa d'espais creatius per a Barcelona: edifici servidor i d'equipaments

L’exercici es planteja com una contraproposta urbana al pla de l’ICUB Barcelona Laboratori 2006 – Fàbriques de la Creació. Es tracta d’una revisió del concepte de xarxa des de les realitats latents per a fer un diagnòstic real de la cultura a la ciutat. Es manipulen 3 grans grups de dades: ciutat – estratègies - disciplines. -La ciutat com a espai físic on detectar potencials preexistents i carències. -Les estratègies com a processos urbans per a la detecció d’espais d’oportunitat per a la cultura. -Les disciplines per a saber quines són les necessitats d’espai dels diferents artistes. L’edifici servidor, el Dipòsit de les Aigües, es planteja com un òrgan gestor de la xarxa que ha de fer-ne possible l’arrencada a nivell físic i virtual. El programa de l’edifici pot variar en el temps segons les necessitats de la xarxa. El lloc escollit vol exemplificar una estratègia d’apropiació d’espais obsolets retornats a la ciutat en forma d’espais productius

Water-based Engineering & Fabrication: Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing of Biomaterials

In nature, water assembles basic molecules into complex multi-functional structures with nano-to-macro property variation. Such processes generally consume low amounts of energy, produce little to no waste, and take advantage of ambient conditions. In contrast digital manufacturing platforms are generally characterized as uni-functional, wasteful, fuel-based and often toxic. In this paper we explore the role of water in biological construction and propose an enabling technology modeled after these findings. We present a water-based fabrication platform tailored for 3-D printing of water-based composites and regenerated biomaterials such as chitosan, cellulose or sodium alginate for the construction of highly sustainable products and building components. We demonstrate that water-based fabrication of biological materials can be used to tune mechanical, chemical and optical properties of aqueous material composites. The platform consists of a multi-nozzle extrusion system attached to a multi-axis robotic arm designed to additively fabricate extrusion-compatible gels with graded properties. Applications of the composites include small and medium-scale recyclable objects, as well as temporary largescale architectural structures.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (Contract W911NF-13-D-0001