Digital Architecture

Section templates.

Mafoombey
Martti Kalliala, Esa Ruskeepää,
with Martin Lukasczyk, 2005

Mafoombey was the winning entry in a design contestarranged by the University of Art and Design in Helsinki in 2005. The competition brief called for a space for listening and experiencing music within the set dimensions of two and a half cubic meters. The project was executed with 3D software and scale models. The design builds up from a simple architecturalconcept: a free-form cavernous space that is cut into a cubic volume of stacked material. 

Finished exterior.

The low resolution of form and the perception of weight achieved through a layered structure were determined to be the key issues. Research into various materials suggested corrugated cardboard as optimal for its low cost and excellent acoustics. Furthermore, the material has a strong aesthetic appeal, which the designers felt had not been fully exploited at the scale of the project.

Program and equipment void diagram sections.

Mafoombey consists of 360 layers of seven millimeter corrugated cardboard, adding up to 720 half-square sheets. The sheets, 2.5 meters by 1.25 meters, are cut one by one using a computer- controlled cutter. The structure sits under its own dead weight without fixing. The lightweight assembly details ensure relatively easy transportation and quick construction.

Axonometric diagram of interior voids.

Assembly

Detail of surface.

Book Reference:

Digital Fabrications Architectural and Material Techniques by Lisa Iwamoto 
https://amzn.to/3Gt0s2u

Detail of connections.

A Change of State

Georgia Institute of Technology/Nader Tehrani, 2006

This installation is the result of a one-year research process conducted by Nader Tehrani with a core team of students during his time as the Ventulett Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design at Georgia Tech. The task of the project was to analyze and develop a three-dimensional installation whose fabrication method was limited to a two-dimensional material.

The underlying mission, therefore, was to radicalize the potentials of sheet material by provoking it to take on structural, spatial, programmatic, and phenomenal dimensions while adopting techniques that bring this variety of agendas into organic alignment. From the perspective of technique, the most important aspect of this project was the awareness that two-dimensional surfaces gain access to a third by way of the ruled surface.

Final installation showing transition from stacked to expanded system.

 

Book Reference:

Digital Fabrications Architectural and Material Techniques by Lisa Iwamoto 
https://amzn.to/3Gt0s2u

[c]space
Alan Dempsey and Alvin Huang, 2008

The pavilion is a discontinuous shell structure, spanning more than ten meters of thin fiberreinforced-concrete elements, which perform as structure and skin, floor walls and furniture.

The design takes the material to new technical limits, having required extensive prototyping and material testing during the development phase. The jointing of discrete concrete profiles exploits the tensile strength of [fibre-C] concrete, and a simple intersecting notch joint is locked together using a bespoke rubber-gasket assembly. The angle of intersection at each joint varies continuously across the structure. 

Plan.

Digital model describing continuous and discontinuous ribs. // Analysis: Adams Kara Taylor

Book Reference:

Digital Fabrications Architectural and Material Techniques by Lisa Iwamoto 
https://amzn.to/3Gt0s2u

West Coast Pavilion
Atelier Manferdini, 2006

The pavilion is a sandwich of undulating layers that diverge and coalesce around and through its volume. The surface of the skin, combined with the diamond-shaped structure, behaves like three dimensional lacework, creating a dynamic screening and filtering effect.

CNC-routing plywood for inner structure.

Assembled wall, from exterior.

Assembled plywood and MDF wall structure. Photo: Courtesy Neil Leach

Cut, folded, and assembled metal cladding panels. Photo: Courtesy Neil Leach

Laser-cutting metal cladding panel. Photo: Courtesy Jae Rodriguez.

Templates for laser-cutting metal cladding panels.

Completed project.

Completed project.

Book Reference:

Digital Fabrications Architectural and Material Techniques by Lisa Iwamoto 
https://amzn.to/3Gt0s2u