Material Formation in Design

Professor Kevin Rotheroe

Spring 2013

 

The study examines the interplay between physical data extraction, data interpretation, fabrication, & mis-registering.  The project began by simulating the weathering of wood with a sandblaster.  The softer, summer growth wood was blasted away & left a rippling pattern while the harder, winter growth wood remained as sharp ridges.  The data from this physical artifact was digitized & turned into a 3D model by measuring darker tones as deeper topographic surfaces & light tones as shallower.  The project then set out to create a pattern from this data that is uniquely designed based on the data itself.  Through a process of layering, the wood pattern looses its original & direct reference but maintains a somehow familiar form.  The pattern is not regular but continues to change with similar recurring moments.  The re-fabrication of this type was accomplished in tiled topographic 3D prints where regular seams of the tile play against the irregular seams of the pattern.  The finished fabrication is painted a metalic silver so that the object takes on different colors from its environment; a play on the earlier tone based modeling and data extration method.