Monthly Archives: April 2011

Prototype Sketches Progress

Posted on 04/24/2011 by Nancy Cheng
18 Comments

Prototype IdeasPrototype Process

So far I having been sketching ideas of how to implement my light and shadow final assignment into an installation. I want to pursue the optical possibilities of chambers that pixilated and emphasize shadows as I discovered. Through the light in motion exercise by placing a semi transparent screen in front of the light source created a softened backdrop for the shadows to modulate on and also through the chambers of the screen. This allowed the screen to sequence shadows into a pixel size determined by the chamber’s dimension without distributing distinct shadows from the source. Within the same premise of my plan for the final assignment I also want the chambers to help mold the environment in a unique way.

Final Project Progress_Diagrams and Sketches

Posted on 04/23/2011 by Nancy Cheng
19 Comments

Light N Shadow Planning01

I am trying to speed up the prototyping process of my light pixelation screen study by planning on laser cutting my patterns from a single sheet of material.  This way I can quickly see what finishes work better and what’s the ideal distance between the layers that produce the most dramatic effect.  Also, I am experimenting with applying the screen to a larger surface of the ceiling and vertical surfaces.

Peer Comment for Ashley

Posted on 04/23/2011 by Nancy Cheng
13 Comments

I like the creativity of the clip and yes, the tent does seem more pleasant as the light and changing of light create different moods. This is enhanced by the music/sounds as well, adding to the experience. I watched the video without sound too, and had a slightly different exprience. I thing the light alone allows for more “fill in the blank� imagination to occur in the mind of the viewer.

It is slightly difficult to comment and offer suggestions since you guys worked together, although I do remember both of your original explorations. Ashley, how did this study help you with your original idea and your final project plans? I remember you were exploring the movement and manipulation of your wavey “louver� system with color. Maybe you can incorporate the idea of moving screens as surfaces for projections, and how the movement can effect the mood of the observer.

Bounced Color

Posted on 04/23/2011 by Nancy Cheng
13 Comments

colorbounce_back-s colorbounce_s

I have been enjoying seeing my students experiment with light, color and shadows.  After looking at their trials by Claire and David, I wanted to see how a simple motif could be translated into a 3D color bouncing structure.  For the upper and lower row, I cut crosses and experimented with color either on adjacent corners or diagonal corners.  The diagonal one would provide more variety as the sun moved in different orientations.  In the center, colored convex v-scoops reflect light onto white convex scoops.  I learned that the value and shininess of the paper will strongly affect the results.   I could only get an effective photo when the sun was very bright but the background of the slits was dark.  If the slits were aimed towards a bright surface, the colored planes were masked by glare.
IMAG003abw-s
A better solution may be to have the color as a stripe bending in front (see left).

How to apply this idea?  I am envisioning a suspending an orb in front of a window : it would have crystalline facets painted with shiny enamels and sprinkled with sequins.  Hmm sounds like a disco ball!  Maybe I should look at Lois Swirnoff’s Dimensional Color book again…

assignment.04 | Thoughts

Posted on 04/21/2011 by Nancy Cheng
16 Comments

Since my last post I have been working on gathering resources and influences that I have been studying, as well as capturing data on changing light in the light well on the 4th and 5th floor of the WSB. After viewing the video I have created of changing light in this space, I have decided that my final proposal may need to flex a bit. I would still like to see an adaptive interactive piece installed there, I just feel that there is very little light to manipulate which leads me into making light. I have not been furthering my studies in kinetic screens because of this wall I have hit. I am now thinking that it would be more of a giant luminary that I would be installing.

Bibliography-

Bando, Kouske. Respect For Blank Space. Autoxic. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. .

Gramazio, Fabio, and Matthias Kohler. Digital Materiality in Architecture. Baden: Müller, 2008. Print.

Hensel, Michael, and Achim Menges. Versatility and Vicissitude: Performance in Morpho-ecological Design. London: Wiley, 2008. Print.

Iwamoto, Lisa. Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2009. Print.

Kinetic Pavilion – Adapt&Extend. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. .

Kolarevic, Branko, and Kevin R. Klinger. Manufacturing Material Effects: Rethinking Design and Making in Architecture. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.

“MyLight – PROJECTiONE.” PROJECTiONE. Web. 22 Apr. 2011. .

Skavara, Maria E. Learning Emergence: Adaptive Cellular Automata Facade Trained by Artificial Neural Networks. Diss. Bartlett School, Univeristy College of London, 2009. Web. 21 Apr. 2011. .

assignment.04 | Comment

Posted on 04/21/2011 by Nancy Cheng
62 Comments

Jerome you have done a great job of researching the possibilities of what you are interested in. Lisa Iwamoto’s “Digital Fabrications” is a great introductory teaser of what has been happening with digital fabrication over the past years. The (Ply)Wood Delaminations project in that book was done at Georgia Tech while I was there, unfortunately I was not able to participate in the design process, however, I can attest that they dramatically change the space in which they inhabit.

Para Cloud GEM is a great tool and works hand in hand with Sketch Up which is the AAA-Portland’s modeling tool of choice. If you are interested in these techniques and technologies, I would urge you to begin using Rhino and possibly Grasshopper as it gives you the flexibility of a better modeling platform along with a generative parametric design tool. With those tools, you can make your waffle grid quickly and easily so you can try various forms repeatedly.

I would also urge you to look at the work of Gego, she was a Venezuelan artist whose oeuvre from the 60s-80s is expansive and simply beautiful. Her work with wire especially is quite remarkable and a few of her pieces evoke the feeling that I feel you were interested in…the pixelated shadow. I have a book of her work that you can borrow if you would like. I don’t know if it is still something you are interested in, but I feel that it still resonates in your light study in the video. The pixelated hidden shadows were very interesting and I would push you to begin to explore these in various forms and through various materials. I can begin to see those ribs being made from a translucent acrylic so that they would begin to glow and be shadowed at the same time.

Other sources of inspiration for you to look at would include the book “Manufacturing Material Effects” as well as the work from Achim Menges, Gramazio Kohler and Andrew Kudless.

Office DA, Inc. | Monica Ponce De Leon and Nader Tehrani | Architecture, Urbanism, Design. Web. 22 Apr. 2011..

Ventulett Chair - Georgia Tech - 2006 - Monica Ponce de Leon
Ventulett Chair - Georgia Tech - 2006 - Monica Ponce de Leon