Lantern

The images above are several shots of in-process and completed lantern. Despite several obstacles in assembling the lantern, the overall process was persistently enjoyable and rewarding. The main issue with building the physical model resulted from the chosen material’s rigidity, and lack of area for units to connect to each other. The YUPO plastic sheets cut nicely but resist bending. Without proper adhesives and sufficient area to connect the units, the bending shape causes the pieces to fall apart. To solve this issue, I overlapped the units to provide more surface area for joining the pieces, which also resulted in a different shape. The secondary issue is similar, and comes from not accounting for unit connections. The panels in Rhino and Grasshopper connect on the edges. However, these edges are extremely small when printed, and due to other restrictions such as material flexibility and surface area making the same shape becomes difficult.