Module 4 - Reflection

Hans LiuStudent No. - 586951Tutor - Loren AdamsVirtual Environments - 10008Semester 1

Module 1 - Ideation

From within comes a sparkSomething natural, something darkBut from this spark comes freedomAs a dove, a lark

Module 1 - Ideation

The Living Rock - Coral Spawning

Why is it that design subjects freak me out? Maybe it’s because there’s no right answer. Maybe it’s because I’m free.

From class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria, corals are marine animals which form the building blocks to some of the world’s most amazing underwater structures; coral reefs. However, vast as these are, coral exists only as a colony of a multitude of genet-ically identical spineless animals called polyps, often only a few millimetres in diam-eter, and a coral “head” is produced by said polyps secreting calcium carbonate near their base.

The majority of corals are hermaphroditic, breeding sexually via a process known as spawning. During this process, once every year, often during a full moon, polyps will release eggs and sperm into the water to spread the next generation of coral.

It is this process of synchronous spawning that forms one of the most spectacular ma-rine phenomena, and the natural process in which I have chosen to extrapolate.

Above and Right: Initial concept sketches of coral spawning. Notice how literal they are.

Module 1 - Ideation

Concept Experimentation 1 - Light From Darkness

With these sketches, it was immediately appar-ent that the representation of light, either as a particle or any other entity, is extremely difficult, as light usual manifests itself as the visibility of an object, and is never visible as an object of its own. However, its representation can seen by the addition of particulate matter into the medium that the light is travelling in, e.g. dust or talcum powder.

From my natural process, the juxtaposition of the light (white) particle with the blackness of the surrounding ocean was a motive that really intru-iged me, as the organic flow of particles seemed like a very abstract way of representation. Fur-ther to that, the very visibility of the individual polyp spores is only possible through an external light source, the photographer’s flash, the diver’s torch, and this level of meta appealed to me in a way nothing else had.

Module 1 - Ideation

Concept Experimentation 1 - Light From Darkness

Left: This experiment deals with the idea of a very tangible particle having a representa-tion in a visible but intangible medium: light.

1 - Find photo of a sea full of coral spores. Notice the juxta-position of white particles in a literal sea of darkness.2 - Pierce the paper multiple times in areas where spores are present.3 - Scan the result, increase contrast then invert.

Below: The sketches were furthered with a physical clay model with a directional light source. This takes the idea of an image of spores in the ocean to a very tangible level.

1 - Create a shallow dome of plasticine of medium thickness - light leaking should be kept to a minimum.2 - Using a needle, puncture the dome with reference to the scanned image.3 - Mould dome over light source, in this case, a Galaxy Tab.4 - Darken room and take photos.5 - You may want an external moveable light source to enhance the contours of the dome.

Module 1 - Ideation

Concept Experimentation 1 - The Ragged Edge

This concept deals with the physical form of the coral. As cor-al grows, its individual polyps will secrete calcium carbonate from its base, resulting in the gradual increase in size of the overall coral head.

Module 1 - Ideation

Concept Experimentation 1 - The Ragged Edge

Above: I have tried here to replicate to some extent, the anglular nature of exo-skeletal secretion through the use of cut up paper, creating forms randomly from singular angular seg-ments.

1 - Cut up a photo of coral using, as much as possi-ble, straight cuts.2 - Continue cutting in a plastic pocket.3 - Shake plastic pocket.4 - Scan result.5 - Shake again.6 - Scan result.

Left: These models are a culmination of the original paper cuttings as well a piece of plasticine. The deliberate round shape allows easier random adherance of the pa-per to the surface as the ball is being rolled. Similar motifs can be found in the sketches.

Module 1 - Ideation

MODULE 1 REFLECTIONThroughout the first segment on our quest for natural process abstraction, I really needed to question what it is I was actually doing. This wasn’t in terms of “I’m making a latern to get good marks” but more “aesthetically, I’m creating a different set of eyes”.

Natural forms are all around us, yet we tend not to look at things too closely i.e. taking things at face value. With this Module, however, there is a forced need to look deeper into nature, to extract elements from it.

With the basic scientific knowledge that what we see of an object is merely the light reflected off its surface, Makoto Tojiki’s “No Shadow” series recreates animal and human forms with strands of lights. Tojiki questions the existence of an object if one “extract(s) just the light that is reflected from ‘something,’ are we still in the presence of that ‘something?’”

What was brought up during precedent research for “Light From Darkness” was the idea of the lack of existence with a lack of light. “Seeing is believing” we are used to saying, thus with this statement, does nothing exist at night?

Architect Daniel Libeskind is no stranger to angular buildings and the museum at Denver is no exception. Built as a extension to an existing museum, the jut-ting triangular segments take on different feels at differing times of day, which also adds to the nature of light as an entity to define other entities.

The lantern, which will end up being a luminous and physical representation of something unseen in nature, yet seen by ME - the design decisions that I have made have influenced the existence of a form.

The lantern is lit too...

So it must exist.

Above: Denver Art Museum by Daniel Libeskind

Above: Light Sculptures by Makoto Tojiki

Module 2 - Design

From the real world it turns to lightWhere ones and zeros wage a fightIterations to soothe my soulStars in the night

Module 2 - Design

Digital Modelling - Digitisation and the Fail

Module 2 - Design

Digital Modelling - Single Polysurface Manipulation

Rebuild of control points and caging of form.

CageEdit of form. Paramount criteria being the separation of the “head” to the body.

Final polysurface form.

Module 2 - Design

Digital Modelling - Panelling Iterations

Module 2 - Design

MODULE 2 REFLECTION

THE PHYSICALIn the real, tactile world, design has been a combination of synapses in the brain interacting with nerve endings in the hand. The model is real. I can touch it and I can mould it how I want and feel how I feel it should be. Yes, this medium that I used is plasticine and yes, this method of prototyping has inherent errors in the resultant surface (given the lack of professional tools) however, because I was merely dealing with the development of concepts and ideas, the free presented by plasticine in the hand is unrivalled.THE VIRTUALThus we enter the eponymous segment of the subject: the entrance into the virtual domain.Representations! Everything that has been achieved so far has been a representation of something else. The abstract idea in my mind was a repre-sentation of an interpretation of a natural process. The physical plasticine model was a representation of an abstract idea in my mind. And a further in the chain of representations is the digital representation of the aforementioned physical model. At each step in the process, limitations are presented, yet certain advantages may arise, all dependant on the medium which is being used.

For something so advanced, and for something which has undergone so many years of development, the computer is a surprisingly stupid entity, how-ever, this stance is one coming from a human, the holder of the most advanced processor in the world.

The lantern, at this stage of its development, does not have a physical form that can be manipulated in the three-dimensional universe we live in, yet, there is still something there. It exists as a representation of 1’s and 0’s. Ons and offs. Thus, the manipulation of a physically mouldable medium as plasticine, has been replaced by the manipulation of a digitally mouldable medium, and that, for one, excites me. These 1’s and 0’s also make some-thing click in my head, especially when placed in the context of light and dark.

Once again, I will go back to the notion of light as a medium (is it because I’m a sort-of-photographer?). The fact that I don’t have a tactile model to see, smell, taste or touch doesn’t negate its existence, as it is the light that allows the object to live- to be identified. The idea that something has been transferred into essentially electricity is still projected to me via a screen i.e. a source of light.

Module 3 - Fabrication

Creation through a machineThen through a knife’s edge, so keenDespite digital dumbnessWhat it should’ve been

Module 3 - Frabrication

Initial Prototype - Construction

Above: The process of the con-struction of the initial prototype.

Module 3 - Frabrication

Wonders of the Physical - Material Limitations

The laser cutting of the scale model resulted in extremely small panels. This made the construction of the model very fiddly, but a larger concern was found.

Due to the choice of material, 300gsm black card, the thickness meant that small, intricate segments, such as smaller tabs, where near impossible to fold accurately.

This folding inaccuracy at this scale meant that a small error in the attachment of tabs, would yield huge problems as construction progressed, resulting in the self-desintegra-tion of some joins.

Thus corrections needed to be made to the subsequent FabLab files, of which included an increase in the size of the model as well as using the back of the cut card as the outer surface.

Module 3 - Frabrication

Final Model - Digitisation

Module 3 - Frabrication

Final Model - Construction

Above: The process of the construction of the final model. Notice the larger panel sizing as well as the quadruple spine system.

Module 3 - Frabrication

Technical Documentation - Master Guide

Module 3 - Frabrication

Final Model - Lighting Up

The lighting of my lantern had a few requirements, but the most important of which include intensity and spread. Given that the only points on the lantern from which light can escape are the minute joint boundaries between panels, the lights that I chose must be powerful. In addition, the light needs to be able to extend the whole other surface of the lantern, sans the spine, in order to achieve the contrast between the light and the dark.

The settled light source was a light emitting diode (LED) strip made up of individual segments of 3 LEDs each, as well as the necessary hardware to make it work, consisting of 12 volts worth of batteries and a simple toggle switch.

Module 3 - Frabrication

Final Model - Fabricated Lantern

Module 3 - Frabrication

MODULE 3 REFLECTIONThese couple of weeks have thrown up by far the most time consuming and most problematic Module to date. However, what has been thrown in my face during this time, is that the translation of a form from the digital domain to the physical world, just like the inverse process, takes a lot of planning and iterative corrections.

However, unlike the transition from the real world to the digital, the corrections applied to the physical representation are much less flex-ible, and inherent material errors, machine errors and of course human errors, will yield changes to your design vision that one has to either accept, or work around.

Personally, even with the lack of success with my prototype, and all the frustrations that came with it, I found the physical modelling to be quite enjoyable. The transition from a flat piece of paper to a three dimen-sional form has the same effect as successfully putting together a flat-pack Ikea Kitchen- the sense of achievement is addictive.

This precedent’s purpose is to prove that light can reflect via an en-closed dark space.

Given the idea that the lights that I will be using in my lantern must exit the openings with enough intensity to be rendered by the human eye as “white”, I needed the knowledge that black card will no hinder this need too much over white card.

Above: Joshua Tree House by Robert Stone

Module 4 - Reflection

MODULE 4 REFLECTIONWe’ve reached the end it seemsBut within myself, life! It teems!You know not what the future will bringBut let our futures flow, like streams

Virtual Environments was my first design subject, bar compulsory art in high school, and I came in not knowing exactly what to do or what to ex-pect. However, on bounding into the lectures and the tutorials, I found an intensely enjoyable experience in an area that was very foreign to me. Of highest note to me, personally, is the iterative nature of such work. The back and forth of ideas, the transitions through various media and the numbers of potential solutions only to be hacked back to a single “best” alternative.

The most important thing that I’ve extracted from this subject is the tran-sition from the physical world to the digital one. Given the current shift to computers for most subgenres of design, the need to approach design with a nod to both media is essential, and has been offered in Virtual Environments. This is especially true of my projected major: Architecture, in which the relevance to what I have achieved is even more acute. The spark of a design, its conceptual model, its digitisation and its fabrication are all steps that architects take, if on a more basic level.

As for my future, I will never be able to predict what happens. But I’m allowed to set goals for myself, and these goals all build on the founda-tions of design.