The Magic Garden is an installation by Mamou-Mani and is part of the Regent Street Window Project 2013 organized by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). It has been designed to animate and seamlessly link all the windows of the store with one beautiful fluid form. By using both digital and physical techniques, the architect has shaped light-diffusing polyamide mesh fabric to maximise its structural qualities and interact with the mannequins . The result reflects the precision of both tailoring and architecture as well as the colour and lightness of the Karen Millen SS13 collection. The design utilizes Rhino 3D in conjunction with its parametric plug-in Grasshopper and Kangaroo which is live physics engine for interactive simulation, optimization and form-finding created by Daniel Piker.

Night time image of Store Front

Assembly image in Mamou-Mani studio

Karen Millen Street Store Display

Karen Millen Regent Store Window

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Photo by Mikey Siegel

Carpal Skin is a glove designed by Assistant Professor Neri Oxman of the MIT Media Lab and was developed to aid the pain of those plagued by Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which is caused by the median nerve being compressed at the wrist leading to paresthesia, numbness, and pain. Night-time wrist splinting is the recommended treatment for most patients before going into carpal tunnel release surgery. Carpal Skin is a process by which to map the pain-profile of a particular patient—its intensity and duration—and to distribute hard and soft materials to fit the patient’s anatomical and physiological requirements, limiting movement in a customized fashion. The form-generation process is inspired by animal coating patterns in the control of stiffness variation. Though Oxman does not claim the texture is based on any particular natural pattern one cannot help but identify some of the same formal logic in that of brain coral which is part of the family Faviidae.

Nerve Alignment

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Of late Skylar Tibbits’ research has been focused on self-assembling non-mechanical systems that are actuated not by a power source per say but rather by a material’s inherent properties and its programmable form. Having followed his work over the last couple of years at MIT and SJET its evident that his early design’s of complex installations involving hundreds and in some cases thousands of components combined with an interest in biological systems has led him down this path. His research on self-assembling systems stretches back to 2008 with a project called “Self-Assembly Electronics” and progresses through a series of mechatronically driven projects up to a project entitled “Passive Folder” which is the first instance that we see modular components with an embedded distributed intelligence that allows the global form to multiply and reconfigure across a given area based solely on its ubiquitous points of connection. Fast forward to 2013, where 3D printing technology is accelerating at and incredible rate, and Skylar Tibbits is now exploring the notion of self-assembling protein strands that actuate through its contact with water! Where will his research go next….

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Bottom Cord

The Vertebrae Staircase was inspired by the spine of a whale and its design goes beyond being categorized as biomorphic where form is merely geometrically copied. The project explores the shaping and forming of a single vertebrae whose form was heavily influenced by structural performance, repetition, and modular connectivity. Andrew McConnell explains, “Much of the design work went into refining the single component, or vertebra, that mate with each other creating a unified spine running from floor plate to floor plate. These interlocking vertebrae create a rigid and self-supporting structure”. The beauty of the design can be attributed to its repetitive pattern and intricately refined geometry that can be assembled and fabricated with relative ease. Since the staircase consists of 22 identical modules and only two unique end modules only three master molds could theoretically yield the entire project. Though the fabrication of one master mold may be complex the ability to reuse form-work is quite powerful from a cost and material efficiency stand point.

The outer surface is composed of multiple layers of a durable composite fibre material while inside are the key structural elements. The vertebrae are mated using steel fittings and locked together with steel pins. When all the connections are made, continuous structural spirals run through every vertebra at the hand rail and beside each step, reinforced by structural foam and a network of steel rods.

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In the world envisioned by science author Janine Benyus, a locust’s ability to avoid collision within a roiling cloud of its brethren informs the design of a crash-resistant car; a self-cleaning leaf inspires a new kind of paint, one that dries in a pattern that enables simple rainwater to wash away dirt; and organisms capable of living without water open the way for vaccines that maintain potency even without refrigeration – a hurdle that can prevent life-saving drugs from reaching disease-torn communities. Most important, these cool tools from nature pull off their tricks while still managing to preserve the environment that sustains them, a life-or-death lesson that humankind is in need of learning.

As a champion of biomimicry, Benyus has become one of the most important voices in a new wave of designers and engineers inspired by nature. Her most recent project, AskNature, explores what happens if we think of nature by function and looks at what organisms can teach us about design. The website features a search engine that allows users to type in a problem and it yields a solution in the form of a natural phenomena. Nature has been perfecting its model through evolution for 3.8 billion years, shouldn’t we be looking there first for answers to our problems?

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Dutch designer Marieka Ratsma and Architect Kostika Spaho have teamed up together to create this interesting experiment in biomimicry and fashion.

The design quite obviously uses technology similar to Solid Thinking to analyze the forces applied on a shape and then applies material efficiently only to areas where it is needed for load bearing purposes, resulting in an organic bone-like distribution. We’ve posted many similar projects and methods before, for example Mercedes and Opel’s experimentation, as well as an entire post exactly about Solid Thinking.

also found on DeZeen

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Image by ECAL/ Christophe Guberan

Hydro-Fold (no not hygro) is a fascinating technique of folding that automatically begins to assume a three dimensional shape upon being printed from a normal ink jet machine. Invited by its Director Marva Griffin to the 15th anniversary of theSalone Satellite, on the theme “Design Technology”, the ECAL (University of Art and Design Lausanne) presents an installation by Christophe Guberan, a third-year Bachelor student of Industrial Design. “The idea is to give shape to paper through the simple use of water, adapting an existing printer to control the phenomenon.

Hydro-Fold by ECAL/Christophe Guberan from ECAL on Vimeo.

“This experimental approach allowed me to explore new avenues of research,” explains Christophe Guberan. Indeed, this project is based on a totally new experimental process which, using a printer, a simple sheet of tracing paper and water, creates a transition from 2D to 3D, generating tiny volumes in just a few minutes.

Image by ECAL/ Christophe Guberan

Image by ECAL/ Christophe Guberan

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Image by Achim Menges and Steffen Reichert

HygroScope is an installation sponsored by the Centre Pompidou in Paris and was developed as a collaboration between Steffen Reichert and Professor Achim Menges at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. The project is an extension of prior research conducted by Reichert that culminated in two projects entitled Responsive Surfaces Structures I & II. Both Steffen Reichert and Professor Achim Menges interests revolve around non-mechanical interactive projects that are actuated based the material’s natural properties and prompted by atmospheric conditions.

HygroScope – Centre Pompidou Paris from Achim Menges on Vimeo.

The two explain the project as so:

HygroScope explores a novel mode of responsive architecture based on the combination of material inherent behaviour and computational morphogenesis. The dimensional instability of wood in relation to moisture content is employed to construct a climate responsive architectural morphology. Suspended within a humidity controlled glass case the model opens and closes in response to climate changes with no need for any technical equipment or energy. Mere fluctuations in relative humidity trigger the silent changes of material-innate movement. The material structure itself is the machine.

Image provided by Achim Menges and Steffen Reichert

The project was commissioned by the Centre Pompidou Paris for its permanent collection and will be first shown in the exhibition “Multiversites Creatives” starting on 2nd of May 2012.

Image provided by Achim Menges and Steffen Reichert

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