3d printing and embedded electronics concepts from arch science

Complexity through 3D printing

My concept focuses around looking into the potentials 3D printing allows for, through multiple materials, complexity of form, and the ability to integrate final form components and connection for components.

There has been exploration in both what forms can be created through 3D printing and what potentials exist.

Michael Senkow

Connective Work - Neri OxmanHer work is, in the end, the inspiration for my hopes with this direc-tion of research. There are multiple realms of thought, along with workoutside of the 3D printing realm (through use of CNC machin-ery and other fabrication techniques) but specifically within 3D printing you can find many of my goals.

The basis, I’ve gathered, of much of her thought lies in biomimicra-cy of natural structural forms. The integration of dual-actions with-in an object, allowing part of it to act as structure while another acts as a filter or light reducer, or the differing of density within the material itself, to create something that may have greater strength but lower weight, work as a light displacer, or integrate differing materials outside of the purely printed substance into the final form.

Connective Work - Neri OxmanThese concepts play out into final forms, combining the concepts of multiple materials and thus multiple functionality within the same object.

The material options available just within the hobbyist market open up this realm even if the designer does not have access to the more professional and more expensive machines.

Connective Work - Neri OxmanHer work begins the exploration in how smaller forms can work towards a larger object. There is often the illusion in her work, I be-lieve, that the entire piece is created in one go. Within her research papers though, you can see examples of how the individual pieces are created and fastened together.

This opens up a line of thought in how these pieces are joined in the first place. From what I can see, the connections look to be more like puzzle pieces, with a direct joinery based upon the imag-ery of the object. 3D printing though allows for a larger variability, a connection that is specifically designed for the object.

Connective Work - François BrumentPositives - This project plays upon the idea of 3D printing the entire structure, mixing the inside and the outside into one cohesive ob-ject rather than seperating into different units. His project starts to play into complexity of surface with a few inner, actionable struc-tures playing as part of the greater whole.

Negatives - It starts the concept but doesn’t finish it. While there is some complexity in the surface it is still purely aesthetic. Why sim-ply make a working facade when you could print voids that have action within them (movable shelves, pipes for wiring or moving liquids and air, specific connectors between the components). Ad-ditionally, the printer required is a very specific machine, made for printing large format, concrete prints. Different materials aren’t possible and there is not an open, ubiquity of the machine, falling more into a luxury realm than a practical realm.

Connective Work - Softkill DesignProtoHouse investigates the architectural potential of the latest Selective Laser Sintering technologies, testing the boundaries of large scale 3D printing by designing with computer algorithms that micro organize the printed material itself. With the support of Materialise, Softkill Design produced a high resolution prototype of a 3D Printed house at 1:33 scale. The model consists of 30 de-tailed fibrous pieces which can be assembled into one continuous cantilevering structure, without need for any adhesive material. The arrangement of 0.7mm radius fibres displays a range of flexible textures and the ability to produce in-built architectural elements, such as structure, furniture, stairs, and façade, all in one instance. The Softkill house moves away from heavy, compression based 3d printing of on-site buildings, instead proposing lightweight, high resolution, optimised structures which, at life scale, are manage-able truck-sized pieces that can be printed off site and later assem-bled on site.

Negatives - Is this frivilous? Just because a 3D printed form can be organic and fibrous, chaotic looking, does it need to be? Shouldn’t usability take precidence?

Connective Work - DShapeLike with other types of 3D printing, the build object is created a layer at a time. In this case, the layers can include wiring, cabling and piping cavities, along with decorative touches like statues. All of this is accomplished without a drop of cement.

Monolite uses regular sand and the extruder head pumps out a binder agent. Once a build is complete, the structure requires 24 hours to fully set. When the 24 hours are up, the structure is dug out of the surrounding sand (similar to how laser sintering works). Any sand that hasn’t been used to build the structure can be re-used.

The end result of a build using D-shape and the Monolite binder is a marble-like structure that is, according to the company, stronger than concrete without needing to rely on internal iron supports. Monolite also expects (and this is true of most rapid manufactur-ing) that building a house with D-shape will go much faster than standard methods of construction.

Negatives - This is not approachable to most designers (and while I realize that may be moot, it still seems important). Additionally, while there is mention of the potential of embedding cabling, wire, piping, etc. this hasn’t been done yet in most of the designs.

Connective Work - KamerMakerA bit more towards my lines of thought.

Connective Work - ElectronicsBoth via embedding within the object and a mixture of conductive and non-conductive elements, the final print can start to embrace a more actionable quality.

The Open Source MovementWhile design is relative to invidual requirements and can’t be generalized to all situations, there is much to be said for sharing knowledge and examples of work.

Part of my focus within 3D printing is how it opens up the design realm to a wider audience along with allowing for greater amounts of iteration and examples. Anything I create can be shared and up-loaded, with direct files that can be altered and informed upon. Rather than my work living in a dead-zone, in which once its pro-duced others are left wondering how it was done, I can directly share the files and concepts with a greater whole.

Other platforms exist in this realm, and it may make sense to de-sign one specifically for the architectural/larger design realm. Most of what has been designed and shared here so far fits mostly into the object and gadget realm, but as the machines used within the Maker movement become more advanced, larger, and more ex-pandable in their material options, their connection and expansion into Architecture seems more assured.

Dark-Side/Potentials

PIRATE BAY

While I have a hard time seeing true ‘danger’ within potentials of 3D printing and architectural design, there is something to be said for opening up complexity and intricate forms to those who don’t fully respect or understand them.

Guns display some of the best and worst aspects of industrial de-sign. Intricate formwork and rapid adaptation, but at the same time bent towards destructive forms. They bring with this concept the feeling of how can you control this type of system when its open to the public.

How would a designer defend their work if its open to the public at the same time? While it would be fine to say that respect is key, corporate examples of stealing work are rampant. To work with this type of system, it seems a designer has to go down one of two paths: defender or supporter. They either fight against the act, su-ing, trying to find ways to make their work specifically theirs, or they embrace it, forcing users to go to them because their work is ‘better’ than the rest.

Material OptionsMy current access is meant more in the end to still be a model for what could be produced, even if the models are larger in na-ture. I currently am able to produce with plastic materials and only change them based upon color, and potentially the difference be-tween ABS and PLA.

Multiple other options exist (and could probably have their own entire term devoted to each concept).

- Color Changing - Wood imbued (flexible, different smell, resemblance to wood) - Conductive (Potentials with Electronics - Glow in the Dark - Nylon

(A key aspect here is that none of hese lose any of the basic manu-facturing concepts in 3D printing - dual materials, precision in cre-ation, inner-voids within).

Manufacturing Costs/RecyclingOne potential in this realm simply lies in the material itself. While plastic is often listed as an environmental danger, a material that doesn’t degrade over time, it also has vast potential in regards to its reclamation potentials.

Alongside the hobbyist 3D printing environment, the filament production machinery has also become a side industry. Machines that can both turn failed prints/excess material into new abs reels, along with research into using other plastic waste forms to create the abs filament reels in the first place is going on.

Displayed here is Filabot, a successful kickstarter for filament cre-ation from used ABS products, along with a connection to research being done at my undergrad for turning milk-jugs into filament.

Prior WorkMuch of the term was originally spent simply working on determining the extents that were open to me via 3D printing.

While I do not have access to some of the extremely advanced printers, I have access to Makerbot’s Replicator, Laser Sintering printers, and the school’s more advanced deposition printers.

Each has its own potentials and limitations.

Dual MaterialsWhile I only have access to really working with different visual versions of ABS right now, there are already many materials to work with, even in the hobbyist realm.

- Glow in the Dark ABS - Color Change ABS - Carbon-filled, conductive ABS - Dual Plastics (ABS/PLA)

Intricate/Connected FormsWith other machining processes, forming a working/moving form requires the production of seperate parts that are pieced together at a later date. Here, you can produce connections in the form itself, saving time/proces.

Form/Specific Object.

2-Step WorkPotentials exist within embedding second layers of material.

2-Step WorkAdditionally, thinking of the material as more than just itself, as a piece of a connective whole.

Specificity in FormBoth for the display of light through an object...

Specificity of FormAnd for detail within the work, in areas that may not be possible for the print itself.

Specificity in FormLight is key, in that something that is both structural and light-altering can be combined within the same object.

Working Towards a ProductNow that I’ve seen the forms that are possible, through various small models, the goal is to seek a final form, something that integrates the various benefits 3D printing has (multi material, designed to fit the component without further work, etc.)

Model as Final as ModelThere is a goal of having the 3D print work as the final object, but as an intermediate step, the print can act as a model for the final form.

Experimentation With Form

Specific Concepts - Connectors

Magnet Concept Exploration

MetaBall/Voronoi Cell Concept

Concepts for a Final Print

Comments

Connecting Work - SI601In a data manipulation course within SI, my final project was to produce a simple program in python that gets Phillip’s HUE lightbulb’s to intelligently respond to user input.

In this case, the user can input a city and a choice (temperature or weather) and the lights change based upon qualities of these choices at the location.

github.com/mhsenkow/Hue-Weather for full code

3d printing and embedded electronics concepts from arch science

Career

d printing realm

final forms

complexity of form

larger object

concepts of multiple

d printingmy concept

printing large format

final form components