Plywood,Polycarbonate Sectioning.

Plywood,Polycarbonate Sectioning – digital Fabrication

DATA

Material: Plywood.

Technique: Sectioning.

Percentage: 70%

Translucent material: Polycarbonate.

Percentage: 30%

CONCEPT:

The idea was to propose the façade for the transition space of the Wikihouse, transition space being the space from outside to inside. The idea was to experiment with the play of light and shadow with the ever changing sun path.

With sectioning we experimented radial sectioning, as it showed interesting muilti directional dry joinery, patterns and stability.
We tried transition with in materials as well, by layering wood on wood, polycarbonate on wood, polycarbonate on polycarbonate. Creating different levels of transparencies.
Polycarbonate fibers created interesting crystal like shadows with light; we enhanced this by changing the direction of polycarbonate fibers while layering.

METHODS:

Initially we started with paper trials of creating shadows, later created the form in rhino and exported it to 123D Make.
With 123D Make we were able to understand the stability better with the RED, BLUE compression tension diagrams. This helped us evolve the form to be more stable.
The polycarbonate was tested to its limits by hand cutting and modeling. In this process we discovered that rotating the polycarbonate while layering was making it more stable and creating crystal like patterns with light.
Polycarbonate was easy to handle with along the fiber cuts but very tough with across.
With test trials, material optimization was done by dividing the façade into three panels depending on direction of their respective curves.
Radial Sectioning was finalized because we could experiment with intersection of muilti directional dry joinery.
Using CNC mill for fabricating polycarbonate was a tough task as we lost components into the machine suction pipe.
CNC milling bit rotation Speed melted the material because of the friction between the two resulted in untidy finishes.
While laser cutting to avoid tight/loose dry joints between components we made tests with the material and optimized the offset factor.
The rastering on the components helped us assemble the pieces together faster.
After the panel was put together it increased our curiosity in analyzing the shadow, crystal patterns created by the light penetrating through the façade.