Using 3mm plywood, Scratch was born.  Scratch is a modular joint that can be connected in 4 places in order to create an infinite amount of unique shapes, towers, and sculptures.  Aesthetics, joint optimization, material distribution, height and waste optimization drove our design and it evolved from a pentagonal tower of triangles connected by joints to a tower made out of one component.  Fabricating one joint, multiple times allowed our structure to grow, naturally as the tower rose.  Using one element we were able to create curves, lines, and circular shapes giving the tower an organic distinct shape each time the tower was built. The final dimensions of the scratch joint were determined by the material’s flexibility as well as the joint’s arm length.  The 3mm wood gave us optimal flexibility to bend pieces and form connections adding strength through tension and compression.  The scratch tower went through many iterations: first, we looked at the geometry of a spiral. Creating a spiral configuration would provide us with maximum strength, but left us with less opportunities to play with the system.  Secondly, we combined a spiral base with an organic flow that formed an unstable tower.  Final build experiments taught us that we could achieve a more stable structure as long as we had a strong base, this allowed us to grow our tower from a ridged base and explore the possibilities of natural form using one component as well as experiment with the tower’s maximum height.         Start from Scratch!