Cocoon: a Kerfing Experiment

By taking inspiration from the caterpillar’s cocoon, we developed a geometry to fabricate a lamp that would not only resemble the insect’s monocoque case but that would also challenge the wood bending technique of kerfing.

Our final patterns are the result of various iterations that since the beginning sought to create a multi-directional bending surface while at the same time allowing them to display a pleasing illumination.

Because of the organic nature of the cocoon, the joinery system for the lamp is based on small protuberances extending from the pattern’s end and interlocking with matching holes on the adjacent surface.

This gives the appearance of interlacing edges. All of these components create a wrapping environment for the light bulb to be located in the inside, inducing a similarity to a butterfly inside its cocoon.

Cocoon | Digital Fabrication is a project of IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed at Master in Advanced Architecture in 2016-2017 by:
Students: Francis Redman, Archana Ravikumar, Nithin Bhargav Ramesh, Kaushik Raghuraman.
Faculty: Alexandre Dubor and Djordje Stanojevic