Wednesday, December 10, 2008

the process cont'd




We had a total of seven individual modules which we put together in the shop at the university and later on site on the day of the big opening. It was a completely different experience assembling the installation at the shop than on site. We needed a lot more help, for one, hanging the installation at its final destination. Putting the holding cable in place around the silo was quite a task, and we would not have been able to do it without all the extra help we got the day of the opening.

the process



The longest part of the process was waiting for the vacuum bag to do its thing. The plywood had to be glued together and placed precisely in the right spot, then sit for about an hour for the glue to dry. Some of the pieces were clamped together to maximize our time.

Monday, December 8, 2008

My piece of the puzzle



After attempting several different infills for the cells, it was established that the material we truly wanted to use, fiberglass, was too much and out of our budget for us to finish before our deadline. We abandoned the infill and each person in the group adopted a specific piece of the whole ivy project. My piece was the "curved joiner"; a piece which curves down as well as bends to the sides as can be seen in the pictures.

After the midterm


After the midterm, the studio was split into two groups: the "ivy" and the "origami" groups. In the Ivy group, I was to be in charge of infilling the cells to further support the structure. My teammate and I tried several materials, from wire mesh and casting cloth, to concrete and plexiglass, to bolts and epoxy.