Making Cultures - Form and Matter

Forming through Units

Shreya Mehta

Introduction

The idea of a unit formation through natural processes verses through the digital contexts varies on its process of formation and how it gets shaped and the geometry that it follows. This idea was explored by understanding the various places where these units are found and how they become dense through a certain generative process. Some of the intents of these experiments were to look at how we arrive to the form of a unit and how does this unit grows and multiplies.

How does the form of a unit get generated by natural processes and how is this process different from predetermined input in the digital contexts?
How different factors like material, processes bring changes to the unit and ultimately to the multiplication of these units?
What notions of organisational growth patterns does these unit formation processes lead to?

The following experiments that were carried out are to see how a unit is shaped with a certain process and then it was repeated with many materials and their forms were studied to see how the materials behaved. Then with the same process and same unit form, a cluster was made to see how this unit, which is not exact same throughout, forms a whole and how each unit settles into each other and an accumulation is formed.

Experiment 1- The syringe experiment

Aim- The aim of this experiment was to see and study how different materials form a unit when pushed out of a thin syringe and also to study how their form varies every time the same process is followed.

Materials- Cement, plaster of Paris, paint, clay and fevicol.

Method- 1) Mix cement, p.o.p and clay with water in a container.

2) Paint and fevicol are used directly without mixing in water.

3) Pour the prepared material into the syringe.

4) Close the piston to apply pressure, for the material to come out.

5) Push the material out of syringe onto a plate by holding the

syringe a little tilted.

6) Repeat the same process with all the materials mentioned above.

7) Observe each unit that has formed of different materials for their form.

Learning- Each material reacts differently when force is applied on them because of which the unit that each of the material forms is also varying. The form of each unit for the same material may be varying but when they are piled or clustered together, the whole seems to be made of one similar unit which gets repeated.

Experiment 2 - Flat units

Aim- The aim of this experiment was to see and study how different materials form a unit when an external pressure is applied to the unit and made it flat with a thin plane.

Materials- Cement, plaster of Paris, paint and clay.

Method- 1) Make a thick mix of each material by adding water except paint.

2) Drop it on a surface by a spoon.

3) Take a flat plane like a thick sheet of paper and hold it on the dropped

unit and drag it on the mass to make it a flat patch.

4) The unit formed will react according to each material, forming a rough

upper surface or a smooth one.

Learning- Each material reacts differently when its mass is dragged with a thin sheet. each unit formed is different, as for some materials the upper surface is smooth and for some its rough. The outcomes look like a stroke of paint when mixing with a brush, which looks similar, but is geometrically varying because every time the force and the material differ. This makes each unit unique.

Experiment 3 - Ring

Aim- The aim of this experiment was to see and study how different materials form a unit when they are passed through a piping bag to know how they would take shape when squeezed out of it like we make donuts.

Materials- Cement, plaster of paris.

Method- 1) Make a thick mix of each material by adding water.

2) Pour the mix into a plastic bag and cut a small hole at one corner.

3) Push the mixture out from this hole onto the desired surface.

4) The unit formed will either stay in that state if the water content was

proper or it will start spreading if there's too much water in the mix.

Learning- The unit that is formed by this method, which resembles a ring or a donut, remains in the same state as poured from the pipping bag if the mixture is thick. But if the water content in the mix is more, than the resultant unit starts spreading, as it is not a thick mixture.

Experiment 4 - The balloon experiment

Aim- The aim of this experiment was to see how the materials will behave when poured into a balloon, and how they will automatically take shape of the balloon, in whichever position it is kept.

Materials- Plaster of paris.

Method- 1) Mix the p.o.p with water to make a very thin mixture to make it easy to

take any form in which the balloon will be placed on the ground.

2) Pour the mixture into a syringe so that its easier to put it into the

balloon with some pressure too, so that the liquid won't spill out.

3) Tie the balloon and place it on the ground so that it take a certain

form.

4) Repeat the same experiment with many balloons and start placing

them on top of each other , to see how they start taking a form

according to how they are placed on each other.

Learning- In this experiment, each balloon shaped result is a unit, whose form changes according to the way it is placed on another unit.

Experiment 5- Heating

Aim- The aim of this experiment was to see the formation of a unit when a certain material is heated and after melting, in what form does it accumulate to form a unit.

Materials- Wax.

Method- 1) To make a basic apparatus with various heights like 10,20,30 cm.

2) Holding the lit candle at these heights one by one and let the melted

wax drop to the bottom on a surface.

Learning- The main objective of this experiment was to see how a melted material forms a unit and behaves when dropped from various heights.

Experiment 6 - Units in water

Aim- The aim of this experiment was to see that if certain materials are dropped into water, how will the unit take up its form according to the force by which they are dropped and also by the density of water as compared to each material.

Materials- Wax, melted plastic and plaster of paris.

Method- 1) Firstly, will have to set up a glass with room temperature water.

2) Heat the materials like wax and plastic on the stove.

3) When the material is liquid enough, pour it drop by drop into the glass

and wait for them to harden.

4) For p.o.p., we can drop its thick mixture into the glass with the help of a

spoon and let it harden for easy removal.

Learning- The results that were observed were, p.o.p. being denser than water, settled at the bottom forming many deformed units which achieved their shape by the force they were dropped and by the force they landed at the bottom of the glass. And wax and plastic being lighter, formed a layer on the water surface, in these cases, the unit formed was flat , which was very different from the units of p.o.p.

Experiment 7 - Dropping from a height

Aim- The aim of this experiment was to see how a form of a unit changes or gets affected by height and also by the force with which it lands on the ground.

Materials- Wax, cement, clay and plaster of paris.

Method- 1) To set up an apparatus with heights of 10,20,30 cm.

2) To drop the various mixtures from these heights on by one onto the

ground.

3) The splashes of each material are observed because the forces

acting on each one differs with the height.

Learning- The results that were observed were, the splash from the height of 10cm was ignorent and the unit formed from this height was more like a clean drop. The splash from 20cm had these small drops because the mixtures bounced again outside. And the splashes from 30cm were spread outside the apparatus' base too with many tiny drops scattering in the outward direction.

Experiment 8 - The Accumulation

Aim- The aim of this experiment was to see how all the units form certain pattern after their accumulation by the process of dropping the materials from a certain height. Also to observe how each unit settles on top of each other and can this technique be used to achiever certain structural forms which can be used in building processes of many things.

Materials- Cement and plaster of Paris.

Method- 1) To set up an apparatus with a series of bottles that has different mixes of cement and p.o.p.

2) The liquid mixture will drop at a certain time intervals according to their viscosity and the form of each unit will differ depending on the height the respective bottle is.

3) Each accumulation, which will be formed by dropping of the units on top of each other, will then be directed in such a way that it forms a structural form, eg: arch.

Learning- The results that were observed were, the mix of p.o.p and water gets hard inside the bottle within a few minutes, so it fails to drop the mass onto the ground. And in the case of cement, the mix is very thick which stops it from coming out of the hole, and if the hole is big than the mixture run through it like water.