Introduction

When is material considered in the discussion of form and when is form considered in the discussion of material? How does form influences the choice of material and vice versa? In these questions the process of making remains undisputed and is not very often discussed or explored in deriving form or shaping materials. New techniques and methods of shaping materials changes/shapes our material and formal imaginations. Based on either material specificities or the formal specificities, processes of making are altered, but how can these processes of making or techniques of shaping materials be thought beyond achieving a certain predetermined form but as a method for generating forms and formations?

Intent, Context, Questions:

This exploration aims to open up new imaginations of forms, rethinking material formation and how form from a particular material is getting generated. The process of making becomes central while rethinking form and material formation. How can the form or material shaping practices be thought through the process of making itself and exploring its generative capabilities. To explore the generative capabilities of making practices, various soap bubble experiments which were conducted by Frei Otto, to understand the surface tension, develop and derive force diagrams, which then becomes the basis for imagining tensile structures and the way the form of various pavilions were conceived, crafted and built. 

There are several ways in which form and formation of material can be explored and thought of in a broader sense i.e. through material autonomies, through different making processes/ shaping practices and by attempting towards a predetermined form. In this particular exploration, generation of form and shaping of material will be thought through the process of making. How does an apparatus shape a material, and how can shaping materials and making practices be thought through these frameworks based on material performance and behaviour? (exploring material behaviour rather than controlling it). The apparatus emerges from the idea of science of material behaviour to enable it to behave autonomously, take its own shape and generate forms. Apparatus, here is thought as an enabling framework, which constitutes the process of making, for shaping material based on its inherent qualities and performances. The apparatus of (science).  The production of form is governed by the method and the process of making/shaping materials. 

In the following experiments, the objective was to explore surface tension, its conditions in making and formation via. an apparatus (exploring making through surface tension of different materials, imagining form through surface tension). Apparatus in this case enables us to study the behaviour of material in certain conditions and how material autonomy performs in different frameworks. The form is being imagined through the autonomous material behaviour and performance, acting in certain conditions. Surface tension, a material property, is the aspect through which shape/form of a material will be derived by looking at 

What does surface tension do to a material? How and where it acts? How is it formed and how can it be explored and exploited? 

Formal possibilities of surface tension are explored through the interaction between two surfaces, one of the material which is being shaped (cement, gypsum) and the other of the shaping material (acrylic sheet). This aims to explore how different kinds of surfaces develop a certain kind of surface tension in the material. The bonding which is getting generated due to surface tension between the two surfaces shapes the material and it is the material science which is allowing to develop a technique/apparatus with a scientific understanding of the material based on surface tension. Here surface tension, as a method or as an idea is explored to open up ways of making/shaping form and imagining material formations. So the intent remains to understand how forms can be explored and generated through various conditions of surface tension.

Experiment 1: Self formation of material based on Viscosity

Aim: To test the self formation of cement having different consistency (viscosity). 

Materials Required: Cement, water, acrylic template (on which the mix will be poured), transparent enclosure (to support the template in the at an height and also creating a small controlled environment), tray or plate. 

Experiment 2: Material formation through Surface Tension

Aim: To explore formal possibilities of surface tension through the interaction between two surfaces (one of the material which is being shaped (cement, gypsum) and the other of the shaping material (acrylic sheet).

Materials required: Cement,gypsum/POP, water, acrylic templates, tray/plate. 

Experiment 2.1: With cement

Experiment 2.2: With gypsum

Readings: Based on the contact area of the material with the template, different forms / textures was created. Distance between the two holes and also the size had its implications in the formation of material. Consistency of the mix was crucial in its stability and forming aspect (formation and deformation), setting time also became crucial for the final output, as the longer the material takes time to set, more deformed it gets as compared to it formation during the experiment. 

Experiment 3: Material formation through Surface Tension

Aim: Learning from the previous experiments, this set of exercise aim towards exploring the plane / surface (flat, modulating, with protrusions, etc.) and how it develops a certain kind of surface tension in the material and it taking shape in specific ways.  

Materials required: Cement,Glycerin (as additives), water, acrylic templates, tray/plate, M-Seal for making protrusions

Experiment 3.1: Cement with water only

Experiment 3.2: Cement with water and glycerin

Experiment 4: Material formation through Surface Tension

Aim: To closely observe the bonding between the two material surfaces and the act of pulling them apart. Looking at how does the act of separating the two surface impacts the surface tension in the material and it taking shape in specific ways.

Materials required: Cement,, water, acrylic templates, tray/plate, 4 nut and bolts.