Material Systems

The main objective of this module was to understand different systems, materials and forces of a structure. We initially started with making models from the given prompts to understand the different sets of forces affecting a structure. I was working on the prompts of tensile, tension and tensegrity.

STAGE 1

 I had to spread it in 1mx1m. I started with taking inspiration from the process of stretching animal skin to make parchment. 

Here, I used a wooden frame & some nails to keep a tensile fabric in tension.

Taking further the idea of keeping the fabric in tension I used strings to anchor the fabric upwards and weights to anchor it down. To keep a tensile structure in tension anchoring it on various points and levels is required.

FORCE DIAGRAMS

While concluding this stage of the module we learned how different forces act on a structure and the kind of impact they have when the materials are changed.

STAGE 2

We took inspiration from the previous prototypes and landed on the form of this petal/droplet.

While we were referring to the petal/droplets form we explored the possibility of it being a continuous wall in tension, but we stopped since we started drifting from the idea of it being a tensile structure.

Taking the form one more step further we came up with this structural form. But here what was missing was the sense of continuity, the idea of the bamboo being a long loop so we came up with another model .

 And that is how we ended up with this structure, where the bamboos in the roof are long continuous loops starting and ending at a particular point.