cincinnati OHIO

University of Cincinnati
critics:Mara MARCU

suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.
Adam SCHUELER, Peter FOSTER, Anousha ALAMGIR and Connor TUTHILL: “Optical Illusions of Volume: Bubbles” critiques the ubiquitous obsession with optimization in computational design and fabrication.

As an alternative, several projects are presented which begin to exploit and exaggerate misbehaving behaviors in an ideal file to factory methodology. The work conducted together with students at the University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design (SAID) reconciles conflicting attitudes between traditional CAD/CAM strategies, interactive architecture, virtual reality and analog post-processing techniques. The project mainly employs the use of a lightweight sheet material, parametric design in CATIA/Digital Project, simulation/responsive architecture via Arduino-controlled sound sampling, virtual reality, and investigates accidental and more intuitive assembly strategies. In this way, we aim to develop techniques within the digital process that exploit a non-linear design and fabrication approach in which the hand and the machine become increasingly disrespectful of each other’s artificially delineated boundary. By contaminating and continually disrupting each other, we believe that what are considered, by norm, flaws or faulty formations within the fabrication process can open up otherwise neglected intriguing opportunities in architecture and design.