i.M.A.D.E :: innovation in manufacturing + design :: the new site of the Institute for Digital FabricationBall State University
iMADE@i-m-a-d-e.org
Courses
NEW Graduate Certificate Program
The Graduate Certificate Program in Digital Design and Fabrication is designed to prepare students to develop a skill set with digital information, while at the same time directly engage industry partners in an open and collaborative environment. This Program is inherently interdisciplinary and is targeted at design professionals, fabricators, and manufacturers. The bundle of courses is intended to introduce students to the interconnections between disciplines through the management of digital information, reinforcing the total design through production process.
SpeedwayStudio
Ball State University “speedwaystudio” designs addition scheme for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
Titanium Bridge Design Competition Finalists
A three student team from Ball State’s Department of Architecture and the Institute for Digital Fabrication was recognized as a one of five finalists in the Student Titanium Pedestrian Bridge Design Competition, sponsored by the Defense Metals Technology Center and the University of Akron.
Workshop: University of Calgary
i.M.A.D.E was invited to conduct a series of workshops at the University of Calgary’s Environmental Design Faculty.
An Inconvenient Studio
In spring 2009, An Inconvenient Studio was conducted at Ball State University with an aim to innovate through active strategies in environmental design (in distinction to passive design), digital technologies, robotics, interactive architecture, and collaborative design approaches that challenge conventional models of studio education. Known by many names (interactive architecture, responsive architecture, smart environments, intelligent [...]
Philip Beesley : Workshop + Lecture
Philip Beesley from Waterloo Architecture/Philip Beesley Architect Inc. visited Ball State along with Brad Rothenberg of Pratt Institute to conduct a physical computing workshop for An Inconvenient Studio. The resulting installation from this four-day workshop is a kinetic mesh system entitled Arcus Animus.
The hanging, layered meshwork composed of impact-resistant acrylic, bamboo, and mylar components reacts to human [...]
Manufacturing Material Effects Exhibition
The Manufacturing Material Effects Exhibition, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, framed and displayed the design and material production work of leading international designers and fabricators who participated in the Manufacturing Material Effect international symposium, and subsequent book release from Routledge Press. Designed, fabricated, and installed by a design studio working closely with industry partners [...]
Stephen Deters (UCLA) : Deterskraft Workshop
Stephen Deters from UCLA visited i.M.A.D.E as a research fellow to conduct a 3-day studio workshop to examine the performative capacities of materials–specifically, $20,000 worth of donated hardwood veneer. The resulting Bodhi Tree is comprised of laser-cut veneer components created specifically for curving, twisting, and layering in order to negotiate structural capacity with aesthetic sensibilities of lightness, [...]
Constructing Information
The implication of ‘fabrication’ has rapidly expanded for architects, architectural researchers, and students engaging the latest digital tools: fabrication is both material and immaterial, pushing the limits of experimentation while working against the imperatives of real technology and construction imperatives as articulated by other scholars. Computer-aided design and manufacturing, once discreet applications of technology, are [...]
Rhino Scripting Workshop: Southern Illinois University
Joshua Vermillion conducts a Rhino Scripting Workshop at Southern Illinois University.
Workshop: Universidad Anahuac, Mexico City
Kevin Klinger and Joshua Vermillion led an invited workshop at the Universidad Anahuac Norte in Mexico City. Along with higher level presentations and discussions about the shifts in practice due to the integration of digital technologies, this short course dealt with Rhino modeling skill-building and digital fabrication (laser cutting).
SuperShell
i.M.A.D.E supported an immersive studio conducted by faculty fellow George Elvin. The studio, consisting of architecture students, designed and built a prototype exterior shell for storm-resistant mobile homes. Cast from concrete using tubing and digitally-fabricated connections, the SuperShell prototype has applications in areas affected by hurricanes and other forms of sever weather. i.M.A.D.E supported the studio [...]
Design to Production Workshop: DCA Conference
i.M.A.D.E conducted a workshop entitled “The Design to Production Feedback Loop” at the Design Communication Association 2007 Conference. Click here for the event website.
Workshop participants met in the dFAB facility (i.M.A.D.E’s production laboratory) to engage with paramteric models in GenerativeComponents software and digital fabrication equipment–specifically laser cutters and a 3d printer. The workshop was framed around complexity [...]
Design to Production Workshop: SuperShell Studio
i.M.A.D.E conducted a workshop for the Super Shell immersive design studio with 15 architecture students. Topics included concrete casting, form work fabrication, and 3d printing, along with a brief introduction to CNC milling, computation fluid dynamics, and finite element analysis.
Workshop Series: Mark Cabrinha
Mark Cabrinha, an i.M.A.D.E Research Fellow and Phd candidate at Rennsalear Polytehnic University, conducted two workshops at Ball State. Cabrinha focused on a “materials first” approach–the primary goal was to look at how materials can take shape prior to cutting shape from material. Digital fabrication was introduced as a necessity to extend / expand these [...]
Furniture Design Seminar
i.M.A.D.E supported an immersive furniture design seminar in Ball State’s Interior Design program. The seminar, taught by Prof. Reza Ahmadi, was broken in to two teams to design and fabricate unique designs for seating. i.M.A.D.E students assisted the teams with developing design and fabrication strategies, as well as building the seminar students’ digital toolsets with [...]
Parametric Constructions
In the Parametric Constructions Seminar students explored the design, fabrication and assembly of a repetitive nonstandardized component system based on parametrically controlled variation and serial differentiation, i.e. mass-customization. The component systems were conceived as a combination of a skin and structure that was fully resolved tectonically and materially. The component systems, when assembled, produced a [...]
Generative Components Workshop
Sponsored by Bentley, i.M.A.D.E hosted a software training workshop for area professionals, students, and attendees of the Manufacturing Material Effects Symposium at the Ball State Indianapolis Center. The two-day workshop focused on Bentley’s GenerativeComponents, a parametric modeling tool.
Outside tutors who taught the workshop included Shane Berger of Grimshaw + Partners (New York), Makai Smith of [...]
Revit Workshop
Sponsored by Autodesk, i.M.A.D.E hosted a software training workshop for area professionals, students in Indianapolis, and attendees of the Manufacturing Material Effects Symposium at the Ball State Indianapolis Center. The two-day workshop focused on Autodesk Revit, a parametric / building information modeling tool.
The workshop preceded the Manufacturing Material Effects Symposium at the Indianapolis Museum of [...]
dFAB Club
i.M.A.D.E was approached by elementary school students at the Burris Laboratory School to help start a club with the aim of prototyping self-propelled vehicles. A work-in-progress, students are ramping up on skill building, learning how to digitally model in rhino, as well as use cnc equipment like laser cutters and 3d printers.
Ideas to Products
Ideas to Products was an interdisciplinary course offered in Spring 2007 in the Department of Technology with support from i.M.A.D.E. The course was open to any student with a good idea for a product, regardless of major–no experience with digital modeling or rapid prototyping was required.
Some of the technologies covered include: laser cutting, 3D product [...]
Ecotect Workshop
Nash Hurley from SHoP Architects led an Ecotect workshop at Ball State on September 28th and 29th. Ecotect is a complete building design and environmental analysis tool that covers a broad range of simulation and analysis functions for understanding how a building design will operate and perform sustainably. The two-day workshop consisted of a brief [...]
Abstractions + Constructions
The subject of this foundational, skill-building course – an assignment entitled: “Flat Fabrication” – represented a shift from the immaterial digital realm of three-dimensional modeling software into the world of flat-sheet materials. It involved an investigation of non-planar, complex (“fat”) geometric assemblies and their translation into the “flat” sheet material constructs to be produced using two-dimensional [...]
Digital Toolbox
The Digital Toolbox workshop series was held over the entire fall 2006 semester in 2-week modules. Intended as skill-building opportunities, the workshops covered subjects such as NURBS surface modeling (basic + advanced), animation, rendering, Rhino scripting, CNC tooling, digital fabrication strategies, material effects, parametric modeling, and motion graphics. Central to all of the modules was the [...]