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
Projects
Transformer
“Transformer” is a layered, light-responsive shading lattice, designed and fabricated by an interdisciplinary team of students and faculty. The system acts as an active shading device, potentially for use within a building envelope.
The prototyped system is comprised of quad-shaped, polystyrene petals arrayed in overlapping, radial clusters. The petals are situated within a lightweight but rigid [...]
tetraMIN
Students Develop Prototypes Reusing RCA Dome Stadium Roof
tetraMIN is a hanging screen aggregate consisting of componentry generated from tetrahedron geometry via Rhino’s Grasshopper parametric modeling plug-in. Comprised of laser cut polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) scraps, each component forms a periodic minimal surface, and is propagated into a regular pattern by a series of reflecting/mirroring operations. The PTFE [...]
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.
reBarn
275 pieces of barn wood + 350 unique aluminum components + CNC milling + waterjet cutting + students + industry partners + the community
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reBarn
Smart Scrap
The Institute for Digital Fabrication at Ball State University is testing ecological design strategies for the building industry following generous awards from the Graham Foundation for the Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the Discovery foundation. The research uses a digital database of component pieces from available scrap material, digitally catalogs waste products from [...]
Morpholuminescence
Developed by students from “An Inconvenient Studio”, MorphoLuminescence utilizes an understanding of fashion photography to find its form and provide optimized lighting, enhancing the experience of trying on clothing. A three-point lighting set up is commonly used by fashion photographers, arranging a bright key light above eye level, in combination with softer fill and back [...]
Arcus Animus
Arcus Animus is a kinetic mesh system designed by Waterloo Architecture/Philip Beesley Architect Inc., in collaboration with Ball State’s Inconvenient Studio/i.M.A.D.E (Senagala/Vermilion) and Pratt Institute Epithelium Studio (Beesley/Sarrach/Wang). Fabricated and installed in four days, the hanging, layered meshwork composed of impact-resistant acrylic, bamboo, and mylar components reacts to human occupation interpreted by arrayed proximity sensors. [...]
Bodhi Tree
Using a hand-assembled notch/slip joint system, the “Bodhi Tree” was formed from self-similar laser cut veneer components with no hardware. The curvature and tension of twisting the veneer strengthened each unit to form a stable and resilient lattice.
Luminaires
i.M.A.D.E encourages design students to focus on the creation of unique prototypes based on material interrogations and market viability. Students are actively developing business plans and exploring commercial outlets for design prototypes based on emphasizing the production of ready-made, yet customizable products. Indiana has a long tradition of producing hardwood veneer from regionally harvested trees. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Catch + Release
i.M.A.D.E collaborated with faculty research fellows Jason Johnson and William Marquez on a design/fabrication/research project entitled “Catch + Release”. The project proposed a series of differentiated panels that function as solar collectors, shading devices and ambient lighting. These panels made up part of an entry pavilion for the University Museum at Southern Illinois University, as [...]
Shufa Lounger
i.M.A.D.E and A2SX have formed a furniture design collaborative centered around producing new, innovative seating prototypes with minimal material waste. Using digital design and fabrication technologies, the prototypes are designed, optimized structurally and ergonomically, and fabricated using digital information. Further optimization for this work-in-progress is underway including the efficient nesting of components to [...]
Virtual Reconstruction
Supported by i.M.A.D.E, this project led by Michele Chiuini studied the architectural decoration of the demolished Chicago Stock Exchange, designed by Louis Sullivan in the early 1880s, through the analysis and digital modeling of the fragments acquired by Ball State. Currently stored in the College of Architecture and Planning, these fragments have never been studied. [...]
Expanded Topographies
As part of the semester-long seminar course “Parametric Constructions”, students explored various parametric design methods and digital fabrication techniques through a series of full scale constructs produced in groups of two or three students while working in a collaborative effort with local industry partners. Expanded Topographies looked at using developed surface sections to create scoring patterns from which [...]
Parametric Honeycomb
As part of the semester-long seminar course “Parametric Constructions”, students explored various parametric design methods and digital fabrication techniques through a series of full scale constructs produced in groups of two or three students while working in a collaborative effort with local industry partners. One project that resulted from the seminar explorations consisted of a [...]
Parametric Folding
As part of the semester-long seminar course “Parametric Constructions”, students explored various parametric design methods and digital fabrication techniques through a series of full scale constructs produced in groups of two or three students while working in a collaborative effort with local industry partners. Entitled Parametric Folding, this project consisted of laser cut aluminum panels [...]
Digital Exchange Exhibition
i.M.A.D.E students took part in digitally designing, fabricating, and installing a gallery exhibition for the 2006 ACADIA Conference. Working with other students from the University of Kentucky, the design and fabrication process of this installation served as a ‘proof-of-concept’ model for a “digital exchange.”
In the true spirit of collaboration, the design was completely centered [...]
Intermedia Artist Timeline Armature
Designed and programmed by Jesse Allison, a research fellow for the Institute for Digital Intermedia Art, this reactive kiosk contains a motion-based interactive timeline of intermedia artists controlled by tracking viewers’ hand gestures. The gestures were captured and interpreted with cameras, mirrors, a projector, a Mac mini, and other optical equipment. The work includes a short [...]
Parametric Expansion
Custom expanded materials respond to environmental inputs through directional deformation. Expanding meshes increase the overall coverage of a sheet, while producing a perforated product without slugs, waste products from punch holes. Rather than uniform distribution expanded sheets, CNC technology allows for customization expanded products to respond specifically to its locale.
Digital simulation allow designers to visualize [...]
Laminate Topologies
Laminate Topologies started as a project in Branko Kolarevic’s Contemporary Praxis seminar which examined the translation of complex 3d objects into a series of laminated panels. The resulting constructs–derived from a 3d digital model–generate visual patterns which change according to the viewer’s vantage point. Using the fabrication strategy of contouring, this research evolved into ways [...]
Perimetric Boundary
A strong dichotomy exists between the factors of fluctuating natural orders apparent in the river, and the striation of the land by human historical and cultural influence. This installation exists as surface of influence between these forces. The form is informed by parameters of light, vista, material and process through a method of digitally folding [...]