As part of the ninth edition of the BEYOND MEDIA festival in Florence, Italy, the SPOT ON SCHOOLS exhibition explored the didactics in the field of architectural design and of the new media of communication, while focusing on the most recent development of the use of digital technologies for design research in the field of education. Invited to show work at SPOT ON SCHOOLS, i.M.A.D.E installed various exhibit pieces on the mezzanine in the Stazione Leopolda, including Morpholuminescence, Bodhi Tree, and Veneer Luminaires.

Comprised of custom laser-cut “petals”, “stems”, and hinges, Morpholuminescence was pre-assembled for testing prior to shipping in pieces. Petal movements and LED hue variations were driven by Arduino microcontrollers via data from proximity sensors. Assembled completely on-site and illuminated with spot lighting, the Bodhi Tree required laser cutting of over 10,000 components from hardwood veneer. The Luminaires were also constructed on-site from hardwood veneer along with lightweight acrylic armatures and fluorescent lighting.

In addition to the show, Kevin Klinger and Mahesh Senagala were invited to speak about the work at the simultaneous symposium. Senagala’s presentation related to the pedagogical goals of “An Inconvenient Studio” and the resulting student-made prototypes, including Morpholuminescence and Arcus Animus. Klinger’s talk centered around the topics of digital fabrication and material effects, with examples of projects from innovative professionals from around the globe and from i.M.A.D.E including Bodhi Tree, reBarn, SmartScrap, and the MMFX Exhibition (all described in print in the exhibition and catalog).

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Student Design/Management/Installation Team:
Elizabeth Boone
Eric Brockmeyer
Adam Buente
Kyle Perry

Print Layout/Design and Component Production Team:
Ben Greenberg
Greg Hittler
Eric Laine
Austin Lucari

Faculty:
Kevin Klinger
Mahesh Senagala
Joshua Vermillion

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. Made of Indiana Hardwood veneer, the “Bodhi Tree” highlights some of the more subtle properties of hardwood. The thinness of veneer allows wood to bend, twist, and glow—revealing latent and innate qualities of thinly sliced wood. These qualities are exploited in projects that reveal the “light/lighter” qualities of this typically “heavy” material.

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. The overall assembly and geometry resulted from a self-organized form-finding experiment, which led to the creation of gradients of variegated densities, strengths, and geometries of light-catching surfaces. The resulting mesh was used to define space and filter light in an otherwise stark interior environment.

Faculty:
Steven Deters; Lecturer, UCLA +  Fall 2008 i.M.A.D.E Fellow
Kevin Klinger

Student Team:
Deepak Baniya
Elizabeth Boone
Eric Brockmeyer
Adam Buente
Dustin Headley
Kyle Perry
Priyanshu Shrivastava

Partners:
David R. Webb Company
Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association

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. Made of Indiana Hardwood veneer, “Luminaires” is one such pilot project with potential for commercial spin-out, as the project highlights some of the more subtle properties of hardwood. The thinness of veneer allows wood to bend, twist, and glow—revealing latent and innate qualities of thinly sliced wood. These qualities are exploited in projects that reveal the “light/lighter” qualities of this typically “heavy” material.

Described by a fully-parametric digital model, the shape and proportions of the “Luminaire” can be easily customized, with precision laser-cut veneer components. These components are coated in polyacrylic and assembled by hand using notching and slip joints. The detailing of the slip joints was inherent in the design development, such that no hardware is necessary, and anyone can assemble the final form. Once linked to a web interface, the product of the design can be uniquely customized by consumers and shipped flat-packed.

Student Designer:
Eric Brockmeyer

Various Student Production Teams:
Eric Laine (IHLA Showroom)
Mark VanderAkker (IHLA Showroom)
Ben Greenberg (Spot on Schools Exhibition)
Greg Hittler (Spot on Schools Exhibition)
Austin Lucari (Spot on Schools Exhibition)

Faculty:
Kevin Klinger
Joshua Vermillion

Partners:
David R. Webb Company
Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association

The latest hardwood veneer Luminaire prototypes were exhibited at the Tech Point 2009 Innovation Summit.

Students:
Eric Brockmeyer
Kyle Perry
Austin Lucari
Rudy Arroyo
Ariel Aurellano

Partners:
Tech Point Indiana
Indiana Hardwood Lumbermens Association
David R Webb Co.

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 from local wood, aluminum, limestone, and plastics industries, the exhibition closely examined collaborative design and production practices from around the globe based on innovative and experimental processes of material exploration.

Each component of the exhibition display system was custom designed and fabricated. A digitally-fabricated plywood armature system was developed and optimized for efficient nesting, fabrication, and shipping in order to minimize material waste. Rear-illuminated acrylic panels were vacuum formed over CNC-milled wood patterns in close collaboration with a local plastics manufacturer. All connections and joints were facilitated by custom designed and laser cut aluminum clips. Digital files were exchanged with local limestone industry partners for the 3 axis CNC production of stone bases. Full-scale mock-ups facilitated the choreography of the vacuum forming process and connection details.

In order to test lighting effects, the studio deployed a variety of methods—both, computationally, and physically. Entire armature bays were fabricated at full-scale with lighting and wiring in order to optimize the lighting design. Simultaneously, the studio simulated the overall lighting effects using photometric light renderings and false-color illuminance studies. This coupling of digital and physical outputs allowed students to understand the successes and failures in both the design and analysis techniques.

The exhibition project was assembled and installed by the student team, using a coding system for identifying each unique component. Additionally, an interactive, touch-screen informational kiosk was developed and installed by Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts. The design process was richly enhanced by actively engaging and participating with the manufacturing process, along with the vetting of design schemes by industry partners, which led to a design process that was truly informed by production, cost, and material considerations, and fostering an innovative collaborative relationship between design and making.

Student Team:
Amber Agan
Matt Amore
Elizabeth Boone
Adam Buente
Lena Dodson
Brandon Hoopingarner
Joe Intriago
Adam James
Kyle Perry
Ross Smith
Rob Thompson

Faculty:
Kevin Klinger
Joshua Vermillion

Partners:
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts
Arrowhead Plastic Engineering
Indiana Limestone Fabricators
Mid-West Metal Products
Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association
David R. Webb Company
Amos-Hill Associates
Ball State Digital Corps
Laird Plastics

Process Photos

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, patterning, and light/shadow.

A lecturer at UCLA, Stephen Deters has practiced architecture in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.  His experience covers a broad scope of building typologies through all stages of design and construction, from furniture to skyscrapers to urban design.  He has worked in the offices of Eric Owen Moss (LA), Kohn Pedersen Fox (NY), Pei Cobb Fried (NY), Beyer Blinder Belle (NY) and Fujikawa Johnson Gobel (CHI).  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Architecture from the University of California Los Angeles, where he now teaches. He has also studied at the Ecole d’Architecture de Versailles (FR) and the Universitat fur Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (AU) under Zaha Hadid.  He has been a licensed architect since 2003, and is founding principal of Deterfabrik.