This research will test the further integration of digital information and fabrication equipment within the limestone industry’s production processes and culminate with a proof-of-concept system for re-using stone off-cuts/leftovers. Our sincere thanks to the Discovery Foundation for funding this opportunity to immerse students and faculty in important and timely research and development with our industry partners.

The Institute for Digital Fabrication at Ball State University are testing ecological design strategies for the building industry following a generous Graham Foundation for the Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts Award. The research uses a digital database of component pieces from available scrap material, digitally catalogs waste products from the building industry specifically the Indiana Limestone industry and develops computational means to apply the cataloged information to parametric design models. Taking scanning technology mostly reserved for the auto and industrial design industries and deploying a portable system outdoors allows the recording of heavy stone scrap objects into a digital coordinate space. The idea of the project embraces irregularity rather than the regularity that is traditionally used in most refined stone design work. Since each recorded stone in unique in size the two dimensional composition of pieces form an overall irregularity organized wall. The constant and measurable depth of each scrap piece allows for a recognizable three dimensional organization to emerge.

While digital technologies have improved the flow of digital information from designer to fabricator, this system, entitled ‘SmartScrap’, is unique because it improves the flow of information from the fabrication process back to initial design decision-making. Completion this digital information ‘feedback loop’ will seamlessly inform design and fabrication decision making based on available sizes, shapes, and quantities of leftover/waste stone inventories.

Student Team:
Ben Greenberg
Greg Hittler
Kyle Perry

Partners:
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
Indiana Limestone Fabricators

Faculty:
Jason de Boer
Kevin Klinger
Joshua Vermillion

SmartScrap is the digital cataloguing of waste products from the building industry -specifically the Indiana limestone industry- and developing computational means to apply the catalogued information to parametric design models in order to effectively reuse the waste.

One of the aims of the research consultation was to inaugurate an exchange which could lead to future collaborations between i.M.A.D.E and RMIT University.

Kevin Klinger and Joshua Vermillion attend the SmartGeometry Workshop and Conference in Manhattan. The workshop provided a wealth of expertise and resources for beginning the development of the SmartScrap system. Results from the Workshop, including 3D prints of SmartScrap tiles, were displayed at a reception in the Guggenheim Museum.

While digital technologies have improved the flow of digital information from designer to fabricator, this system, entitled “SmartScrap”, is unique because it improves the flow of information from the fabrication process back to the initial design decision-making. Completing this digital information “feedback loop” will seamlessly inform design and fabrication decision making for the building industry based on available sizes, shapes, and quantities of leftover/waste stone inventories. This research will culminate in an ecologically-driven Pilot Investigation of proof-of-concept prototypes which demonstrate the SmartScrap concept.

This initial pilot investigation is being conducted with Indiana Limestone Fabricators, Inc. While this project deals exclusively with the limestone industry as a test-bed for the research, the economical and ecological benefits will make SmartScrap a valuable design/fabrication process with crossover potentials to other industries and initiatives. While this research does not deal with performance attributes of the limestone itself, it is specifically focused on uncovering value in materials that would normally be discarded. The potential for innovation lies in the modeling-visualization-prototyping-analysis-scripting process, as it promises to help with reducing and reusing a considerable amount of waste produced by one of Indiana’s largest manufacturing sectors.