A persuasive architectural model demands close attention; it requires observation from more than one perspective; it demands to be touched. It has a material presence that tells of its construction and its condition. It is a distilled synthesis of an idea. It is the summary of a process of design, the communication of a method of making and is the result of an explorative speculation. The meaning and significance of the model is not arrested, but is open to interpretation. The fragmentary nature of the model, its island condition, suggests an alternative reality. The form is clearly different from what it signifies, yet what it presents can be recognised, imaginatively transformed and abstractly occupied. The most influential force changing the nature of models, both their form and how they are made, comes from advances in digital fabrication and related technologies. However, digital technologies can encourage linear and unproductive methods. With the application of digital fabrication there can be a simplification of material, whereby material complexity is compromised to achieve formal complexity, or expediency. I would argue that the advantages of using digital fabrication for model making are when the technologies are not used in an automatic or algorithmic manner, but with a reflective and critical understanding of making. Moreover, in order to be sensitive to the materials that are chosen, one must consider the material properties early in the process of design rather than at the point of using the technology.. Also, digital technologies can encourage linear and unproductive methods. The advantages of using digital fabrication for model making are in a more productive approach that does not use the technologies in an automatic or algorithmic manner, but with a reflective and critical understanding of making. When a Computer Numerically Controlled Router (CNCR) is used to manufacture components at a 1:1 scale for construction, clearly it is important to specify the material properties in advance and be confident that those properties are predictably. However, when a CNCR is used not for a 1:1 constructional detail, but for an explorative and speculative representational model, how can a method of working be developed that ensures a material sensitivity? Simplification of material is evident across a range of digital fabrication technologies, otherwise known as Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) technologies, including both additive techniques such as 3D printing and subtractive techniques such as laser cutting and Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) routing. CNC routing is closest in nature to more traditional techniques of making, a cutting tool is directed into a medium and material is removed. Unlike the application of laser cutting, the workpiece and the cutting tool come into physical contact. The nature of the material, its
geometry and density, its melting point and the presence of a grain or any irregularities affect how it is machined. The favoured materials for CNC routing are foams, modelling boards and manufactured boards such as MDF or plywood, but also natural softwoods and hardwoods. Despite the differences between these materials, they are frequently treated as a predictably consistent, plastic substance. Material complexity is sacrificed to achieve complexity of form. When digital tools are used on materials, the properties of the materials have to be calculated prior to fabrication. The dialogue between architect and the material of construction is altered. Without digital fabrication, representative drawings are interpreted by those who will construct the project. This interpretation involves a knowledge and understanding of material that will critically inform how the construction is realised. With digital fabrication architects generate coded data that scripts the process of construction directly via technological applications. How can a method of working be developed that ensures a material sensitivity is retained? How can a process develop into a sophisticated technique, that does not negate, not rout out, but critically investigates and responds to material? In the same way that a model – its making, its material, its model-maker – is able to discard preconceptions and conventions in the process of its making, I wish to take two examples of models and how they were made to show the complexity of materials and how digital fabrication is both confounded by and exploits their qualities. There were several contexts in which these models were constructed: the virtual space of a Rhino model; the workshop environment in which they were made; and the site of display in which they were exhibited. The experience of making two of the models, Egypt and Liepaja, are detailed here to show how contingent and provisional is the relationship between tools, material and intentions.
Computer Aided Design (CAD) for Computer Numerical Control (CNC): A set of instructions is developed for the router. In addition to drawing out geometry, layout and orientation are also described. Colour is used both to distinguish parts and also to articulate stages of machining. Ideals of form are depicted. Multiple versions are expanded to explore options and alternatives.
all images: richard collins
On Site review 35 : the material culture of architecture
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