Marc@Studio

so today Tara and I worked on constructing the jig for our big (read:HUGE!) model. It reminds me of creating formwork for concrete structures, which got me thinking about tilt-up slab construction, which got me (just now) thinking about a way to create a mesh with one fixed end and then tilting up the opposing end into place and then fixing it, rather than pushing/pulling sections to create a shape. I'm sort of becoming fascinated with this idea of being able to support traitional structures with gridshells. I think it may be a bit unsettling to see such a support in real life, but I was always taught that tension was a more efficient structural system than compression. anyway, Tara and I finished the jig, and we should hopefully be able to get the grid all together tommorow, as we still have to figure out our boundary edge condition, as well as how we want to build the column. I've also been thinking about a asymmetrical grid system, and have drawn up some ideas to be cut for a system when all the lathes are connected by a single bolt on one end, and attatched to a curved element with slotted holes on the other. I've set up score lines on centers to see whether the lathes actually travel within their slots when manipulated... anyway i think this is probably hard to understand so i'll move on.
I also had an idea for a tool today. Tara and I were trying to extrapolate points onto a piece of cardboard that was about 1/4" above the piece we were taking the points from, so I thought about a little metal piece that could slide around and transfer those points vertically. I want to builld it, the problem is I don't have access to a milling machine. Damn.

some images of a quick little test i did to check on this one fixed end thing, and also to see whether I could do it, as this can't be done in sketchup with the sandbox tool.