A team of graduate students recently created a temporary installation on the Kent State University, Kent campus in Ohio. The project grew out of an internal challenge in the matR design competition. Designed by graduate students Brian Thoma, Carl, Veith, Victoria, Capranica, Matt Veith, and Griffin Morris, the tunnel-like structure called “The Passage” was a study to support the conceptualization and actualization of innovative and experimental material research. The students created the initial form in Rhinoceros with a couple Grasshopper definitions as a waffle structure of 26 vertical ribs and 24 horizontal struts. More images and information after the break.
In connection with the Geometric Algorithms course, led by Assistant Professor Bill Lucak, the project was designed to demonstrate some of the current digital design methodologies for form generation and digital fabrication. The resulting structure explores the translation of a complex three-dimensional object into a nonstandard component system through algorithmic and parametric means. Douglas Steidl, dean of Kent State’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design said, “I strongly believe this design is a physical manifestation of the creative thought process, implemented through digital fabrication techniques.”
