FORM FOLLOWS FLOW: A Material-driven Computational Workflow For Digital Fabrication of Large-Scale Hierarchically Structured Objects

Abstract

In the natural world shape and matter are structured through growth and adaptation, resulting in highly tunable and hierarchically structured constructs, which exhibit excellent mechanical properties. Conventional digital design tools and processes however display little integration between shape formation and materialization resulting in the disassociation between shape and matter. This paper proposes a framework and an application for the integration of shape and matter by implementing a novel material-driven manufacturing platform and computational workflow to derive large-scale hierarchically structured objects. The workflow is comprised of material-driven methods and techniques such as environmentally informed property variation, material-based hierarchical structuring, and hydration-guided shape formation. The platform is composed of a custom multi-barrel deposition head attached to a robotic positioning system. Components are physically form-found by digitally distributing natural polymer gels with functionally graded properties informed by desired structural and environmental performance. In this approach, properties such as material viscosity, deposition velocity, and nozzle pressure drive the printing of two-dimensional patterns induced into three-dimensional shapes by natural evaporation. The workflow associates material, environmental and manufacturing considerations with virtual design modeling tools, challenging traditional design workflows, prioritizing process over product and flow over form.