Emad Al-Qattan Digital Technologies

Coral is a project that merges between both the Virtual Engagement and Materials Engagement classes. The goals of this project are: first, to translate the design from the digital environment into a physical object using knowledge and skills that we have developed in both classes during the past 14 weeks, and using state-of-the-art fabrication tools. Second, is to create a unit - part - that could be replicated and then put together  in an assembly - product. The assembly's dynamic nature was delivered through its parts that could be rearranged in various ways to produce different assembly configurations, and the ability to adapt to its context. The overall effect is similar to how a coral - organically - grows contextualizing its environment. As mentioned, the project will highlight some of the skills that were gained throughout the term required to complete this project, and are organized below as the project's development phases:  1. Digital Environment: 1.1. ...

In this assignment the aim was to construct a powercopy (the same process that was shown in a previous post [http://dtbyemad.blogspot.com/2013/10/powercopy-debugged.html]) that unfolds from a three dimensional geometry to a two dimensional plane that could be fabricated afterwards. The process is a straight forward approach, but it requires deeper understanding of geometry. The constraints of geometry - especially in unfolding operations -  must be clear from the start. To be able to unfold, the surface of the geometry  has to be a developable surface or ruled surface (explained in http://dtbyemad.blogspot.com/2013/10/developable-geometry.html). What follows the unfolding operation is fabrication; the unfolded surface is then laser cut using "museum paper". The paper after it has be cut and etched, it is then assembled in the same sequencing as the digital model. An additional benefit of using powercopies in this project is that, when a single cell is manipulated the...