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Historically, ornament has provided a tether to cultural meaning in the built world. Ornament is tied to specific cultural attributes. As an integral part of the construction, ornament negotiates with the culture from which it emerges. It is a built grammar, but it is also expressive of its own making as well as the society that shaped it. Modernity has largely reversed this connection with some important exceptions. There is a strong history of architects developing space through the design of the construction that provides what Louis Sullivan would call an “organic” link to the ornament that emerges, and this nexus of structure and form becomes the “site” of the ornament. Luigi Nervi’s ferro-cement shells and Frank Lloyd Wright’s textile blocks are two salient examples that have, through necessity or interest, developed details that generate entire projects, which then generate new projects as that construction/detail is refined and builds on the culture that inspired it. Ornament is thus a negotiation between the built artifact and the meaning of its “ornamented” expression. As architects, we now operate in a world of off-the-shelf selected components. This attitude, combined with the integration of building components into BIM programs, has made the architect a selector/consumer rather than a designer of the construction, making ornament a part of this selection process – i.e., decoration. The research project Woven Blocks is an attempt to reexamine the way in which architects can shape space through the design of the construction itself. Pulling from Frank Lloyd Wright’s textile block system, Woven Blocks imagines a 3D-printed block capable of taking advantage of a self-supporting system of enclosure that can be “programmed” with function, take on aspects of the context it resides in, and reflect the nature of its making. The project is the design of the manufacturing process as well as its end-product. This enables the building material to respond directly to its program, shaping space/meaning in potentially a more “plastic” way. This paper is first a consideration of architects thinking through construction, then a reflection on the cultural implication of their production. The site of ornament also implies a shift in perception from the textile patterns of specific cultures found in ceramics, clothing, wall mats, or flooring onto the building surface and into its lashing to the frame and the integration of its various services/systems. This lens will serve to frame the research around the project Woven Blocks, examining the efforts of the authors to shape the process of construction as a place from which ornament can emerge and meaning can be rediscovered.
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A Symbiotic Approach for Developing Shoreline Infrastructure
Abstract This research project presents an alternative approach to addressing the complex challenges of sustainability of the coastlines by integrating advanced technology solutions with ecological conservation principles. The paper introduces the Ecoblox, a modular infrastructure system consisting of interlocking blocks devised for attachment to seawalls to improve marine biodiversity at the water edge. The design of the Ecoblox system employs environmental data, data analytics, AI-powered generative algorithms, and digital fabrication to produce blocks with complex shapes and textures suitable for bio-marine habitats. The project is executed in two phases. This paper describes the initial phase, encompassing the prototyping process, construction, testing, and analysis of various Ecoblox versions. The primary objective of this phase is to assess multiple designs and evaluate their effects on biodiversity. Building upon the insights gained from the initial phase, Phase II of the study focuses on developing data-driven strategies and applying robotic 3D printing to refine the system’s design and construction.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2329345
- PAR ID:
- 10647103
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer Nature Singapore
- Date Published:
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 46 to 54
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Book Chapter:
- https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-3433-0_5
