Rite of String

Year: 2014
Purpose:
AIA short course: Investigate ‘ruled surface’ architecture.
Technique: Procedural weaving, computer generated instructions.
Medium: Rope instillation art/architectural space.

| Using a single line, the normative condition of the boundary will be challenged. The single line acts as a system for the creation of spatial constructs aimed at soft division between distinct boundary conditions.

Through a series of predefined points and lines, a spatial sequence is created. It will enable various interactions to take place and will be a mediating space between the open courtyard and the enclosed controlled space of the adjacent workspace.

The following is one of the initial tests, wrapping around a 2 cell frame. Each cell contained 10 points per side and the string wraps through all points without repetition.

The warping order was dictated by a grasshopper definition using a fitness function with a chaotic jitter of the point order ensuring a void remains in the centre of the frame.

This model was an output of the tests challenging the 'ruled surface' geometry the studio was to use as a design tool. I wished to see if by brute force the ideal ruled surface would emerge from chaos.


Instillation image credits: Jun Ming