Low2No
Fall 2009 - 2010

The project studies the Low2No competition, a process launched by SITRA, the Finnish Innovation Fund, with the specific goal to serve as a catalyst for systematic change in the AEC industry of Finland. The study investigates the network of stakeholders, issues and processes involved surrounding the competition, and looks specifically at the opportunities and obstacles in the quest for a more sustainable design and development framework in Finland.

Research Associate: Anthony Kane

Surfacing Stone
Fall 2007 - 2009

The research investigated new design and fabrication opportunities for stone, using state-of the art robotic fabrication equipment in the GSD fabrication lab. The project, a collaboration with Monica Ponce de Leon and Wes McGee, resulted in the installation of a free-standing vertical stone shell in the GSD yard. The shell is post-tensioned and perforated according to structural demands, views and light parameters. All 94 individually shaped stone panels were cut in one of the GSD's robotic workcells. More ...

Mobile Information Unit
Fall 2006 - present

The Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Harvard Art Museums are engaged in a collaborative project that strives to produce a mobile urban kiosk that informs the University community as well as local residents about events and exhibitions at the Museums and the University at large. The Mobile Information Unit (MIU) employs innovative interactive technologies to allow passer-bys the experience and involvement of digital art (video, animations, other). By inviting passer-bys to engage into the MIU the museum mission is expanded onto the street, and the community can be addressed directly.

Information is displayed in a form that allows for easy updates and changes through computer-based projections, flat panel displays and touchscreens. Electronic sensors register the proximity and position of passer-bys, and convert their movements into signals that in turn triggering projections to adjust dynamically in response. The current design of the MIU was the result of a student competition in a class 'CAD/CAM I' taught by Prof. Martin Bechthold in the fall of 2006. Allan Sayegh, Prof. Kostas Terzidis and Prof. Daniel Schodek consulted throughout the design process. The winning entry by students Jaime Hernandez, Russ Gould, and Wei Bai proposes a pixilated fiber-optics display that engages the viewer into an interactive play and performance by tracking movement through built in sensors. This scheme was further developed in a research seminar offered in the spring of 2007.

The content of the display can be based on the Museum’s needs, but the fiber-optics system could also host a variety of community- or student generated digital art displays or videos, thus hosting a variety of interests and serving as a platform of expression for digital artists as well as Harvard students. Two large flat screen displays and several touch screens allow access to more targeted and more detailed information about the museum and its holdings. Other events at Harvard could also be incorporated.

The design of the unit communicates and showcases innovative ideas of design, new materials and CNC fabrication at the Design School. Fabrication was completed in April of 2008. More...

Concrete Origami
Summer 2006

This project researched parametric design and related fabrication methods for cementitious composite folded plate systems. As a proof of concept an arch was constructed as a prototypical folded plate system. The prototype was pre-fabricated in three segments and then mounted on the timber platform. The span of the arch is 6.6 m, its height is 2m, and the plate thickness is 22 mm.

The prototype investigates a new process for making complex folded plate systems out of cementitious composite materials: systems are subdivided into pre-fabricated units that are poured flat over a simple formwork. The joint lines are left free when adding the cement matrix. The mesh reinforcement continuous through these joints such that the flat system can be folded into its final three-dimensional configuration once the plates are sufficiently cured. The flexible joints are then made rigid by filling them with a high-strength expansion grout that cures rapidly. Once cured the folded system can be lifted up and mounted in its final position, supported by a temporary support that is eventually removed.

A variety of composites were tested as small specimen subject to compression and bending in order to determine the proper material mix for the full-size system. Based on the tests the plate joints were reinforced with a non-woven carbon fiber mesh, and the plates themselves were solely reinforced with 2 inch long synthetic fibers. The material properties of the composite (such as strength and modulus of elasticity) as determined in the tests were used to analyze the arch structurally and simulate stresses and deflections using finite-element analysis. Load tests on the arch will eventually compare the actual deflections under load to the prediction of the computational model.