BRADLEY STAMPERB.A (Hons) Interior & Spatial Design

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title_Speedo S_Pavilion*

F.M.P 2010

Digital Exploration

description_Pavilion. Pavilion constructed using 300 obsolete Speedo Swimsuits.

Final Major Project. Competition brief: design a pavilion for the Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground at Chelsea College of Art and Design.

Research Lab taught by visiting tutor Daniel Piker. Experimentation with Rhino plug-in, Grasshopper.

date_may-september 2010

jan-jul 2010

nov-jun 2010

*The Speedo S_Pavilion project was produced by a team of third year iSD students. Two commissions have been accepted by the students involved in the original scheme. The pavilion was constructed for the degree end of year show, and then re-constructed and modified to be exhibited at the CASS Sculpture Foundation. Image rights belong to Speedo International Limited

nXt Speedo S_Pavilionjune_2010

Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground Chelsea College of Art and Design

AquaLab / Speedo International Ltd Material Sponsorship

Adams Kara Taylor Engineering Consultants

The nXt S_Pavilion was a collaboration between a small group of Third Year Students. Speedo gave us 10,000 unusable LZR Racer swimsuits with the aim of creating a pavilion that could be used throughtout the world exhibiting Speedos green credentials. Every student submitted a final design proposal, finally working together on the winning concept to produce a 6x6m pavilion for our end of year show.

The pavilion was subsequently commissioned and exhibited at the CASS Sculpture Foundation as a direct result of the Degree Show private view.

Here is what CASS had to say about the project:

The resulting S_Pavilion is sponsored by Speedo and is constructed using a wooden frame and over 250 Speedo LZR Racer swimming suits - the most technologically advanced per-formance swimsuit ever produced. Due to recent changes in rules for competition swimsuits by FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation), a large number of previously manufactured swimsuits were made obsolete, as they could no longer be worn for competitions.

An exploration of the possibility of re-using waste materials using digital parametric interfaces, the project’s aim is to re-invent this product, the LZR racer, as a key structural construction component and also to test the architectural possibilities of obsolete Speedo fabric. The execution of the brief was divided according to the design interests of all artists involved, from spatial organisation to material concerns. This collaboration permitted the designers and re-searchers to be able to question a number of design issues such as sustainability, methods of production and use of materials.

The main structure of S_Pavilion was built from Forestry Stewardship Council sustainable timber, thus maintaining the sustainable integrity of the re-used material. S_Pavilion was then recon-structed on the grounds of the Cass Sculpture Foundation by the nXt Platform design team, who are continuing to develop this project and work together on others, post-graduation.

nXt PLATFORM

File Name: nXt_B_BS_ExAxoGrid1/100 @ A3

Notes:

Drawing Title:Grid Axonometric with exploded slats

Chelsea College of Art and DesignParade Ground Pavillion16 John Islip StreetLondonSW1F 4JU

nXt PLATFORM

File Name: nXt_B_BS_ComponentAxo1/20 @ A3

Notes:

Drawing Title:Grid Slats showing �nger joints

Chelsea College of Art and DesignParade Ground Pavillion16 John Islip StreetLondonSW1F 4JU

After consulting with the other 8 team members, I set to work designing a floor area that would influence and enhance public interaction with the space. This was acheived by mapping out key areas and creating a ‘floating floor’ that would drop to produce foot paths, and rise to create seating pockets.

Workshop constraints meant that each structural component could not exceed 2.5m in length.

An interlocking, 3-ply construction was the most efficient design solution.

After consultation with Adams Kara Taylor Engineers this solution was also recommended for the roof structure.

Mean Curve Radius analyzation. Minimum curve analyzationGaussian Curve analyzation

Implication of raised areas. lack of flow and raised areas decid-ed to be ‘too defined.’

Attempt at an uneven flowing floor. This was a good idea but possibly lower sections rather than raise.

One lowered section. Worked better aesthetically but stunted the idea of flow.

Final floor proposal. Lowered section encourages users to pass through the pavillion as we would like.

nXt Pavilion CompetitionThird Year FMP Projectjan-jul_2010Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground Chelsea College of Art and Design

The initial brief for the pavilion proposal did not state which materials we would be given,

nor who our sponsor was. Our first aim was to start producing structural possibilities using the

Grasshopper parametric plug-in for Rhino. Using a script loosely based around a definition

initially developed by Daniel Piker, I started playing around with the idea of a pavilion that grows

organically, controlled by parameters on site. Once finding out that speedo would be our

sponsor, I set about exploring ways in which the LZR Racer suit could be applied to this structure.

The first ‘space frame’. Very little control was exercised over this prototype.

Small architectural furniture models produced by second year students. The pavilion had to encase and display these proposals.

Potential speedo panels. Space frame removed.

Plan view. Furniture incorporated. Apertures clearly visible.

Proposal One. Complex framework coupled with extensive speedo coverage. Reliant on Speedo providing sheets of material rather than whole suits. At the time, this was not specified.

Interior perspective showing how cramped the interior space would be with the second year installation.

Framework detail: Rectangular frame applied.

Rectangular framework with tensile speedo material applied.This would provide shading but not a full element protecting space.

The application of the speedo suit proved to be the biggest challenege with the frame.

Once establishing that we would receive 10,000 full swimsuits, the task changed from material application to applying to pre-cut forms to the existing structure.

The swimsuit chest piece applied to the space frame. This would provide a mottled covering rather than full protection from the elements.

Cut-out of the LZR Racer chest section. This would form the basis of my material application.

Plan view. Framework and floor panelling.

Another variation upon my final project competition proposal was the idea of lofting the exterior framework to produce a solid, monolith structure. Although this was a slight deviation away from the project brief, I felt it was well worth persuing. The structure would most probably be a steel framework with ply panelling exterior.

Digital ExplorationThird Year FMP Projectjan-jun_2010Grasshopper for Rhino Parametric design tool

Using parametric modelling software, I developed and adapted a definition originally concieved by Daniel Piker. The definition algorithmically produces dendritic forms through a wandering point and a seed point. The seed point can be applied to any set geometry and the wandering point circumnavigates the seed and ‘connects’ when it comes within a set proximity and then loops over again. This can be executed in either 2D or 3D.

Parameters can be set to control the action. The ‘pull’ is akin to a gravitational force, the stronger the pull, the denser and short the dendrites will be as the wandering point is pulled towards the seed point. ‘Proximity’ controls how far the wandering point has to be to attach itself to the seed and ‘wander’ controls the efficacy of the wandering point and level of Brownian motion. (Brownian Motion - the “seemingly random movement of particles in fluid”)

Now I could be pro-active with the theory of ‘void’: create it myself, and then control a dendritic space frame that will react and respond to trajectories around it.

Attractor curves:Simple Visual Basic script loops the attractor points around their respective curves. The curves are split via series and then evaluated to form even spacing around the linear form.

Mesh box vertices:Using a plug-in for Grasshopper called WeaverBird I created the vertices on the outer surfaces whilst keeping the internal volume empty. This reduced lag and memory consumption.

Reactive Vertices:To move the mesh I used a vector between two points (static and shifted) before flattening the tree and connecting it directly to the DLA script. This part of the definition is not too dissimilar from my earlier 2D attractor grid work.

Proximity:I used a relatively simple proximity parameter here to control the dendrites as they produce. Once two vertex become within a certain distance they automatically connect, bypassing the DLA script.

Rectangle spaceframe definition added onto the end as an option.

Original seed point (red). It is now re-placed by entire mesh box

Attractor Path:Attractor points move along these curves and as they come within close proximity of the mesh box, the mesh vertices are pulled towards it. Giving the box a fluctuating form as the points swing past.

Wandering Point:The large circle indicates where the wandering point is born. the point works its way towards the mesh vertices until it meets a previous, now static, point and repeats.

Mesh Box:Set to the site dimensions 3x12x12 metres and vertices are located along its outer surfaces.

Clear example of the vertices reacting to the attractor paths circling the mesh.

The wandering point does not follow a 2D path around the mesh like the attractor curves. As we can see here, the point approaches the mesh from 360°.

Path i - User trajectory

Path ii - User Trajectory

Circular bounds of the wandering point

Dendritic structuring forming between the reacted verti-

Vertex reacting with attractor paths

Elevation of the DLA process:

Diffusion-limited aggregation without any kind of proximity control within the definition:

Diffusion-limited aggregationwith proximity controls set in place. This creates a self defined and limiting form:

9 stages of growth. As the frame ‘grows’ it self-corrects and finds the nearest vertex within a defined distance. This creates a frame that will only have lengths that have been designated by the designer. As a result, the designer can input data corresponding with workshop limitations, or material strength and create a frame that fulfills these requirements.