Lecture DESIGN = PRODUCTION at KISD, Cologne

Hans Sachs of responsive design talks, together with Sebastian Bächer of CNC Tischlerei Bächer GmbH, about the the potential merge of design and production with the upcoming and intensifying integration of digital tools in both processes. 

The talk "design = production" takes place at the KISD on Tuesday April 1st 2014. Please see more details about this series of lectures on KISD news /calendar..

abstract

Similar to the 18th and 19th century industrial revolution, we are, today, in a process of societal change driven by the 'digital revolution', that, among other factors, significantly influences architecture and design. While information technology and digital, rule-based, robotic processes already dominate large parts of our private and business live, industrial processes still primarily govern the production of (consumer) goods.

But although industrial production still dominates the building and design industry, digital techniques have helped in reinstating basic principles of craft production in which material and form are naturally intertwined into a tradition of making. Hereby digital manufacturing processes are rather related to the principals of crafts than industrial production as they emphasize the qualities of the materials used and provide higher flexibility during the development and production process.

Thus the methodology of the object development process changes: the design development process reaches up to the last produced model in a product series. In the same time the production cycle starts with the first prototype object. In this lecture Sebastian Bächer and Hans Sachs present various personal and cooperative mostly experimental works and projects, which focus on the increasingly blurring boundaries between design, development and production.

Oooglow

Oooglow is a lampshade made from phosphorescent polyester resin.
It's shape is generatively designed based on the same principles as the Tong-Zi-Dan series.

Defined by certain preferences an unlimited amount of forms can thus be produced.



In the present case, the dimensions of the shape and amount of faces were determined by the bed-size of the available laser cutter and foldability of the polypropylene sheet which was used for the mold.








The production is based on a rotational molding technique, also similar to the Tong-Zi-Dan gypsum vases.
However the polyester plastic makes for a much more durable and solid object. The procedure involves mixing 700ml of polyester resin with 100g of phosphorescent pigments. When the pigments are fully dispersed 28ml (4%) of hardener are added and the solution poured into the mold. The mold has to be continuously rotated for about 20 minutes until the resin has solidified. The mold can be removed after 12 hours of curing. It takes another few days until the object is completely hard.




The lamp is equipped with a LED light which doesn't heat up the plastic but sufficiently charges the luminescent pigments.



Once the light is turned off the lamp emits a greenish glow over a period of several hours.



Big Thanks to Achilleas Xydis!

KISD Open Factory

Together with Marcel Odenbach, Hans Sachs from responsive design studio runs a workshop 2D>3D at the KISD Open Factory at the Köln International School of Design.

The 2-day event with various workshops and panel discussions on Nov 29th and 30th addresses the open scource and maker movement and brings people from different professional fields together to experiment, develop and fabricate. Students can still register for several workshops on the conference's webpage (above).

Cardboard Lounge at National Museum of Denmark

For our client WHITE LABEL EVENTS GmbH we provided furniture and accessoires for a "Cardboard Lounge" in the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.

 

The event took place in the spacious entrance hall of the museum on October 23rd. The Cardboard Lounge was part of an exciting event with live acts and gala dinner hold by a German cardboard producer to invite international clients.

Symposium Transmaterial Aesthetics in Berlin

Hans Sachs of responsive design studio has presented his paper "bended - material and process informed design computation" at Transmaterial Aesthetics Symposium in Berlin at the Aedes Network Campus Berlin, on October 2nd, 2013(see programm below). We especially thank Prof. Matthias Ludwig (Hochschule Wismar, Fakultät Gestaltung) and AA Dipl. Sandra Loschke (Faculty of Design Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney) for the organisation of the event. The symposium abstracts can be downloaded here.

In the Symposium Transmaterial Aesthetics various lectures of architects, designers and producers have been presented and discussed experiments with timber in architecture and technology.
































flyer with programm :

Final Presentation of "Folds & Spaces" at CIAD

Students of the the Folds & Spaces bachelor module present their conceptual and experimental works on a folded architectural structure which they developed during the summer semester 2013. 

 


One of the concepts will be chosen by a jury to be realized as "CIAD pavillon" in the courtyard of the faculty of architecture at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences.
Special guests will be Dipl. Ing. (FH) Klaus Wetzstein from 3A Composites AG , Gregory Epps - founder of Robofold Ltd., Prof. Andreas Muxel - chair of interface design at KISD and more...
The event starts at 16:00 Uhr (4 pm) in Room 323 at CIAD - Cologne Institute for Architectural Design (IWZ Altbau, Köln-Deutz)

The modul was kindly supported by 3A Composites AG

Dingfabrik Köln e.V. gets new workspace

The Dingfabrik Köln e.V., Cologne's first and community based FabLab, where Hans Sachs of responsive design and our partner Sebastian Bächer of Tischlerei Bächer GmbH are active members, moves from the the old "Deutz Gasmotorenwerk" to a new 500 sqm workspace in Cologne Nippes.

Spiegel-Online Artikel über die Dinfabrik






























The old warehouse-like spaces offer a great opportunity to enlarge the Dingfabrik's member group of 50 people and make it possible to implement a much bigger wood workshop with new digital fabrication opportunities, like industrial robots etc.
In addition the open spaces invite every member but also not-yet-members to organise events, exhibitions and conferences in and around the FabLab scene.
Soon - in August/September 2013 - the self financed and built laser cutter (60 Watt/ 1200x600mm), the 3-axis mill, various 3D printers and all workshop equipment will be moved to the new place.
Interested ones are always wanted and very welcome to help to build up the Dingfabrik spaces.

Quarter Iso Grid Cardboard Surfboard Study

Inspired and led by Mike Sheldrake's cardboard surfboards we created a fully parametric grasshopper definition, that generates a cardboard connector system as 3D model. With this tool, which we created in a "spare time project" , you can load in and process almost any surfboard shape you want...
































The Grasshopper definition unrolls, numbers and layouts all edge curves to be cut by a laser cutter.
After having cut and assembled all parts we followed Mike's great glassing instructions on his webpage. This is the result of our study so far.. further pics are coming when finished and tested in the North Sea..

our Team: Till Hartmann, Maik Holtiegl , Hans Sachs
Supporters: CNC Tischlerei Bächer GmbH, Denise, Andreas Naumann
very special Thanks to Mike Sheldrake for his advice and kind support

  

Tong Zi Dan

Tong Zi Dan is a series of generatively designed vases made from dental gypsum.

The objects were produced during the CAAD Wahlfach Praxis Course Chinaware, ETH Zürich. The shapes were designed together with Knut Brunier and produced with the help of Tom Roberts.

The initial egg design gets randomly populated by a cloud of points which form the center for surfaces that trim the shape perpendicular to its curvature. A generative algorithm (Galapagos) is then used to create the area of all faces within a certain min/max range. Finally the faces are unrolled and laid onto a flat sheet to allow the production of the mold with a laser cutter.




In our experiment the gypsum gets enhanced with thermochromic pigments in one mixture and phosphorescent in another. It is then poured into the sealed molds and pivoted for a few minutes until the gypsum solidifies. The process is repeated for two more times to ensure a minimum wall thickness



After the mixture has dried the vases can be removed from their enclosing molds. Since thermochromic pigments are heat sensitive, they change their color in response to a rise in temperature. The previously blue vase turns to white, the gypsum's base color, when exposed to a fan heater.



Another interesting effect is generated by the phosphorescent pigments. During daylight the vase looks normal, but in darkness it starts to glow and create a different atmosphere.