Another interesting project from the guys of PROJECTiONE , myLight is a DIY lamp shade available for sale, I think this is a great example of how creative people can create their own business models and sell their own products skipping all intermediaries in the process an at the same time create more compelling products for customers .

My light is based in the Lightforms project. The profile curve of the shade is first generated in Rhinoceros and can be customized to any shape. A Grasshopper script interprets this curve, determines the number of components needed, and lays out each simple component with its necessary intersections. The “Teardrop” is their first model  available for sale but they have announced more will come in the future.

myLight from PROJECTiONE on Vimeo.

Project Description (from site)

myLight is a “Do It Yourself” luminaire intended to provide a user with a memorable experience and appreciation for design and fabrication. Made from durable mylar, myLight is hand assembled by the user following a video as a guide. The object becomes more than simply a store-bought lamp as the user is involved in its production and takes pride in its assembly. PROJECTiONE is focused on process in conjunction with final results. myLight shares this experience directly with users. The visual complexity of the laser cut system adds to its beauty while the simple method and repetition of assembly makes it easy and fun to build. We hope the process can be a shared experience for multiple users gathered around a single myLight.

Another interesting project for your consideration to support, SOFTlab is producing an installation at the bridgegallery in the lower east side of Manhattan. For a month, starting August 26th,CHROMAtex.me will fill a small part of the world with one of our favorite things: COLOR! , please visit their kickstarter project they have a very cool reward system.

CHROMAtex.me from SOFTlab on Vimeo.

Starting NOW, a team at SOFTlab is preparing the documents to get the project going. Here are a few facts that make this installation worth the attention and involvement:
1. It will be made of around 5,000 panels.
2. Each panel will have a unique color that when assembled will combine to make an amazing gradient.
3. The whole structure will be held together using binder clips!

In order to make this project happen, they need to complete the final design, print color on + or – 3,960’ of super high gloss photo paper, laser cut the paper into their specific geometry, clip the pieces together, and install the final piece. There’s a lot to do and a short amount of time to do it!

If you can help them offset some of the costs they will reward you with pieces from the original installation! Every cent you give will go towards materials such as paper, ink, fasteners, lights, etc.

Along with their Kickstarter campaign and the production of the installation, these guys will track where the  support is coming from. After you donate,you must leave a message containing your name, where you are located, and a picture to be uploaded on a Google Map found here www.chromatex.me

You can also see how many panels have been given names at www.chromatex.me! Pass the word along and help this guys tag the entire installation with supporters!

Vienna based Architecture Firm SPAN, headed by Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger, have held a week ago an intensive workshop at Anahuac University, Mexico City.

The workshop Protuberant Cloud dealt with the creation of continuous differentiation by the application of a multiplicity of repetitive components. The basis of the components is a space filling polyhedron. In this case a Bisymmetric Hendecahedron. The resulting protuberant cloud,  produced together with the students, shines in a beautiful chromatic firework.

UDON , Madrid project was recently completed by architects Quim Girbau & Neus Mateu. For the design of the ceiling architects consulted Medio design and LAN for the implementation of parametric design and digital fabrication.

The ceiling elements were cut from Alucobond by CNC, it was an experiment in form and optimization. Rather than extracting the ribs from a free form surface which represented a 30% of material waste , they inspired in the work of Andrew Kudless’ Zero/Fold Screen.,and by constraining the overall geometry and implementing simple trigonometric functions, they were able to reduce material waste to 5% overall as well as dramatically decrease production time by 50%.As a result they obtained a very plastic and expressive form and great results in terms of time, waste and cost optimization.

Project Architect: Quim Girbau & Neus Mateu

Design Consultation and Fabrication: Medio Design

Parametric Design and Geometry Consultation: @LaN_Luis – LaN

Chelsea Xpo Pavilion Project is directed by Cyril Shing, Senior Lecturer of BA Interior Spatial Design (ISD) in collaboration with Yiching Liu (Platform 2 Tutor), Daniel Piker (creator of Kangaroo – physics engine for Grasshopper) and Platform 2 final year students. The pavilion marks the achievements of Platform 2’s idea of digital creativity and addresses issues of sustainability through consideration of the use of materials and the development fabrication processes.

The project were set and work with different disciplines including textile designer, materials engineer , programming engineering to explore platform agenda. This collaborative exercise also allows students and researchers to be able to question a number of design issues. E.g. the sustainability concerns, method of production and use of materials.

The pavilion is sponsored by Speedo and is constructed using 200 LZR Racer swimming suits wich due to recent changes in rules for competition couldn´t be used for competition , resulting in a remarkable structure. The project objective was to re-use this product, the LZR racer as an architectural component to think about the sustainability approaches in the design and fabrication process. With the integration of digital technology.

The pavilion is located at the Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground which is opposite to the Tate Britain on Atterbury Street, SW1. It is part of this year’s Chelsea College undergraduate summer show and London Festival of Architecture 2010.

Or2 is an innovative photo-reactive skin for external environments. It is a shading device which interacts with the changing position of the sun. Or2 is composed of photo-chromic polygonal segments digitally produced and waterjet cut . Direct sunlight renders Or2’s surface coloured and opaque; thus the opaque surface filters the direct sunlight flooding its surroundings with coloured hues of soft light. At night solar energy captured on the surface during the day powers LEDs scattered on the surface, turning Or2 into a photovoltaic chandelier.

Mensa is an altar made for the restoration of the Antica Chiesa Plebana, a XV century church located in S. Maurizio Canavese (To). The project was developed by the artist Elio Garis in collaboration with craftsman Bruno De Masi and Co-De -It a computational design research studio that were in charge of operating as a mediator between the digital realm of the information model and the physical sculptural aspects of the project by translating the initial design into a coarse fabricated model in plywood.

Description (from the site)

When it comes to the use and implementation of digital strategies and tools one of the most common temptations is digital exhaustion: the project starts and becomes perfect in the digital realm. According to this obsession the digital outcome takes command and dictates the rules to which all material aspects should be subjected. Emergence material effects and any kind of post-machine work is seen as a flaw in a search for a fully file-to-factory process. Another common temptation which usually pairs the one we just described is the pursue of digital perfection: since digital tools allow accuracy and precision extreme specificity is often seen (and not without reasons) as a goal or an improvement. These are the case that serve optimization for iterative production, but we think that this shouldn’t be a universal rule.

Digital strategies and tools in our mind are not a substitute of all existing tools and techniques, rather they have their own specificity; they integrate and expand the existing set, adding new extended potential and novel possibilities to it. Substitution happens when the new tool is not only performing the same tasks than the old one but also adds new or improved qualities (performance in speed, accuracy, variation, added features, etc.).

This is an exploration of the territory that lies in-between the digital and the physical realm, using the digital as a resource to amplify the expressive palette of an artist (Elio Garis) working in tight connection with a craftsman (Bruno De Masi, we already worked with him for the Bosco project) for the design and realization of Mensa, an altar which should enrich the restoration of the Antica Chiesa Plebana, a XV century church in S. Maurizio Canavese (To). The design was conceived by Elio Garis, then developed by Bruno De Masi under his guidance, while Co-de-iT operated as a mediator between the digital realm of the information model and the physical sculptural expressive potential, translating the initial design into a coarse fabricated model in plywood. The model was purposely kept coarse to allow a final physical interaction by the artist in order to let him orchestrate material properties and effects according to his sculptural sensibility and experience.

Sculptural sensibility is not a pure hylomorphic process. There is an intensive logic underneath, something that is even more evident in pottery making, where the potter should constantly interact with material properties in order to tease a shape out of clay: temperature, finger pressure, rotational speed of the plate, humidity are all intensively interacting at the same time and directed by the artist’s sculptural sensibility. To that extent, this project explores vagueness as a quality that could be implemented through digital tools: sculptors often take inspiration from pieces of material, guided by vibrant sensibilities they feel resonance and envision a potential to be disclosed.

Our contribution with the digital tools is to explore through generative strategies a wide range of rule-based vague forms that can be coupled (according to material and fabrication logics) to several material palettes and let the final part of their morphogenetic process to be directed by the artist’s material sensibility.

Collaborative cloud  has the objective of getting people in contact with the concept of open fabrication,  besides the DIY initiative and local fabrication , collaborative  cloud offers the idea off  sharing design , tools and concepts.

Please take a look at the application they have designed for submit your design is very fun and easy to use.

Description (from LAN site)
Collaborative Cloud is an installation which investigates distributed and decentralized design and fabrication. The interfaceallows you to design and give information to a piece of the cloud, thus anyone can participate in the project’s growth over the next 8 months. The physical construction will take place at the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB) in an exhibition titled: LABORATORI DE FABRICACIÓ:Nous escenaris del disseny i la producció tridimensional.
The Collaborative Cloud is a project created by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (iaac.net), organized by the DHUB, and designed by Luis E. Fraguada (LAN), Victor Viña, Areti Markopoulou, and YOU!

The project was designed using processing for the interface, and GH / Rhnoscript for geometry and population. Once a user submits a design, the interface outputs a data file as well as a PDF of the piece ready for fabrication. As the database grows, these files are matched with a potential position on the cloud.

What is OSLOOM?
OSLOOM (short for OPEN SOURCE LOOM) is a project aimed at creating an open source electromechanical thread-controlled floor loom that will be computer controlled. A loom is a device used to weave fabric. The loom itself will be a Jacquard style loom. Jacquard looms allow for the individual control of each thread which in turn allows for photographic imagery to be woven. Jacquard looms like this exist commercially but they are very expensive (upwards of $30,000) which puts them out of reach for individuals and small educational facilities.

The OSLOOM could be produced way more economically than that and truly revolutionize what the studio weaver could accomplish. The idea of a DIY open source loom is one that not only artists could benefit from but many individuals and learning centers could gain a resource by building one of these looms as well.

OSLOOM would have an impact on (but not limited to) the following communities/sectors:

artists

DIY/makers

studio weavers

educational

institutions (large and small)

textile designers

developing countries

I believe that in order for a loom such as OSLOOM to have the greatest amount of impact it would need to operate on an open source platform. Therefore the software to operate the loom will be GPL (General Public Licensed) and the hardware will be OHL (Open Hardware Licensed). This would allow other individuals or groups to create this loom or to further develop this loom in the form of a derivative loom.

This project is inspired by MIT’s FabLab concept and other open source hardware projects such as the RepRap and Fab@Home 3D rapid prototypers and the many DIY CNC projects available already.

OSLOOM.ORG
OSLOOM.org will be the main repository for the OSLOOM. Once research & development creates the first bug-free prototype OSLOOM the loom plans/documentation (hardware/software) would all be placed online on a wiki for easy access. The website will become a hub for the OSLOOM project but also for other types of DIY/OS looms that anyone can build. Potentially the website could also offer assembled looms as well as all-in-one kits for persons not interested in ordering all the parts individually. In addition, a google code page will be started for the software development.

Often we tend to think that parametric design is for the exclusive use of complex projects with lots of variables and complicated morphologies, here is a simple example of how this methodologies can be also very helpful in more simple and traditional design processes.

The main part of the definition made for this project for creating diagrid patterns is available for download.
Don´t forget subscribing my RSS or follow me @Rodrigo_Medina to keep updated for similar projects.

File Name:DiagridCladdingSurface.ghx

Sign up below to our Newsletter to get instant acces to designplaygrounds download files (A link will appear HERE):