EnvironmentalIntensifiersEnvironmentalIntensifiers

Fibre-reinforced composite materials have significantpotential in performance-oriented design. Compositesenable seamless transitions between material make-up, characteristics and effects, and fibre directionalitycan yield variable context-specific behaviour. Suchmaterials are the closest to those in living nature andcould be further developed to mimic or optimisenatural processes. Aleksandra Jaeschke examinesdevelopments in this field at the Department of FormGeneration and Materialisation at the Hochschule fürGestaltung (HfG) in Offenbach, Germany, led by AchimMenges. She also looks at the specific ways in whichintegrated form-generation and materialisation arebeing used in design that engages with composites.

89

There is nothing deeper than skin.Paul Valéry, Idé e Fixe: The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, 19571

Surfaces have been explored extensively by architects anddesigners of the digital era as topologically fascinating modelsof spatial organisation. The material systems developed at theDepartment of Form Generation and Materialisation at theHfG in Offenbach continue this line of research, yet go beyondthe superficiality of surface to focus on its depth. They explorefunctional and structural potentials of surfaces exploiting theversatility of fibre-reinforced composite materials. At the HfGdepartment they seamlessly integrate form-generation withits subsequent fabrication modes emulating conditionsexisting in natural systems and using advancedcomputational techniques. A kind of intensive dermatologycan be articulated as one tries to analyse the make-up andperformance of these highly articulated surfaces.

The functionality of many living organisms relies oninterrelated systems distributed across seamlessly connectedstrata. The Lounge Landscape and Intensifier 01 and 02projects are such surfaces – they constitute complex,multilayered organisations. The Offenbach surfaces developfrom simple principles, offering specific opportunities intoincreasingly complex multifunctional systems in order toreach a state of equilibrium between structure and function.They satisfy multiple structural and functional requirementsthrough careful combination of the performative capacityoffered by simple elements. The 3-D spacer textile employed inthe Lounge Landscape and Intensifier 01 projects, or thecontinuous glass-fibre bands utilised in Intensifier 02, bothsuggest numerous possible configurations of materialarrangements. The simplicity and flexibility of these basicelements are a source of potential diversity in their articulationswithin more complex assemblies. All of the presented examplesare adaptable forms and structures that can easily respond toglobal changes through locally applied manipulations.

In the Offenbach experiments, design proceeds throughmaking. The findings are triggered by contingencies and thework unfolds as a resonance between the intrinsic materialqualities and their emergent performative potentials inexchange with the external influences. The physical form-finding techniques offer a method of exploring the self-organising tendencies of structural systems under specificexternal pressures, be they structural or environmental forces.In the Offenbach projects, manipulations applied during theform-finding experiments are not aimed at obtaining the finalform, but at triggering local opportunities for adjustmentthrough incremental changes. This makes the systems openand adaptable. Novel performative synergies emerge from theinvestigation of differentiated morphologies based on

thorough understanding and rigorous management ofenvironmental conditions. Throughout the entire process,material properties interact with the dynamic forces of ahosting environment.

This evolution is a time-based computational procedure inwhich valid solutions emerge through a series of mutuallyinformed material and computational tests and evaluations. Itis a process framed by specific parameters, yet it is full ofintricate loops. Successive iterations strengthen theintegration between materials, geometries and manufacturingtechniques towards a performance-driven balance. Operationsare performed on numerical and sensorial data. Performance-related discoveries are translated into rigorous, rule-basedprocedures. This approach bounds the eventual formal andmaterial expression to the creativity of the design process,and shifts importance from preconceived formal ideastowards the validity and ingenuity of applied techniques. Theadopted design methods oscillate between emergent tacticsacting nonlinearly bottom-up and analytical strategiesoperating linearly top-down.

The seamlessness of the design process is strongly relatedto the way the project findings are notated andcommunicated. The computational tools are not used in orderto represent the evolving forms, but to describe and managethe underlying parametric relationships of systems with theaim of elaborating and transferring data across design stages.Operative, parameter-based geometries are an instrument forclassifying and correlating diverse inputs, allowing forinternal feedback and migration across domains and scales.Specific to each project, rigorous and flexible notationmethods are gradually built up to manage the project and toeventually govern the manufacturing and assembly. In thissense there is no distinction between the design phase andthe eventual manufacturing. The building process starts withthe very first experiments.

The complexity of the Offenbach forms is a result ofnegotiation between structural stability, various functionalrequirements and the technologies used in the process ofmaterialisation. The aim of the research is to develop multi-performative systems avoiding the typical post-designproblem-solving and optimisation. Through carefulexploitation of opportunities offered by the basic componentsand their proliferation, the Lounge Landscape and theIntensifiers combine material, structural, functional andenvironmental performance in one integral system.

Most living organisms depend for load-bearing on aninternal skeleton. However, nature suggests a variety ofpossible solutions. Hard, self-supporting exoskeletons, forinstance, offer another model of structural organisation. Boththe Intensifiers and the Lounge Landscape constitute such

Nico Reinhardt, Intensifier 01, Department of Form Generation and Materialisation (Achim Menges), Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG), Offenbach, Germany, 2006–07A full-scale surface prototype demonstrates the high level of articulation and structural capacity enabled by themanipulation of 3-D spacer-textile composite surfaces through specifically developed gathering techniques.

90

INTENSIFIER 01Nico Reinhardt, Department of Form Generation and Materialisation (AchimMenges), Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG), Offenbach, Germany, 2006–07

The Intensifier 01 project investigated ways of instrumentalising local form-finding processes to differentiatecontinuous 3-D textile glass-fibre composite surfaces. Form-finding is a design technique that utilises theself-organisation of material systems under the influence of extrinsic forces or manipulations. In otherwords, material form can be found as the state of equilibrium of internal resistances and external forces.Contrary to most form-finding processes, which are concerned with the global morphology of a system, thisproject aimed at exploring local manipulations to elaborate the mathematically defined geometry of 3-Dtextile glass-fibre composite surfaces. A series of manipulation techniques was developed as the specificdistribution of parametric manipulation components defining the vectors and distances of gatheringparticular points on a three-dimensional spacer textile. Numerous experiments were conducted exploringthe behaviour of gathering sequence and kind, emerging surface articulation and overall morphology. Thisled to a catalogue of specific local manipulations, applied through simple procedures of point-gatheringfollowing computationally derived protocols, which enable overall double curvature and considerablyincrease the structural depth and bending stiffness of the system. The local manipulations were thencorrelated with the possibility of integrating a glass-fibre-reinforced skin and the mathematics of definingformwork geometry in order to produce a series of full-scale prototypes.

The parametric definition of gathering techniques of a 3-D spacer textileallows for the differential manipulation of primary surface geometry in relationto secondary surface articulation.

A close-up view of a full-scale prototype shows how local spacer-textilemanipulations can be embedded in a glass-fibre composite. The resultingsurface integrates both the load-bearing capacity of the structure and theenvironmental modulation of the skin.

INTENSIFIER 02Elena Burggraf, Department of Form Generationand Materialisation (Achim Menges), HfG,Offenbach, 2006–07

Intensifier 02 aimed at exploring the performative capacity oftopological exactitude found in systems consisting of elementsthat find their position and alignments as an alternative to thegeometric precision of highly defined component assemblies.The project started with the investigation of the behaviour of abasic element: glass-fibre band. By pulling a thread stitchedthrough the band in defined distances, a specific loop patternemerges due to the gathering action. In numerous physical teststhe related parameters of band width, length and cut pattern,and stitch distance as well as tensile force induced in thegathering process were explored in relation to the resultantcomponents behaviour of adapting to formwork curvature and,once hardened by resin, structural capacity. As the taxonomy ofthe observed component behaviour was established, this couldbe related to the principal stress analyses of specific formworkgeometry within a computational setup. The relationshipbetween local curvature and structural requirements determinedthrough the formwork geometry then defines the specificdistribution of parametrically varied components. Thecomponent layout is then transferred from the computationalrealm to the actual formwork via a specially developedprojection technique. As the components are laid out in the softstate, the alignment of adjacent components providing forsubsequent connections happens by itself. Although the initialdistribution focuses only on component size, depth, orientationand spacing in correspondence with structural criteria, theapplication of resin and related adhesive forces combined withthe self-forming capacity of the strips produces a highly definedmaterial system.

A glass-fibre band manipulated through a parametricgathering technique is the basic component (left) within alarger composite surface structure (right).

Top right: Through the application of highly transparent resin and its relatedadhesive forces combined with the self-forming capacity of the glass-fibrecomponents, a full-scale continuous surface prototype can be constructed.

Right: In response to structural and environmental criteria, each component’sbasic parameters, such as band width, length and cut pattern, stitch distanceas well as tensile force induced in the gathering process, is differentiated inorder to construct a full-scale, performative prototype surface.

92

LOUNGE LANDSCAPE Nicola Burggraf, Susanne Hoffmann, Steffen Reichert, Nico Reinhardt, Yanbo Xu,Department of Form Generation and Materialisation (Achim Menges), HfG, Offenbach, 2007

The Lounge Landscape was instigated by the university’s commission to design and manufacture seating furniture, forits 175th anniversary celebrations, reflecting the school’s design and prototyping expertise. In collaboration with therelevant manufacturing industry, the project began with the development of a novel composite material systemconsisting of a 3-D spacer textile sandwiched in a stressed glass-fibre skin. The nonelastic textile’s capacity todifferentially stretch and contract through geometric deformation offers the possibility to articulate double-curvedsurfaces without the need for seams or cut patterns. This specific material behaviour was encoded in a custom-programmed analysis application linked with form-generation processes based on mathematical equations. Thisenabled a morphological evolution of iteratively testing and evaluating parametric variants of the mathematicaldefinition based on the innate possibilities and constraints of the 3-D textile to form seamless double-curved surfaces.The resulting form was CNC manufactured as a mother mould, facilitating the production of a multitude of individual,geometrically different furniture morphologies all remaining material specific and stackable. More importantly, thisintegral approach to form, material, structure and manufacturing also provides an inroad for rethinking surfacearticulation as a means of differentiating possible body–surface interaction. Each Lounge Landscape furniture pieceprovides for a multitude of anticipated as well as divergent activities by up to seven people at a time. The open-endedness of possible uses and loose-fit ergonomics, and the concurrent erosion of clearly demarcated functionalzones of more conventional seating furniture, demands a conscious (re)positioning of the user within the landscape-like articulation and its microsocial context, prompting an intensified individual and collective experience.

The mother mould, from which all six geometrically variant individual surfaces were built, is CNC milled from high-density polystyrene blocks, reinforced with glass-fibre mats and finished with glossy, jet-black paint in order toachieve the high-quality composite surface finish of the furniture pieces.

93

The individual Lounge Landscape furniture pieces are constructed from novelcomposite material systems consisting of a 3-D spacer textile sandwiched ina stressed glass-fibre skin. The integral approach to form, material, structureand manufacturing provides an inroad for rethinking surface articulation as ameans of differentiating possible body–surface interaction.

In combination with an animated illumination, each individual, translucentLounge Landscape furniture piece provides for a wide range of possible usesthrough its loose-fit ergonomics. This demands a conscious (re)positioning ofthe user within the landscape-like articulation and its microsocial context.

94

multifunctional respiring body armours. In each case adifferent configuration of fibres helps constitute thestructural core of each surface. In the Lounge Landscape, anonelastic 3-D textile is manipulated to form global structuralundulations. The Intensifier 01 is stiffened through localgathering of the same nonelastic 3-D spacer textile in order toadd structural depth. In the Intensifier 02, the inner stratumis formed by seamlessly interconnected loops of fibre-glassbands that actively adapt to the geometry of pre-establishedmoulds. In all cases the core stratum is sandwiched in stress-bearing layers of resin matrix. The choice of fibre compositeshelps achieve continuous surfaces avoiding stitches and joints.The structural forces are continuously distributed alongmultiple paths and continuous surfaces, reducing stressesnormally concentrating around point connections.

The organisational principles responsible for the structuralperformance of the discussed projects are simultaneouslyexplored in terms of their functional capacities. TheOffenbach surfaces act as multifunctional interfaces. Thedifferentiated reticular webs developed in Intensifiers 01 and02 simultaneously offer enclosure and filter light. In bothcases, local variations in material distribution create zones ofdifferentiated luminous conditions and areas of greater orlesser exposure. In a similar way, the undulating surface ofthe Lounge Landscape offers a variety of possible ways ofspace and surface occupation, while simultaneously ensuringstructural integrity. The integration of different functions inone system is open ended and it can potentially involve anincreasing number of additional parameters. In the case ofIntensifiers 01 and 02, the porous configuration of fibres is set

95

to filter light and regulate views. Although its capacity tocontrol airflow is still to be explored, the parametric controlof relations established between material properties, geometryand performance allows for readjustments and incorporationof new factors. One can, for instance, imagine potentialiterations of the Lounge Landscape in which the systemevolves from flexible seating furniture into an extensivelandscape capable of hosting a variety of other activities.

The integration of advanced fibre-composite materials,open-ended computing protocols and tightly interlinkedformation and materialisation modes makes the Offenbachforms closer to biological rather than mechanicaldevelopment and design processes. The Offenbach surfacesappend to existing environments establishing intensiveclimatic (see Intensifier 01 and 02) and ergonomic (see Lounge

Landscape) relationships with their milieus. The role of thesesemi-autonomous projections is to augment ambientintensities and to suggest new ways of space occupation.Opportunities emerge from explored geometries to imposeclear and immediate patterns of articulation. Potentialarchitectures germinate in each exploration celebrating theexpressive power of materials and their capacity to suggestorganisational patterns. 4

Note1. Quoted in Paul Valéry, Idée Fixe: The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, Vol 5,The Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1957.

Text © 2008 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images © Achim Menges