Ashley D Goodenough: Week 10 Waffle Structure

Concept: My waffle structure is called “Tisantaphobia,” which is a fear of tents. Inspired by the discomfort and anxiety some people (like myself) experience when attending formal events, this architectural structure was designed to feel imposing, monstrous, and kind of like a giant trapeze tent beast. 

Modeling: For creating the mass structure, I used Interpolate Point Curves to draw my initial outlined forms that I would build my surface from. I used CurveBoolean and Conic to get the curves all connected and angled correctly. Then, I used NetworkSrf combined with a very few sweeps to build the surface. Contour in both x and y directions got me the basic waffle structure I wanted, then PlanarSrf and ExtrudeSrf made them solids. I used the very buggy CutMyRibs script to create notches that had to be cleaned up extensively (Extend and Split), then the MassiveUnroll script to easily lay them out on the ground plane before placing them strategically on 24x48" reference planes for laser cutting. I wanted to build this as large as I could using the 24x48" 2ply cardboard I had access to, which seems crazy. I very much like the idea of keeping this piece, and it doesn't feel imposing and threatening as a small maquette. 

Materials: I used 2ply cardboard for this project, because it's structurally sound for a large build, and since I didn’t want the print to get more expensive than it had to be (disregarding the fact that it was going to be expensive anyway due to laser machine processing time). I may decide to do a very small model next in two different types of wood, but the end result would have a completely different feel to it. In Keyshot, I used walnut for the X direction and ginger bronze paint for the Y direction, because I like the way the two materials contrasted in specularity but paired nicely in color. Despite its imposing feeling, I still wanted the piece to be beautiful and majestic as a waffle structure, especially when envisioned as a very large sculpture. I also did extra renders using Keyshot’s occlusion material, then overlayed the images in Photoshop using the multiply blend mode. I then placed my renders within images I took of the ATEC building, to put the architectural piece in its potential place of display. I’d like to see this built large enough to walk under. For my fabricated piece, I ended up using plaster fabric to provide more structure to its feet before I eventually paper-mached the whole thing. The paper mache process took much longer than I thought it would, considering its size and the rainy weather we've had the last few days, which made it take longer to dry and set. I then painted the entire structure with a white satin exterior paint to make it feel more tent-like again.