TIME:
7 weeks
TEAM:
Solo
TOOLS:
Drawing
Illustrator
Photoshop
Rhino 3D
Grasshopper
PROBLEM:
Select a natural system to study and deconstruct and eventually build a system derived from the natural system.
PROCESS:
I began by scouring grocery stores for produce that fit the bill, gardening / plant stores, my own backyard garden and neighborhood to see if any natural system jumped out at me.
Taken from a pine tree
Thai Basil from garden
Dandelion found on walk
Initial natural systems I explored
After choosing a few systems to explore, I was instructed to take inventory of them, to measure them in the most detailed and unconventional of ways.
Individual pine needles laid out
Individual dandelion fluffs
measured dandelion fluff
Thai Basil seed node measured
We were told to document them and draw them out. By this point, I had settled on the Thai Basil. I did this because I thought it was interesting and there were layers of information to pull apart. My professor also had mentioned that the natural system had to be complex enough to explore in depth.
We were instructed to document, photograph and take apart our system.
By this point, I had settled on Thai Basil and began illustrating and importing the photos into a presentation format.
But when we started the 3D modelling process, I felt uninspired by the forms.
I began my search for a new natural system. Back to square one, this lovely Zebra plant caught my eye while walking through a plant store. What I liked about it specifically was the flower that bloomed.
I began documenting, measuring and building my presentation in Illustrator. (Although I didn't have the heart to rip it apart!)
Now for some 3D modelling!
Trial and error, baby. Again, I felt uninspired. In retrospect, I think these feelings of frustration stemmed from my lack on experience in Rhino. Again, back to square one. My professor mentioned in passing that in a previous iteration of her teaching this project, the natural system had to tessellate. I began searching for systems that tessellated and continued onwards in multiple directs indefinitely.
In walks the lovely Painters Palette, a flower within the Anthurium family! (same family as the Lily, great familial genes right?)
This is the natural system I settled on!
At this point, I was feeling confident and thoroughly inspired by my natural system, I found the tesselations incredibly interesting and beautiful, too! The process of abstracting and reducing my floral nodes down into shapes, lines and diamonds was a lot of fun.
Tessellations drawn in Illustrator
Tessellations moved into 3D realm
(Grasshopper not used in this step)
At first I tried modeling the fibonacci spirals as best I could without the use of Grasshopper but it proved to be very inaccurate and time consuming.
I began using Grasshopper to draw the fibonacci spirals. I found that the spirals on the spadix would spiral 8 times in one direction and 5 in the other, just like most instances of fibonacci found in nature. I liked this aspect of applied mathematics and leaned into this. I found a fibonacci template online and tweaked it, stretched it and mirrored it to fit my needs.
My workspace in Grasshopper
Below is my first iteration, I tried making the individual spirals thicker and struggled to make the thickness even. I also tried elongating the spirals upwards, so they weren't merely a flat disk. They are perfect fibonacci spirals at their core, but with the width and placement being inconsistent, they don't look like it.
Both spirals from above
both spirals from the front
One spiral singled out
Single spiral from above
After doing lots of research into Rhino's vast variety of tools, I was able to make the model more consistent.
Spirals from top
Spirals from front
At this point in the project, I was very satisfied with my model. It took a few iterations but I'm happy I tried different natural systems that were unsuccessful before settling on this one.
PRESENTATION:
RESULTS:
While this project was frustrating at times, it showed me how strongly my gut feelings influence my work. I attempted to follow my gut where it lead me and use my skills in drawing, design and photography to flesh out those concepts. I had to come to terms with the fact that my gut feelings are not always the route to take, "kill your children" as some people call it.
This was important for me to learn, that my gut feelings can only carry my so far and that the work needs to shine with what I do with those gut intuitions. Ultimately, those intuitions lead me to my final decision / product, I was excited about my choice from start to finish. I find it crucial for me to stay excited about my work, to stay motivated and let the path I follow keep me interested, while at the same time surprising me along the way.
FALL 2021
PRODUCT RESEARCH 1
PROFESSOR MORGAN
