TexFab | Competitions

Plasticity

PLASTICITY, the quality of being able to be made into different shapes, to be molded or altered, is a quality that is pervasive in contemporary design. This idea can manifest as a material providing haptic experience or as a concept defining relational interaction with performative consequence. Plasticity extends beyond the design disciplines into biologics where organisms with the same genotype vary in developmental pattern, in phenotype, or in behavior according to varying environmental conditions. Plasticity seeks to frame this concept within an architectural proposal that foregrounds the application of parametric design and digital fabrication with a broad range of possible outcomes. Composite material systems, casting, forming, 3D printing, fluid assemblies of profiles and even activated networks of robotic components are techniques to consider as potential building components in an architecture of plasticity.

$Plasticy Stereotomy rendering lr$
$ACADIA 2014 – 24$
$Plastic Stereotomy$
Plastic Stereotomy
$Monolith Translucent Lattice 600×300$
$ACADIA 2014 – 01$
$Monolith Translucent Lattice$
Monolith Translucent Lattice
$ViscoPlasty 600×300$
$ACADIA 2014 – 29$
$Screen Shot 2014-10-25 at 12.52.28 PM$
$Viscoplasty$
Viscoplasty
$Screen Shot 2014-10-25 at 12.53.11 PM$
$ACADIA 2014 – 06$
$Puff'D$
Puff'D

#soliloquy-container-3926{opacity:1}#soliloquy-container-3926 li > .soliloquy-caption{display:none}#soliloquy-container-3926 li:first-child > .soliloquy-caption{display:block} $Plasticy Stereotomy rendering lr$ $ACADIA 2014 – 24$

$Monolith Translucent Lattice 600×300$ $ACADIA 2014 – 01$

$ViscoPlasty 600×300$ $ACADIA 2014 – 29$ $Screen Shot 2014-10-25 at 12.52.28 PM$

$Screen Shot 2014-10-25 at 12.53.11 PM$ $ACADIA 2014 – 06$

Jury

Plasticity is a two-stage competition. In that TEX-FAB invited leading figures split in the First Round to select the finalists and Final Jury to determine the winner. The jury members are recognized as leaders in world of digital fabrication and parametric design who provide unique and robust experiences in their respective areas of interest.

Second Round

Craig Dykers

Snøhetta
Greg Lynn

Greg Lynn Form
Roland Snooks

Kokkugia
Bill Kreysler

Kreysler & Associates
Jeanne Gang

Studio Gang
First Round

Benjamin Ball

Ball-Nogues Studio
Alvin Huang

Synthesis d n a
Virginia San Fratello

Rael San Fratello
Ken Tracy

yo_cy
Christine Yogiaman

yo_cy
Joshua Zabel

Kreysler & Associates

Finalists

The jury has selected these four finalists to move forward to the second round for additional funded prototyping. They will be exhibited in October at ACADIA 2014 Design Agency conference at USC where the winner will be announced.

Monolith Translucent Lattice

Vasily Sitnikov, Designer. Alvin Huang was especially interested in the challenges proposed by Monolith Translucent Lattice. He noted that the project tackles “an original and novel fabrication method that explores what is arguably one of the most challenging design constraints in...More

Monolith Translucent Lattice

Vasily Sitnikov, Designer. Alvin Huang was especially interested in the challenges proposed by Monolith Translucent Lattice. He noted that the project tackles “an original and novel fabrication method that explores what is arguably one of the most challenging design constraints in variable frame structures - the node.” Virginia San Fratello agreed, adding “the use of gelatin molds to make nodes offers a potential for making manifold connectors, structural surfaces, pipes and chambers, and offers a wide range of end products at potentially different scales.”
Puff’d Composites

Design Team: Nels Long, Brennen Huller and Nikita Troufanov. The jury agreed that Puff’d Composites offered a range of unique features that would benefit from additional research and full-scale prototyping. Huang was “intrigued by the formal articulation of the soft puffed interior vs....More

Puff’d Composites

Design Team: Nels Long, Brennen Huller and Nikita Troufanov. The jury agreed that Puff’d Composites offered a range of unique features that would benefit from additional research and full-scale prototyping. Huang was “intrigued by the formal articulation of the soft puffed interior vs. the interlocking seams of the hard shell.” Benjamin Ball applauded the project for being “one of the few that seriously explores the design and production of architecturally scaled components that function.” He added, “Puff’d expands the simple notion that seams are a border between separate panels to that of an interlocking mechanical connection that functions.”
Plastic Stereotomy

Justin Diles, Designer. Joshua Zabel was drawn to Plastic Stereotomy’s “formally compelling use of FRP,” wondering if “the fabrication tolerances and the manner of connection between courses” would be possible, and looking forward to how the “EPS foam as a finish material would...More

Plastic Stereotomy

Justin Diles, Designer. Joshua Zabel was drawn to Plastic Stereotomy’s “formally compelling use of FRP,” wondering if “the fabrication tolerances and the manner of connection between courses” would be possible, and looking forward to how the “EPS foam as a finish material would be considered.” Alvin Huang also found the form interesting and the possibility of a “composite solution as a series of interlocking blocks that are determined by the interference between two overlapping patterns” a worthwhile study that might produce an “emergent process of figuration.”
ViscoPlasty

Design Team: Alexandra Singer-Bieder, Sofia Bennani and Agathe Michel. The jury narrowed their selection down to projects that were both innovative and had the potential of accomplished resolution. Of ViscoPlasty, Kenneth Tracy and Christine Yogiaman noted, “the investment in previous...More

ViscoPlasty

Design Team: Alexandra Singer-Bieder, Sofia Bennani and Agathe Michel. The jury narrowed their selection down to projects that were both innovative and had the potential of accomplished resolution. Of ViscoPlasty, Kenneth Tracy and Christine Yogiaman noted, “the investment in previous research is evident and compelling making the increased scale of the proposal seem feasible. The heat welded surface has the most novelty and potential of variability.”

Entries

TEX-FAB received 70 entries in the Plasticity call from 16 countries on 6 continents. The first five in this gallery were awarded Honorable Mentions by the jury. Navigate to the Press Release for more info on those outstanding projects.

TEX-FAB 2015 will be in Houston March 26-29. Workshops seats still available on a limited basis.

Plasticity

Jury

Second Round

Craig Dykers

Snøhetta

Greg Lynn

Greg Lynn Form

Roland Snooks

Kokkugia

Bill Kreysler

Kreysler & Associates

Jeanne Gang

Studio Gang

First Round

Benjamin Ball

Ball-Nogues Studio

Alvin Huang

Synthesis d n a

Virginia San Fratello

Rael San Fratello

Ken Tracy

yo_cy

Christine Yogiaman

yo_cy

Joshua Zabel

Kreysler & Associates

Finalists

Monolith Translucent Lattice

Puff’d Composites

Plastic Stereotomy

ViscoPlasty

Entries

Sponsoring Institutions