recycled toy furniture video

This is the video from the recycled toy furniture project that I worked on this past summer at Greg Lynn's office. The project was exhibited at the Venice Biennale and won the Golden Lion award for best installation.
While the actual toys used in this project were not recycled, the idea is for them to be in the future. At the office we have digitized versions of several different plastic toys, which can allow us to custom make any piece of furniture from our library of toys. Since each toy is individually cut via robotic arm, the complexity of the overall composition is almost irrelevant. As an idea I think this is quite provocative and forward thinking, but it is still in the early stages of implementation.


Greg Lynn Form

Installation Update

A few images and video from the interactive installation I am working on with two other UCLA students. Using code written in processing, the servos will be controlled through an ultra-sonic proximety sensor. The box for the installation is divided up into 5 zones, each with its own servo. A single sensor is able to control behavior for all 5 servos separately based on distance of an object (person).

Research Studio Update

Last fall we conducted visual based research on illusions of movement, specifically looking at classifying effects and the resultant affect. The quarter culminated in a small publication of found images and "recipes" of each type of movement (ie. contortion, billowing, turbulence, etc) and how to produce that illusion of movement.


This winter quarter we are doing brief computer modeling exercises to try to produce the same movement effects we studied in the fall. Nothing is meant to be "architectural" yet, it is designed to produce a arsenal of techniques which can be later used with greater rigor in an architectural project.

The effect I was attempting to produce was "contortion", as defined by moi:

Carries traces of a violent transformation. Registers primarily in a skin or surface. This movement appropriates the traits of other movements such as flow and bubbling. When light wraps the surface, it is caught between ripples and vibrates back and forth against dimples and pockmarks. This is not a constant speed, but flexes and releases with violent force, creating smooth flows punctuated by uncontrolled moments of release. Contortion bends and twists, appearing sinuous and muscular but frequently working a surface beyond its capacity, leading to misshapen lumps and tears. When viewed monocromatically, and broken down into its simplest elements, the movement can be seen as transitioning between point clusters and lines.

The techniques used were: Maya particle fields, Real Flow fluid animation, and Maya hair.