After digesting everyone’s feedback, I feel that my original proposal had a conflict between the concept and the physical design. I can see it manifest in two entirely different projects, and forcing the two together feels counterproductive.
I am still playing around with a few ideas.
Mechanical Iris Gazebo
When thinking about a public art piece where people can set their intentions, say their prayers, and remember loved ones, I wanted to create a dedicated place for this. I started thinking about the vertical elements of vaulted ceilings, specifically muqarnas of mosques and rib-vaults of gothic cathedrals. Looking up at these architectural elements, I’ve always imagined them opening up a portal into the sky, allowing the spirit to transcend into the heavens. I’m very fond of Gaudi’s hyperbolic paraboloids found in the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the muqarnas found in Alhambra Palace in Granada, and Michael Hansmeyer’s interpretation titled Muqarna Mutation.
I reflected more on the idea of transcendence and transformation, and wanted the ceiling to open up to the sky. I looked more into mechanical irises, and came across this example: The Tree of Prosperity in the Wynn Macau.
There’s a whole bunch of 3D models of mechanical irises / apertures that can be 3D printed, cut out of cardboard, etc. I came across this wonderful tutorial by Caleb Kraft and CNC Router Parts that included the Fusion360 files, complete with CAD / CAM / animations for both a 24” desktop and a full size 48” version.
For a practical application, I’ve been wanting to design a gazebo for the 85” wide hot tub in my backyard. I can imagine this mechanical iris being built into the dome of this gazebo. Similar to the Tree of Prosperity, I’d want the iris to reveal a light show built into the ceiling. As a Fusion360 beginner, I started 3D modeling the gazebo with the hot tub in it, using the loft function to create the tangent curves of the dome. In order to call out the dimensions of the model, you have to translate the 3D design into a 2D drawing, which Fusion360 makes it very simple to do. Modifying the properties of the dimensions are not that intuitive compared to VectorWorks.
FWIW, other project ideas…
A totally different approach to a portal opening into a ceiling: I came across this project titled Flux by Collectifscale, which uses LED bars on stepper motors driven by TouchDesigner.
My interpretation of this project would be to reduce 48 lines of light to just 8 bars, and suspend the entire thing on the ceiling. I did spend some time researching various stepper motors and heavy duty slip rings. Practically, I think this smaller scale version would come in handy when I do live visual sets with my musician collaborators. I’ve been meaning to put these bars on motors!
Floating Lenticular Wave
This is riffing off two past projects that I’ve worked on: the mechanics of my Water Droplet Automata and the materials of the Lenticular Wave made with Aidan. I spent some time researching kinetic sculptures and came across Reuben Margolin. I thought I could create two of his kinetic sin wave caterpillars to create a structure to hold lenticular in place. I made a failed prototype with scrap lenticular, magnets, thread, nuts, a large brass ring with grommets, and a pulley. In my video, the thread I used snapped - I’ll need to get either fishing line or dacron wire to make a stronger prototype.
