UH students try to build the unbuildable

"What would you build if it were possible to build anything at all?

That wild question bedevils architecture professors trying to give their students an appropriate challenge. 3-D design software and digital-fabrication equipment mean that the old rules no longer constrain their students. Walls need not be straight. Corners don't need to meet at right angles."

read the entire article by Lisa Gray in the Houston Chronicle

Grotto Structural Analysis

We are working with Buro Happold to analyze the Grotto’s structure to determine where we need to be concerned about deformation and torsion in the frame. Some preliminary feedback shows the tendancy to deflect toward the curled side.

Exhibition of the New Harmony Grotto on view at the UHcoA Gallery

The Grotto meets its site...

The model (25% of actual size) was placed on the slab that had been cut and diamond polished in time for our review.

Final Review at UHcoA

Fabrication Day 2 (Shell Completed)

The shell goes together on ONE DAY with some first time welders.

Fabrication Time

From Campo Sheet Metal Works' 12'x60' Water jet cutter to the Keeland Building at UHcoA. The parts for our 1/4 actual size model have been received with a ONE DAY turnaround from our friends at Campo. We must label by hand because the water jet can not etch the parts. The part names and bends are determined by interacting and referencing the 3D model in realtime in order to dynamically control accuracy to the virtual Grotto our students modeled in Rhino software.

Site Integration

Lee Kelly has drawn the site plan of our Grotto in the same retro-graphic style as Kiesler's draftsman.

Grotto in Houston

Our process as culminated to a point that we feel is a definitive interpretation of Kiesler's Grotto adapted to our context here in Houston through the eyes and hands of our talented students using contemporary design tools. Come by on Friday, May 2nd from 5 to 7pm in the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture Atrium for the exhibition opening and see the adjacent proposed site for the project next to College, the new Keeland Building and the University's new Koi Pond.

DigiFAB Shell Model

Rosalia is leading the effort to assemble a complex assembly of parts extracted from the digital models. After days of preparation and negotiating the queue at the laser cutter, the model goes together in ONE DAY!

Slab Cutting

UH Facilities started cutting the slab today as per the studio's site plan...

Kiesler at the Drawing Center

This week marks the opening of nARCHITECTS exhibition design for Frederick Kiesler: Co-Realities at the Drawing Center in NYC. A brief preview is online at Serial Consign.

Shell Development