N_Table at KSA

N_Table with C_Wall in background

Detail

On site

In use

Ronnie stacking the cells

Year: 2007
Location: Columbus, Ohio

Description: This table was designed for small video installation by Norah Zuniga Shaw. The table is made from roughly 200 individual folded paper cells. Using a variation of the rhino-qhull algorithm, each voronoi cell face is further triangulated to create a more rigid structure. The geometry of cells becomes increasingly irregular from bottom to top. The top of the table is covered with rear-projection fabric while the projection and audio equipment and computer are all contained at the bottom of the table.

Credits: Andrew Kudless and Ronnie Parsons

View from outside the gallery door

C_Wall with shadows on floor

The zigzag plan of the wall creates an increased structural stiffness

Dense pattern of shadows

Process diagram

Year: 2006
Location: Banvard Gallery, Knowlton School of Architecture, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Size: 12′ x 4′ x 8′

Description: This project is the latest development in an ongoing area of research into cellular aggregate structures that has examined honeycomb and voronoi geometries and their ability to produce interesting structural, thermal, and visual performances. The voronoi algorithm is used in a wide range of fields including satellite navigation, animal habitat mapping, and urban planning as it can easily adapt to local contingent conditions. Within our research, it is used as a tool to facilitate the translation and materialization of data from particle-simulations and other point-based data. Through this operation, points are transformed into volumetric cells which can be unfolded, CNC cut, and reassembled into larger aggregates.

Credits: Andrew Kudless and Ivan Vukcevich with Ryan Palider, Zak Snider, Austin Poe, Camie Vacha, Cassie Matthys, Christopher Friend, Nicholas Cesare, Anthony Rodriguez, Mark Wendell, Joel Burke, Brandon Hendrick, Chung-tzu Yeh, Doug Stechschultze, Gene Shevchenko, Kyu Chun, Nick Munoz, and Sabrina Sierawski, and Ronnie Parsons

Prototype testing algorithm

Prototype detail

2.5D surface voronoi drawings

2.5D surface voronoi FDM model

2.5D surface voronoi FDM model

3D voronoi drawings

3D paper prototype

3D paper prototype detail

Plaster prototype

Plaster prototype

Year: 2005-2006
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Description: Voronoi Morphologies is the latest development in an ongoing area of research into cellular aggregate structures. The voronoi algorithm is used in a wide range of fields including satellite navigation, animal habitat mapping, and urban planning as it can easily adapt to local contingent conditions. Within our research, it is used as a tool to facilitate the translation and materialization of data from particle-simulations and other point-based data into volumetric form. Through this process, it becomes much easier to produce highly differentiated structures that are responsive to local performance criteria.

The project was developed though both 2D and 3D voronoi cellular structures. In both cases, a field of points is used to determine regions of space, or cells, that are closer to a certain point than any other point. As the cells are not constrained by a fixed geometric topology, the cells properties can be tuned in much more specific ways than a tradition rectangular or hexagonal cell arrangement. A custom-designed script was written to connect Rhino with Qhull which did the actual voronoi calculations. The script also digitally unfolds, labels, and prepares the geometry for CNC fabrication.

This technique was developed in collaboration with Jelle Feringa of EZCT Architecture and Design Research in Paris.

For more information about computing convex hulls, voronoi diagrams, and other triangulations, check out the qhull website. Qhull is used in Matlab and many other computational geometry applications.