Silk Pavilion: A Case Study in Fiber-based Digital Fabrication

2014  N. Oxman, J. Laucks, M. Kayser, J. Duro-Royo, C. Gonzales-Uribe, FABRICATE Conference Proceedings, Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler, Silke Lan enber (eds.) ta Verla, (248-255)

ABSTRACT

TheSilkPavilionexplorestherelationshipbetweendi italandbiolo icalfibre-basedfabricationonanarchitecturalscale.Its primary structure is comprised of 26 silk-threaded poly onal panels laid down by a C C (Computerised umerical Control) machine. Inspired by the silkworm’s ability to enerate a 3D°cocoon out of a sin le multi-property silk filament, the Pavilion’s overall eometry was created usin an al orithm that assi ns a sin le continuous thread across patches, providin functional density radients informed by environmental constraints such as li ht and heat. Overall density variation was informed by deployin the Bombyx mori silkwormasabiolo icalmulti-axismulti-material3D°‘printer’inthecreationofasecondaryfibrestructure.6500silkwormswere positioned on the scaffold spinnin flat non-woven silk patches to locally reinforce the C C-deposited silk structure. The paper provides a review of basic research into the silkworm’s spinning behaviour, material and structural characterisation, computational simulation and fabrication strategies devised for the full-scale construction of the Pavilion. Potential applications for large-scale fibre-based digital fabrication that involve biological fabrication conclude the paper.

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Silk Pavilion: A Case Study in Fiber-based Digital Fabrication

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