Sarah and I had been focusing on skins for the three groups and once the final project was chosen, we focused completely on designing a skin for the pyramids along with Shayna and Shawn. After several trips to Lowe's and JoAnne fabrics and after many discussions about the material, we chose muslin. Since we were on budget, we had to consider the cost of the fabric and its durability in an outdoor environment. This process was long because we had never designed something that was going to actually be built. I learned the complexity of making design decisions because I found that there were so many things to be considered. It was quite overwhelming at first actually. Nevertheless, once we decided that muslin was our best option, we began to brainstorm how the fabric would connect to the wood. There were so many ideas that worked well for us in a smaller scale but at full model scale, they were much more difficult to execute than we had imagine. We experimented with using tensiles and grooves; we honestly loved the clean line the groove provided but that option was not feasible. However, we realized we could create that same line by attaching small pieces of wood. It was an interesting process for me because as the structures team developed the details of the pyramids, our design plans changed with it (probably a lot like the real world). When they built a mock up of one of the pyramids, I realized that a rectangular piece of wood would not allow the fabric to sit flush to the wood. So Shawn, Andrew, Thomas, and I worked on cutting the triangular prisms with the scrap pieces of 2x4s we had left. This was a very time consuming process because we had to constantly change the angle of the table saw blade and the pieces were small and thin. We did decide that because the wood pieces were on the inside, the pieces did not have to be aesthetically pleasing. Ideally, if we could have had uniform pieces that fit perfectly, that would have been wonderful; but this was a learning process.
[Tensile v Groove]
[Tensile]
[Groove]
[Wood Piece]
[Angled Wood Piece]
Once we figured out the outer skin system we began to work on the second skin. This was a confusing and difficult process because I was unsure what the objective was. Was it creating a different experience? And what would that experience be? Or was it to simply cover up the insides? Or was it even something else? We practically had 18 opinions on. My vision was a skin that went along the inside walls of the pyramid. While Sarah was thinking more about a cloud like structure like Shawn's cloud from his architecture folly proposal.
[combined idea]
Throughout the design of the second skin, we had neglected to consider the full scale properties such as how the fabric would be effected at a much larger scale. Would it be too heavy? How would it be sewn? Could we find fabric large enough? Would it allow enough light through? All these questions really overwhelmed me because I had always been a more linear thinker, task after task. Moreover, this year in studio, I have been learning how design isn't a linear approach but an investigation of several elements. After hours of discussions and sketches with the team, we collaborated our sketches to create three fabric panels, curved by tensile elements.
After completion of the skin, I have learned so much about construction, design, and the entire process of production. For me this project taught me a lot about those three elements than creating a finished product. I definitely think we could have found an easier and more efficient way to attach the outter skin. Whether that was creating a frame with the skin attached beforehand or something else, because our way of attaching the fabric to the pyramid made it difficult to make the corners flush and aesthically pleasing. Our research of fabric could have also gone further. We had decided to wash the fabric so that it would not shrink when outdoors; however, that is exactly what we needed it to do when we experimented with one side. That one side shrunk just enough to be beautifully tight, creating a drum-like sound when tapped. Furthermore, before we had decided to use the sheer fabric we loved for the second skin, we had not considered the possibility of the fabric store not carrying enough. Many of these obstacles taught me something that I could improve my design process for my future projects.
*study models photographed by Thomas Bueche
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