3D computer model progression

W10 : FORM

W11: PROPORTION

W12: VISUAL CONNECTIONS

W14: FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

Why Organic?

Looking at the form of my design I think its important to discuss the reasons behind my decision to go organic. When we look at natural and 'industrial' systems we can see a distinct response to a problems they are faced with. 

Industrial systems are ones that usually respond to one situation, one form of a problem. They are rigid in their solutions to problems and have a complete inability to respond to change or changed or new problems that may arise in an industrial process. The industrial approach is designed for specific 'loads' (eg. amount of waste that can be processed) and have a complete inability into respond to changes in increased loads or demands. Additionally traditional industrial processes are inefficient, they have allot of waste bypasses in the processes that they undertake. Not only do the waste bypasses occur in the actual processes but also in the use of energy expended in carrying out the processes.

Looking at natural processes we see the complete opposite. Plants and animals create their own self organising systems that create a cycle that brings the waste output to zero. Each component (plant, animal, bacteria) of the cycle gets something out of the processes they carry out, any energy expended reaps a reward of that component. Natural systems have the ability to grow and change over time, they can respond to additional loads in the cycle. More components can be added to natural systems and that system will respond to the changes accordingly. Animals, plants and bacteria may die off or the population might shrink or grow and and life still goes on, responses to the changes are enacted in a timely fashion that is mutually beneficial to each component.

So in my design, looking at these two processes and analysing them carefully it's easy to see that, for my scenario, the most appropriate solution is one inspired by the natural processes that go on around us, constantly changing and growing over time. 

My Nano - Pit is an integral component in the life cycle of the future systems of humans, Brisbane city and the World. The saying is form follows function and I believe this holds true in the case of my design, I've looked at the human heart as well as other creatures hearts, the processes of cells and bacteria and each revealed a process that could be adopted in my design. The need for my design to respond to the issue of waste management required a biological approach and even now research into bio mimicry has proven the successes and lengths these technologies can go to.
The Nano - Pit NEEDS to be organic, responsive and adaptable to the future requirements. It NEEDS to be able to grow and change over time to support the new retail front of the future. And being organic facilitates this ability to respond, adapt, grow and change. It may be a bio engineered material or a synthetic equivalent but the ability to adapt and change will be inherent in the make up of the Nano - Pit.  

Bio-mimicry

 

Above: Sketch visualisation of nano - pit 

Approaching the design in a more organic way i have looked into the processes hearts (as seen in previous posts) pump blood through the body. Bellow is a sketch of a valve of a heart, there are sinuous cells attached to the valve, this facilitates the opening and closing of the valve through contractions of the cells.
 

Abstracting out the principles of the heart, bio - mimicry in the design of the nano - pit took the form of the sketch below. Waste material comes down the larger tube passes through the valve and into the first chamber to be further broken down, the middle chamber contacts creating a suction action moving the material into that chamber. the first valve opens with the contraction and closes upon the same motion moving the material into the final chamber for the constituent components to be sorted and then evacuated to the outlet for collection by robots.

Mechanisms

To better understand how my nano pit might work in terms of today i looked at the processes materials undergo today.

 

Left: centrifugal pump Right: Diaphragm pump

To better understand how my nano pit might work in terms of today i looked at the processes materials undergo currently:

   

On the left is one visualization of how my nano pit could work, there are three components. Crushing, dis-assembly (in the centrifugal pump) and sorting. After crushing the centrifugal pump spins and facilitate the suction action pulling the broken down materials into the chamber to be further processed by the nano bots, the pump again created enough pressure to push the material out of the chamber and into the sorting chambers.

On the right, replacing the centrifugal pump component of the design is the diaphragm pump. This pump works with a push and pull motion, when you push the membrane in one valve opens sucking in raw material and as the membrane is pulled outwards the first valve closes opening the second and moving the broken down materials into the next chamber for sorting. 

   

The broken down material in both cases is then moved upward, by the pumping action, into the exit tubes. In the tubes the materials flow through the valves as depicted above, this stops the material from flowing back into the sorting camber and contaminating the materials being processed at the time.

closed loop system

This diagram depicts how i envisage my systems operation, facilitating a closed loop system I look at the life cycles of retail products in the context of the future scenario proposed.
In the scenario parasitic residential towers have become a part of the future Myer centre, the waste from the towers would go through a crushing process  before entering the nano pit chambers where the nano bots would break the materials into their constituent components to then be sorted and distributed to produce new 3D printed products.

Circulation

Looking at the circulation of the design and the issues that arise in the movement of the materials output by the nano pits i have devised a system to move and store the materials.

 

As seen in the sketch above i am proposing a set of tracks running throughout the floor plates and between levels. Robots will run along these tracks moving the different materials output from the nano pit to their storage location and then ultimately to the 3D printers to produce the customised products for the community.

Above is a sketch floor plan proposing the extent of the tracks and within that extent the location of the storage facility for the raw materials awaiting use by the 3D printers. There is a distinct interaction created between the users and the function of the space through the incorporation of the robots, storage and nano pits making the overall experience more voyeuristic.
The interaction between the users will be carefully narrated and coordinated to allow the best use of the space and maximum ease of useability and circulation.

model developement

Clay model

Investigation the design through models i created this clay model to obtain a grasp as to how it might come together as a physical entity. It became evident however that this was a purely aesthetic approach and that i needed to explore the mechanisms of the design further. 

Balloon heart

In investigating how i might get the mechanisms of my design to work i looked at the pumping actions and how this could be translated into the design. The balloon being squeezed depicts the contraction of the material facilitating the opening of the valve and the movement of material from one chamber to the next. 

Cardboard mechanism

This model further investigates the mechanisms of the design approaching it in a 2D manner. The cogs of the model simulate the pumping of materials through the various chambers of the nano-pit.

Design developement

Looking at the nano - pit, I have started to consider more carefully how the organic form of my design can be modelled in 3Ds Max and how materials could enter and exit the pit and be stored. The lines represent the 'segments' of a sphere which could be deformed using various modifiers to extrude them and create the form of the nano pit. 

NANO PIT 2.0

Previously i thought that the waste might flow into the pit where the nano bots would disassemble the material and would release the sorted material from the bottom as a type of dust, but now i have been looking into the heart and how it acts as the muscle in the body which acts as the vessel of distribution and control of old and new re-oxygenated blood. 

Not dissimilarly, i now see the nano pits as an organ in the 'body' of my building pulsating and processing the waste of the residential component. So the waste will go down one tube of the nano pit utilising gravity, entering the disassembling chamber; once processed, the pit will contract like a muscle in the body increasing the pressure and forcing the disassembled material into the sorting chamber to be sent up the release valves through the same 'organ like contractions'. These release valves will be the new system that transports the sorted material to its storage location within the Myer center.

Looking at how to recapture the concept of a heart in a futuristic and industrialised way this image below was quite striking for me. I would like to capture a similar sort of feel in my final design but perhaps in a slightly more abstract way. I do find it interesting though looking at the heart as an industrial machine and i would like this to be construed within the design as i feel it would reflect my whole scenario well.  

On another note, as an industrial machine, my nano pits will require maintenance. As such, i have decided to incorporate maintenance access to the nano pits, these access paths will wrap around the pits and access the different levels which will house the storage of the different materials.

Waste management inspiration

As i develop my nano pits i have looked to the beating heart for inspiration, the wonders of the human heart and how each mechanism contracts to allow the flow of blood through the body supplying vital life to the extremities of the body is what i intend to develop my design upon. Bellow is a short film illustrating how the heart pumps old blood through the lungs, filtering it and supplying fresh clean blood to the rest of the body. 

I intend to transfer these biological systems into the design of my nano pit, i will be further exploring the waste management system which will collect, disassemble, sort and then distribute the broken down constituent parts of the waste to its storage facility until the constituent components are required for the use in 3D printing individual products.

Idea developement

In the Myer centre i plan on hanging my 'nano pits' from the current ceiling (to be the sub structure of the new apartment buildings of the future scenario) in the existing voids, this is for a number of reasons. The pits will hang here so that the waste from the new parasitic apartments can funnel down into the pits to be processed, disassembled and sorted into constituent components. Another reason for the placement of the pits is that they can act as a spectacle in the new retail interface of the Myer centre. Finally, they will hang in the void so that people can make the connection between the life cycle of the building. This is achieved as the residential component produces the waste to fuel the industrial component that sorts and stores material for the retail front. 

So tracks will run through the voids, this will have robots running on them capturing the disassembled materials and transporting them to their storage level to be kept there until required by the retail. The materials will be transported to the retail front as required to produce the 3D printed customised products for the public.