Fabrication Time

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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

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DigiFAB Shell Model

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Slab Cutting

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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

Structural Gradient

We are now coordinating the form of the shell, core and groundwork with the structural patterning. The cellular system is derived by points projected along the z-axis onto the surface. This produces regularity in the top while creating elongated cells in the wall area. As the shell approaches the Cartesian plane it lineates into ribs that extend along the surface of the existing slab on the west side and curl under to support the seating core on the east side of the grotto.

Structual Gradient

We are now coordinating the form of the shell, core and groundwork with the structural patterning. The cellular system is derived by points projected along the z-axis onto the surface. This produces regularity in the top while creating elongated cells in the wall area. As the shell approaches the Cartesian plane it lineates into ribs that extend along the surface of the existing slab on the west side and curl under to support the seating core on the east side of the grotto.

Kiesler’s Tile

Original tile for the Grotto designed by Kiesler and made in Japan. This tile was created especially for the Grotto but of course never used. A pallet of it resides in New Harmony. We are very interested in how this pattern might influence the differentiated modularity within our structural system. Kiesler was an early user of recursive geometry from the site plan of the Grotto down to the intricacies of surface articulation.