crochet, architecture, design

Last August I wrote about the talk I attended here in Cornell about using crochet in architecture studio. On Tuesday I was visiting Gisela Baurmann's seminar with two purposes. One was by Gisela to explain to students more about geometry they had used in their projects, the other - I was so curious to see what they all have created. The whole set of pictures from the seminar can be seen here. I am taking from there some examples what can be created with crochet and 3D-printing.

I like this quote from Gottfried Semper who in 19th cnetury was seeing creative possibilities of various stitches and their possible applications in architecture but his ideas at the time were called eccentric:

The loop stitch is a noeud coulant: a knot that, if untied, causes the whole system to unravel. It is an element in making stockings, in knitting and crocheting, and the particular way it is formed is dictated by the tools employed and the use intended. […] I can only say that it is an extremely refined [art] and yields products whose properties can be achieved in no other way. They carry the elements of their richest ornaments in themselves and in their construction. Elasticity and ductility are the specific advantage of these products; this makes them especially suited to close-fitting dressings that embrace the figure and define it without fold.

--Gottfried Semper, ʻStyleʼ, 1860, Getty Publications (2004)

These models reminded me Romanian designer Radu Comsa who saw my work in 2005 and was inspired to use it in design and created Rasta Stool ( referring to Rastafari):

He continued to explore hyperbolic geometry and now is calling this direction hyperbolism.

Wnat to make some hyperbolic design? If you have enough patience try this:

Learn How to origami a beautiful hyperbolic arch. For more Origami How-To Videos & Articles, visit WonderHowTo.

If not making hyperbolic design by origami, you can choose to do it with computer like Kerrin Jefferis and Patrick Stein - Computational Nature Study for Generative Design (Masters of Digital Design, University of Canberra) did in their project Hyperbolic Coral

They even created matrix to visually show how the shape changes by changing the ratio of increases:

Here is another application of negatively curved surface (pseudosphere)

Actually National Geographic and New York Times has serious news how 52 years and $750 million spent on proving that Einstein was right... And we see pseudosphere once again!