M.S. Thesis - MIT Media Lab
In the compendium of graduate research, I explore relationships between form generation, material properties, and design constraints in search of a new framework for designing with unpredictable or unstable material systems, using glass 3D printing as a case study. That novel type of glass forming gave way to a dialogue with highly unusual material behavior, structures too complex to model in real time and visually compelling, frozen in time with cooling temperatures. The process generates new types of glass structures and visual output, enabling new design typologies for the product and architectural scale.
I presented an array of over a hundred unique design experiments that offer insight into this new design space created by complex glass behavior under control of a digital machine and harnessing structural instability. Close study of the objects generated and especially of their behavior during fabrication is key to understanding how the glass responds to the motion of the machine, working towards a framework capable of handling an active and complex material system. The goal is to identify how and when machine control can be used directly and when organic material formation can take over.
