[ ply-studio ] Plywood Ornament

noclew

[size=100%]Thistime the students' investigation of the limit of plywood was positionedbetween the aesthetic and the structural, a redefination of theconstituent material properties of plywood. The observation began fromthe premise that plywood possess strength [size=100%]onlyin 2 axial directions, of which its corresponding grains would not becompletely revealed. As such, the project sought to develop increasedstructural strength in the 3rd axis.

[size=100%]The reconstitution process started with the [size=100%]reduction of the plywood sheet into its smallest particle - a [size=100%]12mm x 12mm x 12mm cube, then rea[size=100%]ssembling 27 nos. of these cubes [size=100%]into a basic building block of 36mm cube[size=100%],with its cross grains arranged tri-axially. Theoretically, assuming nowastage, 740 such cubes could be obtained from a single sheet[size=100%], giving rise to 7400 cubes from 10 sheets [size=100%] - an immense amount[size=100%]. Duringthe fabrication process, it was astonishing to see a directtransformation in scale, size and proportion of the plywood - from 10nos. [size=100%]of 4ft x 8ft[size=100%]planar sheets to potentially a single super dense block of 3ft cube insize. The density of plywood at such a scale would not have beenpossible without a transferrence of mass and volume from one form toanother. [size=100%] The final proposal explored how the cubes could be stacked and glued in place. The final form was derived from how each minute [size=100%]36mm cube [size=100%]basic building block, through minimum surface of contact with another, achieve the largest overall physical size.[size=100%]The actual act of fabrication was itself an act of monumentality, thefinal structure became an ornamental gesture which embodied the laboursinvolved. -_____________- so interesting cocept..hh