The Star City Clock was inspired by the complex beauty of the natural world; a beauty defined by physical or genetic rules and formed from intricate systems of gracefully interconnected parts. It began life as the research project "Genetic Recursion" and was developed to its current state with Nathan Currier-Groh at Basermatter llc.
Each are crafted from a sheet of resilient polypropylene plastic which is uniquely painted and laser-cut into twenty four parts. The parts are then folded along scored lines and interconnected with unique locking slots to produce the final form. It was sold both assembled and in kit form. As hoped, the kits have proven to be popular based on the value added through the accomplishment of completing the puzzle.
This series of signs was an exercise in brand-driven experiential signage. Craftforce is a startup company based in Maysville KY offering an online social network designed specifically to link individual craftsmen with clients and projects. Within a year of conception, the company was featured on The Discovery Channel and the first of these signs was designed for filming. Its linear composition of 120 individually shaped aluminum plates spell out the brand through optical illusion as one moves past, in reference to the multitude of craftsmen that make the network thrive. In keeping with the company’s goals, these signs share a common design language intended to showcase the craftsmanship involved in their production.
Continuum OTR is a new design/lifestyle gallery in the heart of Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood. To provide them the street presence they needed, this sign was sculpted to produce a dynamic experience of their brand as it is approached. It is simply a continuum of their logo, made of aluminum and powdercoated white. True to intention, the spacing and multiplicity of its parts create moire patterns as the viewer moves around it.
This project added a new dimension to the capabilities of Modularem. It is a concrete and steel kitchen island commissioned by Amazon inc. and installed in their MyHabit photo studio. Modularem collaborated with Amazon designers on the interior design of the break room and the island reflects the intended aesthetic theme developed in that process. The board-formed concrete and steel lend a warm permanence to the space through a careful expression of the wood used to form the slabs, highlighted through an innovative multi-step staining and sealing process. The casting process, carried out entirely by Modularem, is therefore inherently evident in the final form. Multiple Amazon employees have reported being pleasantly surprised to discover it is made of concrete, a fact revealed only after close observation or physical contact, proving the experience produced to be engaging and provocative.
This is a comprehensive design proposal for a new Material Library at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design Art Architecture and Planning. This design was carried out professionally with the intention of revamping an unused space to offer students a rich material based education. The following is a series of excerpts from the design manual delivered at the end of the design process:
"Material parameters are where design opportunity exists. A material’s inherent qualities should not be seen as limitations but as design parameters. Defaulting to a material’s traditional application reflects limitations of the mind, not of the matter around us. The known properties of materials offer endless design opportunity and we have only begun to unlock the numerous latent properties stored within the materials around us. Great designers summon the intrinsic parameters of materials to confront the limitations of the mind. The Material Library should express the unending potential of simple materials to perplex and amaze.
Instead of just “showing” material samples, the library should help establish a lifelong comfort level with materials and the ability to unlock their potential. It should encourage a methodology for experimenting with and discovering the potential of materials. Great design advancements come from unlocking material potential, not assuming limitations.
Storage System:
Because there is ongoing development of the sourcing and organizational systems of a larger DAAP Material Library, the storage system has been designed to facilitate a wide range of ongoing development in the other areas. It is a fluid and adaptable system of organization, storage and display that can be reassembled infinitely to accommodate ongoing change and adaptation. The systemic aspect of the solution is all encompassing to the design. Essentially, it is a kit-of-parts system which, unlike any achieved in the past, will has many parts and a genetic, complex assembly strategy. Parametric Scripting is unnecessary to achieve a complex and organic whole if the parts themselves embody the variable and parameter functions of a digital script. It will be expandable, movable and dynamic.
Although initially focused and tested in room 8220, the Library-as-System is not constrained to the space but will be able to slowly grow and populate the entire building. Similar to moss or lichen, it will have a distinct genetic identity and structure but it will grow and spread to wherever the nutrients are right. Literally speaking, the storage system will be able to attach to walls, sit on floors or hang from ceilings, all while maintaining the structural DNA that identifies it as the Material Library. It will populate DAAP according to individual department or faculty interest and their effort to sustain it (nutrients). Students have access to online data anywhere they are and this will be reflected in the disperse nature of the new library. It will not be a room destination but a database destination and system aesthetic that will tie the whole organism together.
Space:
The Library System and the functional space it inhabits are fully integrated. The current room is not contextual in any way and therefore the Material Library System defines the spatial experience. It is important to note that the Library System is a storage system that has the ability to create space according to its own parameters. It is not an infinitely variable formal surface that can also be storage. This Part-to-Whole design process defines the essence of the project’s place in the contemporary context. It is outdated to form organic blobs and then apply meaningless materials to them and the results are never as holistic and multi-functional as this storage solution. The DNA that defines the Library System will be dynamic enough to also define furniture and other elements. However, to further express the intended connection between great design and material parameters, specific high-design chairs populate the space based on the revolutionary nature of their materials."