Digital Fabrication: McColl Center Canopy

This project was conceived of as a testing bed for considering how designers could use parametric modeling tools not as a method for form generation, but backwards as a way to map components of custom building systems into a “quilt” which could be “draped” across any surface or program. We wanted to consider how material ecology could be constrained by parametric linkages. The system cannot make any form, but is constrained by the limits of a digitally designed system. In this case, we wanted to test the possibilities of “quilts” fabricated primarily of salvaged components. We used 40” x 48” shipping pallets, scrap steel, and scrap awning fabric. The pallets themselves serve as a tight constraint for formal expression, but also as a political agent expressing that alternative building materials can be used in expressive and iconic ways. Initially, we worked with a local homeless shelter to install a “version” of our canopy structure over the soup kitchen line, which forms on their property each morning.

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