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w w w . o b j e t . c o m Objet for Neri Oxman

info@objet.com Objet Blog

Materials & Techniques:

Digital Materials, Multi-Material 3D Printing by OBJET Ltd.

Core team:

Prof. Neri Oxman, Professor of Media, Arts and Science, MITProf. Craig Carter, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MITJoe Hicklin, Chief Software Architect, The MathWorks, USADr. James C. Weaver, Wyss Institute, Harvard UniversityDr. Benjamin Hutton, Wyss Institute, Harvard UniversityKeren Oxman, Artist, NY

Collaborating Companies & Sponsors:

Objet LtdThe MathWorks, USAUformia, NorwayThe Chaos Group, USAMediated Matter Research Group, MIT Media Lab, USA

Contributors:

Prof. Christine Ortiz, MIT Department of Material Science & EngineeringProf. Mary C. Boyce, MIT Department of Material Science & Engineering Neil Katz, Architect, SOM, NY

BEINGSIMAGINARY

MYTHOLOGIESOF THE NOT YETCentre Pompidou, May 201218 Prototypes for the Human BodyBased on Jorge Luis Borges’ El Libro de los Seres Imaginarios

Multiversités Créatives

Objet for Neri Oxman

Photographer: Yoram Reshef | Graphic Design: Studio

Objet, the innovation leader in 3D printing for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, is proud to be a sponsor of the ‘Multiversités Créatives’ Exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, 2012.

As a high-technology company producing some of the world’s most advanced 3D printing systems, most people are familiar with our technology being used to rapidly prototype new design ideas and improve time-to-market for new products. Many of our worldwide customers are Fortune 500 companies in industries ranging from architecture, education, automotive and defense, dental, medical, consumer goods, consumer electronics, toys, footwear and service bureaus.

Nevertheless, we at Objet also understand that to create great products you need to live and breathe at the intersection of the arts and sciences.

We are therefore proud to be associated with the ‘Multiversités Créatives’ and the extraordinary work of Neri Oxman, Professor of Media, Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab, who has created the inspiring artistic pieces you see in this catalog and on display at ‘Multiversités Créatives’.

These pieces were created using Objet’s unique Connex multi-material 3D printers and 3D printing technology, that enables the jetting of multiple materials simultaneously within the same part.

3D printing is a burgeoning industry, enabling you to create real products or 3D models through the successive additive layering of UV-curable materials. As opposed to the ‘subtractive’ process of traditional manufacturing, 3D printing’s ‘additive’ process is both highly versatile and uniquely simple. It enables artists, designers and engineers to rapidly create whole assemblies, uniquely natural artistic geometries and even functional prototypes straight from a 3D design.

Objet’s 3D printers are today being rapidly adopted worldwide and the industry has the potential to reinvigorate how we think about product design and perhaps even change how whole economies operate.

There is currently no technology in the world capable of achieving the unique multi-material Objet 3D printed art pieces that you see here, designed and kindly provided by MIT Media Lab’s Neri Oxman.

For more information, visit us at www.objet.com For more about 3D printing industry-related news, business issues and trends, read the Objet Blog

ABOUT OBJET

Architect and designer Neri Oxman is a Professor of Media, Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab, where she directs the Mediated Matter research group. Her group explores how digital design and fabrication technologies mediate between material and environment to radically transform the design and construction of objects, buildings and systems. Oxman’s goal is to enhance the relationship between the built and the natural environment by employing design principles inspired by nature and implementing them in the invention of digital design technologies. Areas of application include product and architectural design, as well as digital fabrication and construction.

Oxman was named to ICON’s list of the “top 20 most influential architects to shape our future‚“ (2009), and was selected as one of the “100 most creative people” by FASTCOMPANY (2009). In 2008, she was named “Revolutionary Mind” by SEED Magazine. Her work has been exhibited at MoMA (NYC) and is part of the museum’s permanent collection; other exhibitions include the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Science (Boston, MA), the FRAC Collection (Orleans, France), and the 2009/2010 Beijing Biennale. She has received numerous awards including a Graham Foundation Carter Manny Award, the International Earth Award for Future-Crucial Design, and a METROPOLIS Next Generation Award.

Neri Oxman received her PhD in design computation as a Presidential Fellow at MIT, where she developed the theory and practice of material-based design computation. Prior to MIT, she earned her diploma from the Architectural Association (RIBA 2) in London after attending the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and the Department of Medical Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Her recent work “Stalasso”, done in collaboration with Prof. Craig Carter, became part of the collection of MNAM / CCI at the Centre Pompidou in 2011. This integrated skin, acting both as a structural wall as well as an environmentally-modulating partition, demonstrates how the shape of air passing through the cellular elements can be controlled to provide for specific environmental effects. The fibonacci pattern (i.e. a mathematical spiral) inscribed into the skin provides for the spiral movement of air through this mashrabiya-like prototype. A similar prototype is currently on show at the Smithsonian Institute.

Prêt de Neri Oxman | Biographie

Design Ideology: Digital NaturesOperating at the intersection of design and the natural sciences, the work of Mediated Matter focuses on biologically-inspired digital fabrication technologies that challenge the ancient arts of architecture and product design. Computational form-finding strategies are developed that simulate the interaction between physical matter and environmental stimuli in the production of form. Inspired by the natural world, Oxman’s work seeks to promote a new sensibility towards sustainable design by embracing biological principles such as formal variation, adaptation and material gradients. Oxman works in close collaboration with Prof. Craig Carter, from the Department of Material Science and Engineering at MIT, where they develop computational algorithms informed by material properties and behavior. Utilizing cutting edge fabrication technologies such as Objet’s Connex multi-material 3D printing technology, combined with sophisticated programming environments provided by The MathWorks, Oxman and Carter have created a new design language based on point clouds shapes and fabricated according to environmental forces.

Imaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetDesign and Mythology are both media for storytelling that represent general cultural truths and their human meaning. Like design, mythology is a universal language by which to decode human culture; and as in design, myths often employ the augmentation of human power in expressing the super-natural.

Indeed, throughout the history of design, humans have attempted the unattainable. From Da Vinci’s human-powered aircraft as inspired by the wings of Icarus, to inventions of material self-repair and regeneration dating back to the myth of the Promethean liver, design has consistently dealt with amplifying human powers or compensating for human limitations. It is not surprising then, that mythological ‘beings’ are often portrayed as personifications of natural forces. Indeed, the myths that tell of these earlier gods fulfilled the role of explaining the existence of nature.

In the context of the Multiversités Créatives exhibit to début at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and in close collaboration with Prof. Craig Carter - material scientist and polymath, Neri Oxman is working on a collection of 18 prototypes for the human body inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings. An encyclopedia of fantastic zoology, the book contains descriptions of 120 mythical beasts from folklore and literature. Situated within and against the forces of nature, Borges’ bestiary provides the site for coupling the ‘cultural’ with the ‘natural’ in design, by designing a collection of nature-inspired human augmentations.

Imaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not Yet postulates that futuristic design afforded by technological advancements, is rooted in fantasy and in myth: from the Golem of Prague to robotic exoskeletons, from Daphne’s wings to flying machines, from Talos’ armor to protective skins; mythemes- the design kernel of the myth as defined by Claude Lévi-Strauss - provide us with eternal archetypes of the super-natural and its material expressions.

Each ‘being’ in this series encapsulates the amplification and personalization of a particular human function such as the ability to fly, or the secret of becoming invisible. What was once considered magic captured by myth, becomes actuality as design and its material technologies offer more than meets the skin: spider suits, wing contraptions, and ultra-light helmets; these are all what one may consider mythologies of the “Not Yet”.

In projecting the future, this work makes use of new and innovative material technologies enhancing both the physical and environmental properties of these wearable myths and habitable contraptions. A library of algorithms inspired by form found in nature informs the design and fabrication process. Novel multi-material 3D printing technologies along with new design features such as voxel printing and property textures have been developed to support material performance and expression.

Revealing nature’s design language, this collection of objects represents a library of design principles inspired by nature suggesting that the ancient myth and its futuristic counterpart unite where design fabrication recapitulates fantasy.

Tête du Minotaure aux points de sutures / Minotaur Head with Sutures, 2012

Série des têtes / Head SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex350Digital Materials: Objet Rigid Black & Rigid Clear Transparent materials

Perhaps the most celebrated chimera in Greek mythology and well known among other fables including Dante’s Inferno, the Minotaur is part man, part bull. This creature is known to have dwelt at the center of the Cretan Labyrinth; an elaborate maze designed by Daedalus the architect, and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos of Crete.

Minotaur Head with Sutures is designed as a shock absorbent protective helmet offering at once protection and comfort. Inspired by horn morphology and by the process of suture calcification in the skull, this wearable skull is printed as an integrated part with embedded flexible sutures permitting minimal movement by increasing its elasticity. Similarly to the process of skull fusion following the generation of soft spots along the sutures, the helmet provides for various degrees of flexibility by varying the thickness, density and curvature of the sutures. Modeled after the mathematical Gosper curve, a space-filling fractal object, these sutures increase the helmet’s surface area to volume, thus amplifying support and augmenting mechanical compliance.

HEADSERIEScognitive functions

Tête du Minotaure aux lamelles / Minotaur Head with Lamella, 2012

Série des têtes / Head SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex350Digital Materials: Objet Rubber-like Transparent and Rigid Black materials

Minotaur Head with Lamella is designed as a protective shock absorbent helmet able to flex and deform in order to provide comfort and high levels of mechanical compliance.

The head shield introduces variable thickness at the shell, informed by anatomical and physiological data derived from real human skull data. Medical scan data of a human head is selected from an open repository. Two sets of data are created and trimmed from the scan using medical imagining software simulating the hard tissue (skull) and the soft tissue (skin and muscle). Combined, these two data sets make up the bone-to-skin threshold informing helmet thickness and material composition according to its biological counterpart such that bony perturbations in the skull are shielded with soft lamellas designed as spatial sutures.

HEADSERIEScognitive functions

HEADSERIEScognitive functions

Belzébuth / Ba‘al Z bûb, 2012

Série des têtes / Head SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Bitmap Printing, Objet Connex350Material: Objet Rigid materialColors: Magenta & Yellow

The “Lord of the Flies” is a semitic deity that was worshiped in the Philistine city of Ekron. In later Christian and Biblical sources, beelzebub appears as a demon and given the name of one of the seven princes of hell.

Here, the Minotaur Head is transformed into Beelzebub by combining the form-generation routines applied to the helmet with a multi-material spatially color-coded bitmap texture. The application of yellow and red ‘wrinkles’ on the surface and volume area of this protective head-shield, is informed by the overall curvature of the form and its anticipated aerodynamic performance. Denser, tighter wrinkles increase aerodynamic performance and provide additional protection by enlarging surface area to volume ratios. Local stiffening is designed around areas of acute curvature. The duo-tone gradient color combinations, denoting distinctly different material properties, produce a wide range of mechanical behaviors in this highly protective artificial skin.

e

Méduse / Medusa 1, 2012

Série des têtes / Head SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex350Colors: Objet Rigid Transparent material & Yellow

A gorgon chthonic monster, Medusa was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. Characterized by long locks of hair, this mythological being represents beauty, art and philosophy through these hairy protrusions.

Inspired by the head of Medusa, this design for a protective helmet explores form-generation processes that support lightweight construction combined with increased mechanical strength. Surface perforations in strategic locations contribute to the reduction of weight while the application of folded, semi-wrinkled pattern morphologies increases surface area and stiffness. Dreadlocks may be woven through the perforated shell across the skull’s surface areas, as well as brain-augmented electrodes for increased cognitive performance.

HEADSERIEScognitive functions

Méduse / Medusa 2, 2012

Série des têtes / Head SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex500Material: Objet Rigid Black material and Yellow

Medusa 2 offers morphological variation of the perforated and corrugated surface by proposing a singular form-generation process combining perforation, corrugation, and wrinkling – all informed by curvature and desired environmental performance criteria. Increased aerodynamic performance is achieved by varying cell size and density in the external left and right regions of the head region.

Color selection denotes warning coloration (eposematism) in the animal and plant kingdoms. Yellow and black are combined to achieve the opposite effect of camouflage, to increase the noticeability and remembrance of this wearable Medusa’s head.

HEADSERIEScognitive functions

Pneuma 1, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Pulmonary SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Bitmap Printing, Objet Connex500Material: Objet Rigid MaterialColors: Cyan & YellowTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex500Digital Materials: Objet Rigid Black and Rigid White materialsColors: Magenta & Yellow

Greek for “air in motion”, the ancient word Pneuma is used in religious contexts to denote the “spirit” or the “soul” housed by the human ribcage. The wind of breath is equivalent in the material monism of Anaximenes to ‘aer’ (air) as the element from which all else originates, and it is due to the architecture of the human house-of-breath that life’s air can be maintained.

Pneuma 1 marks a series of design explorations depicting this ethereal constituent in material form, as a housing unit for the spirit from which breath emerges. Inspired by animals of the phylum Porifera such as sponges, this soft armor is designed to protect the body while providing comfort and flexibility. Two bodies filled with pores and channels allowing air to circulate throughout are printed using multiple materials with varying mechanical properties making up the stiff continuous shell and soft inner regions.

PULMUNARY

SERIESbreathing functions

Pneuma 2, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Pulmonary SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Bitmap Printing, Objet Connex500Material: Objet Rigid materialColors: Cyan & Yellow

The challenge of accommodating multiple functions in the natural world is most often overcome by growing structural patterns in multiple scales to provide for various functions. The spongy bone, for instance, is designed as a cellular solid in meso-scale, and a fibrous composite in the micro-scale. Combined, cellular structures and fiber textures provide for high weight to volume ratios while maintaining very strong structures.

Pneuma 2 combines a cellular structural pattern with a dotted geometrical pattern accommodating the integration of seemingly contradictory functions: the cellular spongy structure provides for a lightweight shock-absorbent protective armor, while the dotted pattern distinguishes between soft and hard tissue. Regions of higher stiffness follow the outer boundary of the cellular structure, maintaining its structural integrity, while soft tissue is located within.

PULMUNARY

SERIESbreathing functions

Pneuma 4, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Pulmonary SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet 3D Printing, Objet Eden500Material: Objet Rigid Clear Transparent material

Pneuma 4 explores the generation of architectural encapsulations for the human body that accommodate multiple functions (such as protection, circulation and comfort) embedded in a singular integrated design. This creation is designed as a shielding unit for the rib cage interfacing between the human body and the external environment.

Pneuma 4 is designed after the bronchial tree as a passage of airways in the respiratory tract that conducts air into the lungs. The bronchi branch into smaller tubes, in turn becoming bronchioles forming a recursive tree structure which nature repeatedly employs to parallelize transport. In this work, the combination of a corrugated rib cage morphology promoting flexibility in movement with a cellular morphology acting as a spongy shock-absorbing armor, generates a structural skin with both filtering and barrier functions. The tree and sponge composite make up for a compound morphology able to provide for the multiple functions it must satisfy as a wearable house for breathing.

PULMUNARY

SERIESbreathing functions

TORSOSERIESprotective functions

Arachné (Autoportrait / Self Portrait), 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Torso SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex500Digital Materials: Objet Rigid Black & Rigid White materials

Arachne is the mortal weaver who was transformed into a spider by Athena. In refusing to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from Athena, she offended the goddess and was challenged by her to a contest between the two weavers. According to Ovid, the goddess was so envious of the magnificent tapestry and the mortal weaver’s success, that she turned Arachne into a spider.

Able to produce up to eight different silks during their lifetime, each spinneret gland within the spider’s abdomen produces a thread for a special purpose: sticky silk is produced for trapping prey and fine silk for enshrouding it. It is common for spiders to eat their own web daily to recoup some of the energy used in spinning by way of recycling the silk proteins. In more ways than one, spider spinnerets are the antecedents of multi-material printers.

Arachne the imaginary being is modeled after the spider’s web to provide for a flexible armor. The form of the web, its density and thickness, are informed by the anatomical location of the rib cage: in areas where the corset covers the ribs, the web is filled with stiff cells for shielding bony tissue; in areas where the corset covers the intercostal muscles, the web is filled with softer, more flexible cells, providing for muscular flexibility to enhance and augment movement within the chest wall. Combined, soft and flexible materials are distributed following continuous web morphology to accommodate for multiple functions such as protection, enhanced movement, flexibility and comfort.

Talos, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Torso SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Bitmap Printing, Objet Connex500Material: Objet Rigid MaterialColors: Cyan & Yellow

The epitome of armor, Talos is known in Greek mythology to have been a giant man of bronze who protected Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders. Talos had one vein, which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by a single bronze nail. Talos’ power to protect the people of Crete originated in his torso. Created entirely from a single substance, Talos is a mythological being designed by his power to protect and to shield - his singular life’s purpose.

Inspired by the mythical Talos, this frontal armor is designed according to the curvature of the pectoral and abdominal muscles. Acting as an interface between the skin and the external environment, this wearable shield varies its thickness to accommodate for soft regions requiring more protection and stiff regions covering bone perturbations. The dotted pattern appearing on its surface extends throughout the volume area of the armor, generating material stiffness variation informed by anatomical curvature: higher concentrations of structural dappling appear in regions of higher curvature, providing for self-support and local stiffness.

TORSOSERIESprotective functions

Léviathan 1, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Torso SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex500Material: Objet Rigid materialColors: Cyan & Magenta

The Leviathan as an ancient sea monster is mentioned six times in the Book of Job where it is described in detail. Among Job’s portrayal of Hell’s gatekeeper are numerous material depictions manifesting the creature’s physical traits which allow him to move speedily at sea despite its heavy build: His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; Each is so close to the next that no air can pass between; They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted; The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable; His chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone (Book of Job).

This underwater wriggling serpent is here re-imagined as armor for the human torso, inspired by the Leviathan’s anatomy and physiology. Composed of a thin stiff shell, cuts are introduced into the surface to allow for the flexibility required for movement and stretching. This body suit is designed as a single continuous surface with thin slots printed in two materials. Each slot is double-sided such that soft materials make up its internal composition providing comfort, while a stiffer material is deposited to provide for a stiff outer shell.

TORSOSERIESprotective functions

Léviathan 2, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Torso SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex500Digital Materials: Objet Rigid Black & Rigid White materials

Based on Leviathan 1, this torso in two parts explores the relation between slot geometry and physical movement. Vertical slots are designed to provide flexibility in rotational bending while horizontal slots are designed to provide flexibility in vertical bending. The color combination represents complementing material properties providing for a range of stiff and soft compositions informed by slot curvature, thickness density and directionality.

TORSOSERIESprotective functions

Kafka, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Torso SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Bitmap Printing, Objet Connex500Material: Objet Rigid materialColors: Magenta and Yellow

Kafka’s imagination produced beings that are at the heart of 20th century mythologies, from Gregor Samsa’s metamorphosis to Odradek, included in Borges’ ‘Book of Imaginary Beings’. His intentional use of ambiguous words in The Metamorphosis and other works, inspired here an ambiguous use of material properties and behaviors embedding several functions and thus proposing a physical, wearable metamorphosis; a material counterpart for Kafka’s chimerical writing.

Here, Kafka himself is transformed into a chimerical being composed out of parts of multiple animals: a human spine printed in rigid material provides support to this torso shell. Wrapping it is a stiff armor providing protection and support as well as semi-flexible neck elements to interface with the human body. The ornate soft-printed texture covering the shell is informed by the curvature of the armor such that denser patterned regions appear in highly curved areas around spinal joints, providing for more flexibility. An insect’s soft internal shell combined with stiff human armor and semi-stiff leopard’s spots become a chimerical torso in this Bestiary series.

TORSOSERIESprotective functions

Rémora, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Pelvic SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Bings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Bitmap Printing, Objet Connex500Colors: Purple & Objet Rigid Transparent material

The Remora was said to hold ships stock still in their course. A notable account by Pliny the Younger blamed the remora for the defeat of Mark Antony and for the death of Caligula, determining its physical power to delay and reverse man’s paths at sea.

Its command originates in its rounded sinuous curved anatomy and special physical features. Also known as the suckerfish, the remora’s distinctive first dorsal fin takes the form of a modified oval sucker-like organ with slat-like structures that open and close to create suction and take a firm hold against the skin of larger marine animals. By sliding backwards, the remora can increase suction. The remora is often seen as a companion to sharks with whom they form a symbiotic relationship: the shark provides protection and transport while the remora maintains services the shark’s dermal denticles.

Appropriated as a hip splint, which attaches itself to the pelvic region by way of suction, this imaginary being is populated by barnacle-like hollow structures. The cellular ‘suction cups’ promoting attachment to the skin vary in size and density informed by the natural curvature of the human body. This girdle-like contraption promotes circulation when worn on the inside; by reversing the structure and wearing it on the outside, the wearer is able to attach the pelvic region to rough surfaces.

SERIESreproductive functions

HIP

Gravida, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Pelvic SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex500Digital Materials: Objet Rigid Black & Rigid White materials

From the Greek Aphrodite, Turkish Aka, Welsh Arianrhod, Egyptian Bast, Irish Brigit, Nordic Freya, Hawaiian Haumea, Russian Mastor-Ava, Aztec Tlalteutli, to Roman Venus, fertility goddesses represent one of the main aspects of the Mother Archetype. Archeological finds of the earliest Goddesses from around the world show her as The Great Mother Goddess and creator, depicted with a swollen Belly.

Gravida – the state of being pregnant – indicates the number of times the mother has been pregnant. This imaginary being is designed as a pregnancy corset, offering support for the female belly as it grows, expands, and stretches. The form follows the natural curves of the body, while incorporating highly wrinkled stretchable pattern. The corset is composed of two parts: an external armor shell and an internal soft membrane. The relatively high ratio of surface area to volume – which nature utilizes to encapsulate a body with minimal skin, and maximizes the retention of warmth in cold environments – provides for comfort, support and flexibility as the body shape transforms

SERIESreproductive functions

HIP

Le Double / Doppelgänger, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Wing SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Printing, Objet Connex500Digital Materials: Objet Rigid Black & Rigid White materials

Described in Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings as the ‘double walker’, the doppelgänger is the paranormal double of a living human, typically represented by evil or misfortune. The being is mentioned across various traditions and used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection. In Norse mythology, a vardØger is a ghostly double that precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance. In Finnish mythology, this being is known as the etiäinen (‘firstcomer’), and in ancient Egyptian mythology, a ka was a tangible ‘spirit double’ having the same memories and feelings as the original person. In some myths, the doppelganger is a version of the Ankou, a personification of death.

Imagined as a flying bat-suit, this wearable myth is designed as a structure which mutes the sound of flight and improves aerodynamics. An algorithmic faceting technique was implemented to generate an optical illusion attracting its mates and repulsing its enemies: when viewed from above the white facets are mostly visible, and when viewed from below, the black facets are mostly visible. Combined with each material’s ability to reflect light and absorb heat in different rates, this illusion also carries with it potentially significant performance requirements. A building’s skin might absorb sunlight in particular angles during the day, and keep it in shadow in its spatial doppelganger counterpart.

SERIESflight funct ions

WING

Daphné, 2012

Série des pulmonaire / Wing SeriesÊtres imaginaires: Mythologies du Pas EncoreImaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not YetTechnology: Objet Multi-Material 3D Bitmap Printing, Objet Connex500Digital Materials: Objet Rigid Black & Rigid Clear Transparent materials

The pursuit of a local nymph by an Olympian God was given allegorical turn in Ovid’s Metamorphoses where the god’s infatuation was caused by an arrow from Eros who wanted to make Apollo pay for mocking his archery skills and to demonstrate the power of love’s arrow. Ovid treats the encounter, Apollo’s lapse of majesty, in the mode of elegiac lovers, and expands the pursuit into a series of speeches. According to the rendering Daphne prays for help either to the river god Peneus or to Gaia, and is transformed into a laurel (Laurus Nobilis): “a heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breasts, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left” (The Metamorphoses by Ovid). The laurel became sacred to Apollo, and crowned the victors at the Pythian Games. Most artistic impressions of the myth focus on the moment of transformation.

Daphne, the Imaginary Being, is here transformed into a winged corset designed to support human arms in their upward vertical position. These printed wings contain punctures placed in the natural anatomical position of the arms, as well as around the shoulder area, while acting as vertical support sleeves for the higher limbs when raised vertically. This wearable myth is 3-D printed from a soft see-through material, embedded with a dark dotted pattern the distribution of which is informed by anatomical curvature and mechanical performance. Denser dotted regions appear in surfaces providing for structural support.

SERIESflight funct ions

WING