Fig 1.

Process Analysis

The Process I have to introduce to you is the process of Petrified wood.

The Petrification of wood occurs both naturally over many years and with science ever advancing, scientists have been able to recreate the petrification process

in short months.

Essentially, a tree is felled and finds itself being encased in a pressurized environment. In this way it is exposed to the minerals in the ground and water which

finds its way inside the decaying matter. The minerals in this water actually build up over time and solidify as the organic matter disintegrates and what you are

left with is a tree that has turned into stone.

To break it down further I’m assessing the process itself and using the light of the lantern to play on the process of decomposition. In my lantern you will find the basic starting points below: 1. The environment that the wood falls into: Compression. 2. The per-mineralization process: Organic Decay + Substitution. 3. The patterns formed in the wake of silicates that grow in place of the organic matter: Patterns. To further break these down: - The compression usually happens in a tetrahedron (pyramid); pressurized on 4 sides. To further represent compression as a factor I have opted to use coils, hollow rings of inverted and extroverted pyramids and compression rings on these pyramids.

Fig. 2

- The decay is represented in the negative space - the use of circular holes throughout the work in a way not dissimilar to Swiss cheese. Upon further reflection I think I will space 2 sheets of thickened card apart and try to make them opaque so that the light shines only through the holes in between the paper. I've tried making something in rhino to reflect this, before establishing my model itself. When I thought of it I had a look on the net for supporting bodies of work. This is a similar concept but not quite what I was looking to do:

Fig. 3

-With the patterns: I was originally going to play with rough and smooth surfaces but I've decided against that. Petrified wood has a rough exterior yes but I want to represent the interior. I’ve interpreted the rough textures for the top and bottom of the model only as the only evident patterns are in the bark and rings around the cross section that stay there even after all organic matter has broken down. These rings are yet another reason to adopt circles with my triangles.

The inner circles will be larger than the ones on the triangles. I also think I really like the idea of shaping it in such a way that it looks like a stylized coil however after further inspiration I came up with an alternative that I really like as well. Overall I think the sectioned model answers my concept better.

This is where I Explored overlays and the concept of refracted light through minerals. My interpretation of refraction comes from the idea that not all light is

reflected and only some of it shows. I did a little experiment to show my point:

Top Left to Bottom right: showing the timeline of experimenting with refraction off a piece of white paper coloured in black and painted over with craft glue. Before the glue set I was able to get these patterns of light while I reflected it off the page.

After doing this and working with the plasticine I developed my impression of refracted light off something textured which I am representing in the form of circular holes. The Circular holes of light represent the negative space left by the organic decay and the act of shining light through them represents the response of minerals when you reflect light off them.

Coupling that with my ideas of compression and layering to represent the remaining remnant of what was once organic, coupled with the process that left it such – I will implement the following design path:

The idea is to use layers as represented in the centre picture. I was toying with the entire structure creating the curves themselves but I believe that layering answers my concept better. The Circles you see are the negative space that light will shine through. There will be an opaque layer in the centre that is designed to reflect the light by its design. There will be an outer shell with layered attachments that shine the light above and below the bands through the holes. It will hopefully shine dots of light onto the panels above and below. The pattern of hollow tetrahedrons with circular gaps will spiral over the top.

I have not yet decided on the final form that this will be modeled into.

References and Inspirations: Fig 1. Petrified Wood:

http://www.rainbowpetrifiedwood.com/

Fig 2. Rhino rendering that I created after being inspired by the below link on springs. Fig. 3. Swiss Cheese in architecture: http://www.etruxes.com/architecture/tapered-circles/

springs ideas:

http://www.masterspring.com/images/compression_springs(bjt042).gif

Manganites and Cupite: (researching tetrahedral constructs which gave me an idea for my texture)

http://sartbaeva.chem.ox.ac.uk/Research_component.html

Inverted pyramids in architecture:

http://inhabitat.com/the-victoria-albert-museum-as-a-daylit-inverted-pyramid/va-museum-at-dundee-by-rex-2/?extend=1 also: http://www.rex-

ny.com/work/v-a-at-dundee

http://www.tempe.gov/historicpres/HE-HistoricEligible/CityHall.html

Tension and compression:

http://www.mercedes-benz-classic.com/content/classic/mpc/mpc_classic_website/en/mpc_home/mbc/home/museum/impressions.flash.html

http://www.civilengineergroup.com/tension-compression-yin-yang-structural-engineering.html