Sewing Pavilion is a semester long research project conducted with Jolynn Yen in the field of deployable architecture, digital fabrication, and thin-plywood material systems. 

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We began our investigation with an interest in origami forms. We were interested in discovering the variety of complex three-dimensional forms we could achieve through two-dimensional geometry. We were inspired by the field of robotic sewing and fabrication, as implemented in the ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2015-2016. The combination of origami and robotic sewing allowed us to arrive at darting the plywood - a sewing technique commonly deployed in tailoring. 

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Through iterative material testing and scaling up our materials, we arrived at a fully computational material system. Our material system can be deployed across any input design geometry using a fully computational script. Each individual units is comprised of eight unique triangular panels and one standardized central acrylic piece. The central acrylic piece acts as a lighting aperture. The triangular pieces are stitched to the central piece and connected to each other by their edge conditions. The triangular pieces produce an internal slit angle. When sewn together by their edges, it generates a curvature within the surface. The components come together to make unique double-layered, stackable modules that are also sewn together to make a greater whole. The system can produce multiple pavilion configuration via the stability of the double wall design. 

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A proof of concept and a large scale prototype was created of a section of a curved wall. Individual panels were laser cut and stitched together. 3D Scanning was used to test for deflections and tolerance losses. 

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Our material system is fully computational and adaptable, and generates a deployable lightweight structure. We hope to create a large scale pavilion of our computational system in the future.