When you are designing must always consider the construction processes

I begin this blog sharing a concept that I learned in my first fablab, although it sounds obvious, sometimes until we were wrong don’t learn .And as he says the proverb, I can’t obtain the knowledge from your experiences, I’m only the knowledge obtained from mine.


When we design an installation, a building, an object ... we have to understand the tools and materials we work with.


In this case, was a workshop introduction to parametric architecture and digital design. The software we used was GC (Generative Components Bentley) and CNC machine was a laser cutter with which we would build the prototype.


We worked individually. Everyone created a project working on a two-dimensional component, which adapt to a surface.


The first thing that came to my mind was trying to create a three-dimensional component (too presumptuous on my part).


So I started working on the idea of ​​creating an area of ​​variable thickness depending on the height of it, which could hold on its inner face a series of holes that could serve to get better the acoustics of a room.


Here I found the first difficulty.  When you use slower computers, you can’t create a surface with many holes. Despite this I continued with this idea, as being a prototype, the research could still be useful.

So I created a tetrahedron whose corners on the inside were truncated, so to conform it to the surface, it led  to a series of pyramid-shaped holes whose dimensions were variable depending on the distance to a checkpoint.

The result met expectations, but what was the problem?
At no time I considered the method of joining parts. 

A 3D printer would be an ideal tool for creating the prototype, but the exercise was to create a prototype using flat elements, and my model would require a huge amount of fasteners, which I would have to design and it would not allow me getting the continuous surfaces desired. 


Therefore the only option I had was to print each of the components as a drop-down, and  the GC tool unfolded each side separately. After an arduous task of sorting the faces in AUTOCAD I got the manufacturing drawings.

When I had all the pieces, my surprise was an error in the process of ordering the components, as well as the uncertainty in the bonding process, prevented to close the surface.