Universidad  Iberoamericana. 
2015

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Initial experiments sought to understand the absorption qualities of silk threads when dipped in different proportions of clay mixed with water. With the adequate water-to-clay ratio, the voids between the silk threads were filled with clay, and eventually, the silk tissue that was once flexible solidified. Based on “Emergent Fiber Arrangements,” a study done by the University of Stuttgart, different patterns were tested, concluding that a circular frame with all points interconnected by silk threads reduces the porosity of the silk structure and distributes clay more efficiently. Founded on Frei Otto’s wool experiments, a looseness factor was added to the silk pattern, allowing each thread to join other threads, creating, in turn, more rigid linear elements with an added amount of clay. 

The looseness factor was further exploited by turning the silk threads into catenaries. After dipping the silk pattern in clay and during the drying process, gravity distributes the weight of the clay mixture while the threads of silk work as a tensile structure. Once dry, the catenary dome is inverted, keeping the ideal geometric shape previously acquired through gravity and allowing the clay to work through compression and distribute weight efficiently. 

The final result was the creation of four catenary domes that demonstrate material optimization in four variants: maximum and minimum height as well as a maximum and minimum amount of nodes in relation to the frame’s diameter (in this case, one meter). The real scale models were informed by the digital models and vice versa. All conclusions and variants were programmed using Grasshopper, opening the possibility to create these models successfully on any scale with a different range of materials, such as cement and cotton, to replace clay and silk.

 
In collaboration with Yoshua Gitlin, Ann Gutierrez, and Alexa de Alba. 

Photography by Yoshua Gitlin and Mauricio Cohen Kalb.