This type of manufacturing allows the processes to be repeatable as many times as necessary. In turn, the complexity of the object does not have a significant impact on the cost of production. The possibilities within digital fabrication are not linked to the human scale.

Digital fabrication technologies can be divided into two large groups. On the one hand the additive fabrication and on the other the subtractive, each one of them presents certain limitations, advantages and disadvantages to the other.

CAD

Computer Aided Design

The file containing the design to be manufactured. It is important that the design does not contain double lines, curves without closing or elements that do not touch each other.

Software: Autocad, Illustrator, Corel, etc.

CAM

Computer Aided Manufacturing

Translates the CAD file into a set of instructions that the machine can interpret: CAM= translator. This file must contain the specific elements/parameters that the machine will need for manufacturing: speeds, intensity, times, etc. For this reason, the plans must express not only what is necessary for the machine but also what is necessary for the operator who will configure the machine.

Software: Cura, Fusion 360, etc.

PRINTING PARAMETERS

The printing parameters (extruder temperature, speed, type of support, filling, etc.) must be adjusted according to each material, piece, filament diameter and even the 3D printer model used by the user.

Some of the parameters to configure when printing and their consequences are explained below.

Filling density

Defines the amount of material used inside the object. A higher infill density means there is more material inside the print, leading to a stronger object. A density of around 20% is used for models for a visual purpose, higher densities can be used for end-use parts. The filling pattern is another variable to define depending on the material and type of piece that we want to achieve.

Layer height

The layer height has a direct effect on the surface of the final piece, as well as it will determine a longer or shorter printing time, the higher the height, the lower the total printing time. Depending on the objective with which we manufacture the piece, we can prioritize the aesthetic factor or the printing time.

LASER CUTTING PARAMETERS

The focal length of a lens is the distance between the optical center of the lens and the focus. It is important to respect this distance so that the laser cuts the material optimally. This equipment can generate cuts and engravings in different materials. According to the type and thickness of the material, the speed and power values ​​of the laser beam are configured, as well as the distance between the nozzle and the material. The laser cutter has the possibility of cutting, line engraving, folding engraving, kerfing, etc.

DIMENSIONS AND MATERIALS

The maximum cutting dimensions of the cutters available in the FabLab are:

• William Gibson: 1118mm in X and 890mm in Y, maximum thickness 6mm
• Ursula K Le Guin: 1200mm in X and 2400mm in Y. Maximum thickness 9mm.

The materials that can be manufactured on this equipment are: mdf, multi-laminate, different types of cardboard (grey, Swedish, corrugated, feather, etc.). Various polymers can also be worked (pet, acrylic, eva rubber, etc). This equipment cannot work with PVC.

TECHNIQUE BY FACES_ INSERTS

SOLID SECTIONED TECHNIQUE

Whatever the manufacturing strategy we have chosen, we must take into account the following considerations:

MATERIAL THICKNESS

Although the cutter only makes cuts in the X and Y axes, that is, in two dimensions, we are going to work with different materials that have different thicknesses. This must be considered when designing joints and inserts.

DIE CUTTING SYSTEM

To prevent pieces smaller than 80x80mm from falling between the ribs of the laser cutter bed, it is necessary to implement a die-cutting system. This is accomplished by leaving the polylines open. The opening must be at least 1mm.

MACHINING SOFTWARES

This research refers to two events that greatly impacted the history of design 50 years ago: the film “2001: A Space Odyssey” directed by Stanley Kubrick1 (April 2, 1968); and the first Moon landing during the Apollo XI Mission (July 20, 1969), mainly based on the ideas of John Houbolt2 .

The common goals of high visual and technological impact with relatively brief deadlines, led in both cases to a colossal multidisciplinary effort that reached extremes of quality and innovation in design, that are still remarkable half a century later.

Kubrick moves

The film “2001, A Space Odyssey” reflects the concerns and hopes underlying at the end of the 60s, in the context of the Cold War, the Space Race, and the promises and mistrusts of the incipient incorporation of computer-aided decision making.

Kubrick carefully chose the team that would help him to carry out one of his first high-budget films. He reached for Arthur C. Clarke and convinced him to make “the proverbial ‘really good’ science-fiction movie“4, based on the story “The Sentinel” that Clarke had written in 1951.

As for the technical matters, he put up a team with the best possible master artists and craftsmen out there -headed by production designer Harry Lange- to take on the shooting of the spatial scenes, reaching levels of technical perfection which even today would be difficult to achieve. Most of the look and appearance of 2001 originated as small pencil sketches done by Lange.

The filming was conducted with some secrecy within the MGM studios in Borehamwood (England), working to tight deadlines so that its release could be in early 1968. Advances in Space Race, the arrival of Man on the Moon -NASA or soviets- and even the possibility of finding evidence of extraterrestrial intelligent life, could spoil the expectation that the movie was beginning to generate.

Houbolt replies

During a speech delivered by President John F. Kennedy, he promised: “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”5. The challenge was created: the US would put a Man on the Moon within a time frame of seven years. This seemed ambitious at that time and still appears to be almost impossible half a century later, even arising conspiracy theories about the reality of the matter and speculating with the intervention of Stanley Kubrick himself in the realization of “fake” video shots and pictures6 .

Technical problems were countless, most of them to be solved for the first time -including the guidance system and the navigator computer-, with the aggravating circumstance that any minimal failure could compromise the lives of the astronauts.

One of the main problems was the amount of cargo that was needed to reach to the Moon and how to push it there. This issue was studied tenaciously by John Houbolt, who finally convinced NASA headquarters -bypassing the chain of command- that the “only” solution was to split the journey in different stages, with various modules -command, service, descent lunar stage and ascent lunar stage- that would be alternately used along the way, needing several rendezvous in terrestrial (EOR9) and lunar orbit (LOR10), this one the most difficult.

Our research will cover all the geometric design of Saturn V, the giant vehicle that drove the required load to the Moon, analyzing all its components but mainly focusing on the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), the stage that actually landed there.

This fundamental component for the successful completion of the mission was assigned to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, one of the numerous subcontracts that made possible the success of the colossal endeavor. It was a two-stage vehicle -descent and ascent stages- that was only used from the lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon, and back.

The conditioning factors of its design were very particular and demanding, since it had to be extremely light, minimal in size, very resistant, folding, dockable, maneuverable in vacuum and with lunar gravity (1/6 of terrestrial) and partially pressurized to 5psi (1/3 of the atmospheric pressure)11.

This paper will analyze all the steps by which its design evolved in its geometric aspects and practical use. With Thomas Kelly in charge during this process that lasted for years12, various proposals were evaluated and discarded until reaching to the definitive model, which represents one of the most efficient and remarkable products in the history of aerospace design.

This prodigious spaceship allowed six Moon landings, and in its finest hour -due to a severe damage in the service module-, served as “lifeboat” in the remaining mission (Apollo XIII), enabling Lovell, Swigert and Haise to return safely to Earth.

Brief

In 2000, UDELAR and the Municipality came to an agreement in order to combine efforts and cooperative relations in areas of common interest, with the general objective of mutual collaboration for a better development of their respective purposes and activities.

In this context, the IM asked the Faculty of Architecture to make a model of the “Ciudad Vieja” on a 1:750 scale.

With this purpose, VidiaLab and LabFab carried out various tasks ranging from surveying with drones, digital modeling and subsequent digital fabrication.

The project website, constitutes a content repository, where the digital inputs generated through the project are compiled and available to the general public.

About the model

On November 9, 2016, the model of Ciudad Vieja was presented at the Cabildo, this represents a contribution of the commune to the knowledge and enjoyment of the sector of the city where Montevideo was born and whose definitions in layout, morphology and public space find it with the highest values ​​of patrimonial care and protection. The model allows to visualize Ciudad Vieja at once and in all its dimensions, to understand and admire the urban qualities that it contains. It is a relevant didactic mechanism for walkers, tourists, students, neighbors and residents of Montevideo. It is a 1/750 scale work, with a base of two by three meters and a height of 30 centimeters, made of PVC, ABS, OSB and acrylic.

After the declaration of the health emergency, diferent educational institutions in Uruguay launched numerous projects to respond to the different needs that arose in this context. Given the knowledge of the shortage of reagents and supplies for the diagnosis of COVID-19, from the Montevideo Digital Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab MVD) we collaborate in the research, design and development of 3D printed swabs to perform naso and oropharyngeal tests of COVID-19. This swab is part of a kit developed together with the Faculty of Chemistry and in coordination with a broader group that included professionals from the Faculty of Engineering, the University School of Design, the Faculty of Sciences, and the Clínicas Hospital.

The idea arose from teachers and professionals from the Faculty of Chemistry, who contacted our laboratory to begin a joint research process. From the FabLab we are in charge of making the geometric design of two types of swabs: one nasopharyngeal, which is inserted through the nostrils, and another oropharyngeal, which is inserted through the mouth. For one month, from mid-March to mid-April, we design and manufacture more than 100 versions of swab heads with different dimensions, shapes, materials, and technologies.

The first prototypes were made with PLA and PET filament -the most widely used plastics for making architecture and industrial design models-. However, these did not achieve the necessary flexibility, so it was decided to work with TPU -Thermoplastic Polyurethane. This implied a great learning process since this type of flexible filament had hardly been used in the FabLab; especially in relation to the setting of the different printing variables such as speed and extrusion temperature. Regarding the design, different shapes and dimensions were tested taking into account the particular specifications of each swab. Both had to have a certain texture that allowed the loading and unloading of material when taking the sample; another important aspect was 

The idea of ​​holding a exhibition of unrealized architecture models for November 2014, within the framework of the XVIII Congress of the Ibero-American Society of Digital Graphics (sigradi).

The condition of not having been carried out was the main reason to try to materialize those works that were impulses, innovations, ruptures, paradigms, prefigurations of the future, and that still continue in the imaginary of several generations of architects.

The instrument chosen to represent these examples, some very distant in time, had to be the most advanced materialization techniques: digital fabrication. In this way, they wanted to build an extensive bridge spanning several centuries, between the formulation of those ideas and their interpretation made matter, linking traditional techniques of representation and cutting-edge technologies.

Dieste Ex Machina. An interpretation of heritage through digital fabrication. The “Capilla Cristo Obrero” case.

The mail goal of this publication is to propose a reflection on Eladio Dieste’s work from the point of view of digital fabrication. That means, an interpretation of heritage through a critical reading of the means of production employed by the author, based on the digital manufacture of a 1:20 scale model of Capilla Cristo Obrero, with the purpose of promoting the generation of new visions of an emblematic and innovative work, that survives until today.

The mail goal of this publication is to propose a reflection on Eladio Dieste’s work from the point of view of digital fabrication. That means, an interpretation of heritage through a critical reading of the means of production employed by the author, based on the digital manufacture of a 1:20 scale model of Capilla Cristo Obrero, with the purpose of promoting the generation of new visions of an emblematic and innovative work, that survives until today.

Introduction

The work of Eng. Eladio Dieste forms, undoubtedly, an unavoidable object of study within modern construction technique, both in its formal architectural contribution and for its structural innovation. His legacy is also valuable from an academic point of view, as it addresses the study of brick as a load-bearing element in a decade dominated by reinforced concrete, thus resuming the tradition of the vault, present since the beginning of the technique, through the Roman, Mudejar and Catalan practice. Dieste developed his particular technique mainly in the 1940s, using the legacy of Cullman-Ritter, to later verify his calculations with the Leonhard-Torroja-Löser numerical method. This procedure also allowed him the possibility of using existing materials at low cost in the implantation site; in the case of Uruguay, machine fired brick.

The construction technique with masonry used by Dieste implies, in addition to the use of brick as a central element, the design and construction of attached structural elements, which serve as formwork, supports and auxiliary structures. In this way, a system of non-traditional and invisible procedures is glimpsed, adapted to an innovative structural design.

This work was proposed to address a parallelism between the auxiliary construction technique used by Dieste and the one necessary to face the construction through digital fabrication techniques of one of his works.

Dieste Ex Machina is a rhetorical figure that alludes to the technological trick used by the ancient Greek theater to introduce new explanatory elements on stage, but it is also an allegory of the work carried out towards the execution of the work through devices specially designed for such purpose.

Methodology and development

The first approach to the building was to study the basic geometry that underlies the volumetric proposal of the building complex. This study was carried out through photographic survey in the first instance, at two levels: aerial (drones) and terrestrial. In a second instance, the laser scanning of the entire set was carried out and the most exact digital geometry possible with current technological resources was obtained.

With these inputs, contrasted with the original documentation (plans, facades and cuts made by Dieste), five sectors were identified that involve different problems of rethinking the form: walls, roof, front/bottom, bell tower and baptistery.

In the case of the side walls, it is a ruled surface whose two edge directives have the following tread. The lower directrix is ​​a straight line and the upper one is a sequence of parables in the horizontal plane. At the inflection points of the series the generatrix is ​​vertical. To show this situation, it was decided to choose two elements that define the location of the pieces: the maximum slope generatrix and the vertical directrix. The succession of parables gives rise to a sequence of positive/vertical/negative slope that is repeated every 6 meters.

It should be noted that a necessary simplification had to be made in the model in relation to the courses of the side walls. The axis of the courses in the work is horizontal, but the bricks are always positioned perpendicular to the generatrix of the wall. This causes the course to turn its plane along the horizontal axis, adapting to the variable inclination of the wall. It responds to a rational use of the material, which always works under compression, thus avoiding sliding efforts. Since the inclined distance of the wall is greater than the vertical height, the thickness of the courses had to be varied, and in some cases partial courses were added at the source of the wall, to maintain the number of courses. In the proposed model, the courses are always horizontal in terms of their axis, which simplifies the conformation of the wall from horizontal planes.

The roof is a double curvature surface generated by two families of curved generators. The transversals (perpendicular to the axis of the ship) are catenaries of variable height, which rest on the same horizontal plane where the side walls finish off.

The longitudinal ones are sequences of parables, similar to the lateral walls. To indicate this particular geometry, an embedded structure of curves was chosen in the main x and y axes, which generate the surface and manifest its definition from rectangular elements (bricks).

The edge beam is in charge of supporting the thrust efforts of the vault, while its horizontal distance is variable, a perfect correspondence with the effort, becoming the materialization of the load diagram of the beam.

The case of the main facade is a combined problem between vertical extrusion surfaces with constant section up to the access lintel, and then a mosaic of vertical elements within a lattice-like pattern. The lower part is defined only by the horizontal curved directrix that moves according to vertical generatrices, of which the four most representative were selected. The upper part does not admit more abstraction than what is visible at first sight, showing its main rhythms and sequences.

The bell tower is basically a cylinder with a vertical axis, with the particularity that it is defined by 14 rectangular “pillars” in a polar matrix, joined by sequences of links synchronized with the steps flown in a spiral. For this apparently simple problem, a folding of the outer and inner cylindrical surfaces was chosen, discarding the obvious combination of circular sections and vertical axis.

ChessMVD consisted in the development of a chess model, whose pieces are inspired by the Montevideo skyline, using digital fabrication. The project had the support of teachers from the Institute of History in the choice of examples and technical sheets.

The first model was made in 3D printing, however, in later stages it was experimented with other digital fabrication technologies and materials, such as acrylic and MDF.

The Salvo Palace, the Antel Communications Tower, the Radisson Victoria Plaza hotel, the National Customs Administration are some of the emblematic buildings that were chosen to make up the pieces of the board.