project01:Frontpage

Benjamin Kemper

ROOGOTFL

P1

P2

P3

P4

Media Studies

Comments

Running Out Of Gas On The Fast Lane

Repurpose of abandoned drilling rigs in the North Sea (in 20-50 years)

Eventually either the oil and gas supply will be exhausted, or society will develop methods to rely completely on eco-friendly energy sources. What will then happen to the oil industry and their factories and structures? In this hypothetical situation, offshore drilling rigs, structures made of billions of euros worth of steel and concrete, will need to be repurposed. These highly sophisticated platforms and jackets resist storms, frequent waves (resonance), and salt water. These abandoned rigs provide society with the opportunity to repurpose, and even extend the site over and under water.

Humans are facing the dangerous consequences of the climate change. Especially the population of the Netherlands, which has to face rising sea levels. An undesired, nor not impossible scenario, would be the loss of livable land due to flooding. The loss of building and living area would result in drastic changes to the means of life. On the one hand, we need to research possibilities to slow down the process, and also change our way of life. However, on the other hand, we must look for concepts and design proposals to support a lifestyle with radical climate changes.

Our society, human behavior, and cities are changing due to the exponential progress of technology. How are we going to live in a future, and which role will architecture play in an augmented world? It might emerge as a balancing act between utopia and dystopia, between the total dependency and repression of the machines and the freedom to achieve more than we ever imagined. Society’s addiction to technical devices emphasizes the urgency at hand to begin to work with new technologies instead of denying the process categorically.

Status Quo: http://rbse.hyperbody.nl/index.php/project01:P2

Soft Architecture Proposal

II. Silicone

Silicone Company
Wacker Silicones

Recipe (Components)

SILICONE RUBBER (e.g. Elastosil® M 4512)
+
CATALYST A (e.g. Wacker® Catalyst T 51)
+
CATALYST B (e.g. Wacker® Catalyst T 47)
+
ADDITIVE (e.g. Wacker® Thixotropic Additive C)

Modification of the recipe will cause:
- different curing times (hours to minutes)
- variation in pot life (hour to minutes)
- change in viscosity (fluent to stable)

III. Silicone Expertise

Traditional Silicone Casting
Bachelor thesis in cooperation with Luisa Roth @ Technical University of Cologne

Silicone Molds + Counter Plaster Forms:

Concrete Models:

Making Of:

Pneumatic Silicone
Swarmscape - MSc1 project in cooperation with Mindaugas Arlauskas, Olav van der Doorn, and Daniel Fischer @ hyperbody, TU Delft

Prototype:

Making Of:

IV. Architecture/Design References

IAAC - Soft Skin

Inflated Silicone Skin + Façade Section:

Nameless Architecture - The Door

Silicone Door (Reinforced Epoxy Resin, Translucent Silicone Resin + Steel Wire):

Product Video:

Harvard Bio Design Lab/Soft Robotics Toolkit - Cardiac Simulator

Artificial Silicone Heart + Muscles:

A Bioinspired Soft Active Material and Cardiac Simulator:

VI. Silicone 3D Printing

Reference
ACEO® 3D Printing

Proposal
Large scale 3D printing of silicone on double curved surfaces

Basic steps 3D printing siliocne on double curved membrane (single layer // multi layers w/ different directions)

Advanced steps + modifications to a responsive skin (different silicone types // embedded plastic structure // embedded sub structures // embedded artificial muscles // combination)

Initial Experiments
3D print of silicone on double curved surface // 3D print of silicone on elastic double curved fabric

VI. Combination Wood (TBC)

Inspiration
Microscopic exposures of cells and molecular biology @ Cell + Upworthy

Confocal microscopy image of cultured HeLa cells expressing CFP targeted to the Golgi Apparatus, made by Michael Davidson. Cells were immunolabeled for tubulin (green) and counterstained with propidium iodide to label DNA (orange). The Davidson Lab made thousands of conventional fluorophores constructs such as this CFP, and most are available from the nonprofit depository Addgene.

MIT researchers try to understand PTCHD1’s normal function in order to better understand its role in the disease. Their preliminary results suggest that PTCHD1 may be expressed in glial cells (shown here), which provide support and protection for neurons in the brain.

Neural stem cells have the ability to form all the different cell types found in the nervous system. Here, researchers are investigating how neural stem cells grow on a synthetic gel called PEG. After just two weeks, the stem cells (magenta) produced nerve fibers (green). These fibers grew away from the cell due to chemical gradients in the gel, teaching researchers about how their environment affects their structural organization.