Xylem
Thesis project for my master degree in industrial design at Politecnico of Milan.
The aim of the xylem project was to investigate the possibilities of digital fabrication technologies and computational design methodologies. The xylem project is neither a table, a bench or a stool; it’s a family of objects which can be co-designed by the clients, using a custom built software, to best suit their needs and tastes.
The software, developed in Processing, is designed in order to allow the modification of the xylem’s shape by the users. In order to generate the table and ensure a safer use for users I’ve used three mathematical principles. The Convex Hull and the Voronoi Diagram are direct responsible for the table shape, while the physical simulator is used to guarantee a minimum border length of 15 cm.
The creative process is divided in three phases. In the first phase the user can design the top surface by dragging the control points of the shape. The resulting wire structure is based on the Voroni diagram, that guarantiees an uniform distribution of the elements in the space, and it’s both a decorative motive of the top surface and the origin of the legs. In the second step the user can check the object in a 3D space and change legs proportions. In the last step it’s possible to choose among a range of different materials and colors and place the order.
Each xylem is fabricated on demand using digital fabrication machinery. The top surface is milled and the voronoi lines filled with colored resin; legs are watercut out from 5mm thick aluminium foil and then painted.
You can download the software for Windows, MacOS, or Linux, and try to co-create your own Xylem.
http://designplaygrounds.com/deviants/xylem-by-federico-weber-processing/
Hello Federico , this project is awesome I took the liberty to write a post about it at my site, Would I have identified most of the processing libraries you used for the project would like to now more abot the structure of the code, the interface you have done is very neat and user friendly keep up the good work.
What do you think could be the best option to build business models around this kind of projects?
Hi Rodrigo, I’m glad you like it, and thanks for the nice article. I’ve put a lot of efforts designing it to be as simple to use as possible.
Among the libraries I’ve used Toxiclibs for the math and the physical simulator and ControlP5 for some of the interface elements.
Regarding the business model I think there are two main roads a designer can take. It is possible either selling the produced piece, manufacturing it using a net of small unspecialized infrastructure (like a fablab) scattered around the globe, so to use local resources and cut out shipping costs.
Or to sell directly the outcome as a digital files and allow the customer to decide how and where to build their products.
Among this possibilities the first one is the safer, cause you can have more control over the number of pieces produced and the overall quality of the physical product. The second one is the simplest one to implement in terms of infrastructure but it is really hard to guarantee the quality and the functionality of the product, therefore it’s more suited for simpler objects with a limited number of components.
Will Generative Design enable mass customisation ?
Well done and congrats. I have featured your work in my blog http://genoform.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/will-generative-design-enable-mass-customisation/?preview=true&preview_id=311&preview_nonce=2ec0e3d771
this is a just a beginning of very interesting customization possibilities.
Keep up the good work
Thanks Sivam.
Complimenti!!
e’ certamente uno dei progetti piu d’avanguardia che abbia visto recentemente nel campo del product ,
simbolo di apertura di nuovi orizzonti e fonte di ispirazione.
Continuane lo svilupoooo !!!
ah dimenticavo,
ti sto anche citando sulla mia ricerca topic: computational design
continua cosi!!
Ciao Riccardo, grazie per i complimenti e buon lavoro con la tua ricerca.