The Octahedron Project Location: Seattle, WA Project Area: 99 ft2
Project Name: The Octahedron Project Location: Seattle, WA Project Area: 99 ft2 The Octahedron was constructed for the 2013 Seattle Design Festival. It grew out of an interest in sharing with the Seattle community our explorations into the expanding role of computation in the architectural design process. It is an inhabitable object that invites interaction while piquing participants’ curiosity about the process of making. The design team took on fabrication and assembly of the entire structure. This experience gave insight into the production of a large number of complex parts, tolerances, sequencing of assembly and the joys/anxieties of installation. The project also served as a firm-wide training tool about space frame structures, parametric modeling, and digital fabrication. Full-scale prototypes were created from the outset to study connections and assembly. The overall form emerged out of these prototypes and parametric explorations of a hexagonal grid. The base unit of the larger form is a triangular assembly of parts which was discovered during these studies. An octahedron is an 8-sided polyhedron that possesses the fascinating quality of appearing as various forms from different perspectives. The sides are equilateral triangles measuring 10.5’ along an edge, each containing
9 instances of the triangular base unit. The Octahedron is designed as a flat-pack space frame structure that is CNC cut from 1/2” plywood that is painted black on both sides with nontoxic tempera paint. The cutting process exposes the color of the wood along the edges, creating a visual richness. Only 9 unique parts are used in the structure, but over 2000 of these parts. High tolerances were necessary during fabrication to ensure all parts would fit tightly together with friction only, but not so tight that they’d break when banged together with a hammer. Imagine traditional timber framing meets Buckminster Fuller. The pavilion is clad with over 400 triangular MDF panels held in place with either friction or trapped due to assembly sequencing. The inner face is painted blue, and serves as the canvas for a collection of 54 sets of CNC cut patterns generated by coworkers as part of an internal technology training exercise. The outer face is painted black and serves as a canvas for the community to transform the appearance of the Octahedron with chalk over the course of the Design Festival. Laser-cut miniature triangular base units were provided for festival-goers to assemble and gain an insight into the construction of the Octahedron.
The interior of the Octahedron is covered in patterns or “digital cave paintings” which were cut with our CNC machine.
The Octahedron was assembled for the first time the day before the Seattle Design Festival.
Around 30 people created patterns which were CNC cut into blue side of the 400+ panels as part of a training exercise in digital modeling and fabrication.
BUILDUP OF GEOMETRIC SYSTEM
SMALL HEX GRID
DIAGONALS CONNECTED TO PT ABOVE CENTER OF SMALL HEX
DIAMONDS FORMED BETWEEN TOP ENDS OF DIAGONALS
SMALL AND LARGE CONNECTORS
BASE UNIT OF ENTIRE SYSTEM THERE IS NO HARDWARE OR GLUE IN THE ENTIRE SYSTEM. ALL PARTS ARE HELD IN PLACE WITH FRICTION ONLY.
LARGE CONNECTOR SMALL CONNECTOR
HEX STRUT
HEX CONNECTOR
STRUT HOLE UNDERSIZED FOR FRICTION FIT
DIAGONAL STRUT DIAMOND CONNECTOR DIAMOND STRUT
CORNER RELIEVED BY BIT DIAMETER
CONNECTOR
Parts are tightly nested to maximize material usage.
Prototype of connector recording cutting tolerance.
Struts and connectors were cut from 1/2 Plywood.
All parts were cut on our own 4’x8’ CNC machine which we also built.
STRUT LAYOUT - 10X TOTAL PARTS = 1560 TOTAL CUTTING = 13.3 HRS
CONNECTOR LAYOUT - 2X TOTAL PARTS = 512 TOTAL CUTTING = 8 HRS
4’
8’
8’
4’
LARGE PANEL LAYOUT - 10X TOTAL PARTS = 320 TOTAL CUTTING = 3 HRS
SMALL PANEL LAYOUT - 4X TOTAL PARTS = 150 TOTAL CUTTING = 1 HRS
ASSEMBLY BREAKDOWN
Each triangular side of the Octahedron is assembled onsite from 6 sub-assemblies that could be easily carried by an individual. Each of those sub-assemblies are then composed of the subassemblies highlighted on the right. Organizing the assembly process in this way allowed for efficienct production and limited the number of errors from parts being assembled incorrectly.
Parts were assembled and delivered to site in the largest sections that could still be carried by an individual.
SDF attendees were able to assemble their own base unit of the pavilion.
Seattle Design Festival attendees were encouraged to leave their mark with chalk on the exterior of the Octahedron.
OcTaHeDrOn
9 instances of the triangular base unit. The Octahedron is designed as a flat-pack space frame structure that is CNC cut from 1/2” plywood that is painted black on both sides with nontoxic tempera paint. The cutting process exposes the color of the wood along the edges, creating a visual richness. Only 9 unique parts are used in the structure, but over 2000 of these parts. High tolerances were necessary during fabrication to ensure all parts would fit tightly together with friction only, but not so tight that they’d break when banged together with a hammer. Imagine traditional timber framing meets Buckminster Fuller. The pavilion is clad with over 400 triangular MDF panels held in place with either friction or trapped due to assembly sequencing. The inner face is painted blue, and serves as the canvas for a collection of 54 sets of CNC cut patterns generated by coworkers as part of an internal technology training exercise. The outer face is painted black and serves as a canvas for the community to transform the appearance of the Octahedron with chalk over the course of the Design Festival. Laser-cut miniature triangular base units were provided for festival-goers to assemble and gain an insight into the construction of the Octahedron.
The interior of the Octahedron is covered in patterns or “digital cave paintings” which were cut with our CNC machine.
The Octahedron was assembled for the first time the day before the Seattle Design Festival.
Around 30 people created patterns which were CNC cut into blue side of the 400+ panels as part of a training exercise in digital modeling and fabrication.
BUILDUP OF GEOMETRIC SYSTEM
SMALL HEX GRID
DIAGONALS CONNECTED TO PT ABOVE CENTER OF SMALL HEX
DIAMONDS FORMED BETWEEN TOP ENDS OF DIAGONALS
SMALL AND LARGE CONNECTORS
BASE UNIT OF ENTIRE SYSTEM THERE IS NO HARDWARE OR GLUE IN THE ENTIRE SYSTEM. ALL PARTS ARE HELD IN PLACE WITH FRICTION ONLY.
LARGE CONNECTOR SMALL CONNECTOR
HEX STRUT
HEX CONNECTOR
STRUT HOLE UNDERSIZED FOR FRICTION FIT
DIAGONAL STRUT DIAMOND CONNECTOR DIAMOND STRUT
CORNER RELIEVED BY BIT DIAMETER
CONNECTOR
Parts are tightly nested to maximize material usage.
Prototype of connector recording cutting tolerance.
Struts and connectors were cut from 1/2 Plywood.
All parts were cut on our own 4’x8’ CNC machine which we also built.
STRUT LAYOUT - 10X TOTAL PARTS = 1560 TOTAL CUTTING = 13.3 HRS
CONNECTOR LAYOUT - 2X TOTAL PARTS = 512 TOTAL CUTTING = 8 HRS
4’
8’
8’
4’
LARGE PANEL LAYOUT - 10X TOTAL PARTS = 320 TOTAL CUTTING = 3 HRS
SMALL PANEL LAYOUT - 4X TOTAL PARTS = 150 TOTAL CUTTING = 1 HRS
ASSEMBLY BREAKDOWN
Each triangular side of the Octahedron is assembled onsite from 6 sub-assemblies that could be easily carried by an individual. Each of those sub-assemblies are then composed of the subassemblies highlighted on the right. Organizing the assembly process in this way allowed for efficienct production and limited the number of errors from parts being assembled incorrectly.
Parts were assembled and delivered to site in the largest sections that could still be carried by an individual.
SDF attendees were able to assemble their own base unit of the pavilion.
Seattle Design Festival attendees were encouraged to leave their mark with chalk on the exterior of the Octahedron.
OcTaHeDrOn
