Haptic Space and Materiality/ The Nested Platonic Solids

Oct.26th, 2016

This is my first project for my Space & Materiality Class.

Octahedron, tetrahedron, hexahedron and dodecahedron; air, fire, earth and élan vital.

After learning and exploring for two months, I tried my best for this project to demonstrate the interrelated beauty of Geometry and life.

A detailed shot showing the aluminum sheet layer, wooden layer and brass pipe layer in the Nested Platonic Solid.

This is the final project for my Space & Materiality Class. The four layers are nested beautifully together.

Because I have some issues with the essay and process photos, more details will be posted later in this week.

This is made by Bristol paper, and is used as a prototype.

Tetrahedron prototype made of Bristol paper.

Hexahedron prototype made of Bristol paper.

The dodecahedron prototype made of Bristol paper. The two halves can be put together to form the complete solid.

This is the nested model made from Bristol paper.
I cut all the paper open so we can see through the structure.

The is the icosahedron Bristol model. Although I did choose to include it in my final, it is a great process to make this solid.

This is the cardboard model I created after making the Bristol model. It is made to the size of my final. The solids here are nested within each other accurately, while in the final some solids have small gaps between each other because of the different thickness of materials.

This is the first dodecahedron I made with plexi-glass. I calculated the size wrongly in AI and kade a wrong choice of using black wire. I later replaced it with silver wire in my final.

Drawing of the final octahedron. Grey and black color pencils are used.

This is the drawing of my final tetrahedron. I use colored pencils to show the texture and pattern on the wood cut by laser.

The is the drawing of my final hexahedron. The brass smooth and shiny qualities are shown by white and yellow color pencils.

This is the drawing of my final dodecahedron. I use mainly white color pencil to show the transparency of plexi-glass.

This is the drawing of the final nested platonic solid processed with photoshop.

My final project. Photo taken at the table in the leisure area.

Reflection

The nature is based on geometry. Even the most delicate and complex object in the nature can be broken down into various geometric shapes. With the Unified Field Matrix which includes emerging circles, we can draw these shapes out easily, and make all of the shapes related to each other. In my project “platonic solid”, I made an octahedron nested precisely in a tetrahedron, which nests in a hexahedron, which nests in a dodecahedron.

At the center of my final project, I constructed an octahedron with aluminum sheets and soft wire. According to Call Me Gala: The Geometry of Fragmentation or the Geometry of Life, the eight-sided polyhedron represents air. I chose aluminum sheets as the main material, because I really like its shining quality. When I first attempted to make this object, I chose a thin aluminum sheet and try to cut and bend it by hand. But soon I discovered that it was too flexible to keep its shape, and the cutting edge was so sharp that it hurt my hands. After a close examination of of other metal sheets, I finally settled down on the thick aluminum sheet. I cut them by the cutting machine in school’s workshop, drilled a hole near each vertex, and connect the eight sides with wire.

The tetrahedron symbolizing fire is nested precisely outside the octahedron. I chose 3/16 wood panels and cut them with laser cutter. The result was very pleasing to me. I love the black marks on the side created by the laser. The burnt marks on wood express the power of “fire” perfectly. There is only one side of the wood panel that has beautiful wooden textures with many thin, brown lines on it, so I make them face towards outside. However, I forget to cut the inner triangle in the AI file, so the sides of the tetrahedron were originally blocking the inner octahedron. I brought the wood triangles to the woodshop, and cut a smaller triangle out from each of them with the pattern saw. Although the cutting edge is not as smooth as the one done by laser, I think I really learnt a lot about problem solving skills and got familiar with a new machine in the workshop.

Nesting outside the two layers of polyhedral, there is a hexahedron made by brass pipes. The hexahedron represents the earth. In my opinion, the gold color of the brass pipe feels warm and strong. This is closely related to the qualities of the earth. Neverthelsss, initially I choose to use thin pipes of both gold and silver colors. The thin pipes is not strong enough to hold the cube in shape, and the silver color feels too sensitive and soft, so I later changed the materials to thick pipes in gold, so that the stately and strong qualities of the earth can be demonstrated better.

The outer layer of the platonic solid is a dodecahedron made of plexi-glass. It is the symbol of élan vital, and shows my creative force inside my heart. This is one of the most important object in my final project, because the élan vital flows in my body all the time, and it keeps my ability to create art. I chose plexi-glass for this layer because I liked its simple transparency. This allows viewers to see it through easily to see the compositions inside, and also represents the intangible identity of élan vital. At the first time I made this layer, I calculated the size wrongly. I even made one more mistake after the first cutting, because the AI file needed to be very accurate for the laser cutter while I estimate the thickness of materials wrongly. Fortunately, the size is finally fit at the third time. And this process really helped me to understand the importance of accuracy in design.