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DATE2013
LOCATIONCambridge, MA
TYPEMaterial Research
PRIMARY INVESTIGATORDavid Costanza
COLLABORATOR MIT SELF ASSEMBLY LAB
OVERVIEWActive Composites was a collaborative material and manufacturing research project with the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT. The project built on research on custom liquid 3D printing on textile surfaces, which aimed to construct 3D forms by printing 2D patterns on a stretched textile membrane.
Extensive testing of nearly 100 patterns achieved the relationship between 2-dimensional patterns and their 3-dimensional forms in conjunction with a uniformly expanded elastic substrate. We developed a library of 2-dimensional patterns and their corresponding 3-dimensional forms.
The process consisted of: 1. Stretching an elastic membrane to an MDF substrate. 2. Printing a 2-dimensional pattern. 3. Once cured, cut loose. In conjunction with the rigid 2-dimensional pattern, the elastic membrane immediately begins to form. The elastic pulling and rigid pattern resisting the form results in a complex 3-dimensional geometry.