Studio ··· Bioplastics Elective, Pratt Institute
Year ··· Aug 2021 - Dec 2021
Partner ··· Nuha Qushmaq
Faculty ··· Duks Koschitz and Cindie Kehlet

Biomaterial Partition System

In the book, ‘Material Design: Informing Architecture by Materiality’, author Thomas Schröpfer observes that “While innovative use of materials in architecture often stems from a personal investigation into a material, the implementation as a building component lies in the design and development team’s ability to think creatively and work outside of their prescribed roles. The active involvement of architects at the material level becomes critical when we as architects begin to investigate new materials as they are developed by chemists and material scientists”

A modular partition system is proposed with Bioplastic foam sheets and vulcanized paper. The bioplastic material has been manufactured in collaboration with the d.r.a (Center for design research in architecture) lab at Pratt Institute. Material samples, documentation and iterations have been done to achieve desired results. The intention of the design exploration is to experiment curved folding techniques with soft biomaterials and straight folding techniques with hard biomaterials.

The rectangular biofoam sheets are folded, without cutting any material away. The sheet is folded with the intent to showcase the natural variations in color and texture on the top and bottom surfaces. The designed module becomes a volumetric surface through which light can transit, utilizing the translucency of the material.

The soft biofoam unit is embedded within a modular vulcanized paper frame. This iteration introduces a system of bringing hard and soft biomaterials together for a modular unit. Circular perforations in the paper frame allow flexibility in joining the frames together with a wire or hanging them independently.

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