Climatic Clay Furniture: a Instructed Construction Process Design

This research is conducted at Obuchi Lab, the University of Tokyo.
Collaborator: Alex Orsholits, Campbell Argenzio and Surjyatapa Ray

The idea started with creating clay seatings outdoor in the courtyard of the Mass Gallery in Harajuku, Tokyo. Our goal is to design an assisted fabrication process, to make it possible for community people (amateurs) to build these seating elements.

In order to create clay seatings, normal “rokuros” (clay-spinning wheel) are not enough. We built a “rokuro” with 80cm diameter, together with a more powerful motor to be able to spin larger amount of clay. We applied a belt & pulley system to bring down the motor speed without losing torque.

Traditional potteries are mostly built into “symmetrical” shapes (solid of revolution). There are various ways of creating an “asymmetrical” shape on a rokuro. We defined our process of making an asymmetrical shape as follows: 1) Build the object in a traditional, symmetrical way to a certain height. 2) Stop spinning. Move the object aside for a certain distance. 3) Continue to build upon the moved object.

Instead of doing the construction step by step, we designed a setup with everything happening at the same time to ensure the smoothest digital fabrication process.

We settled for a simple structured light setup, involving a projector projecting a vertical line, a webcam to capture the image, an optical encoder to suggest the scanning steps, and a computer with a Processing script running to generate the scanned point cloud.

This scanning method has an acceptably low, yet consistent scan resolution. The builder is completely unobstructed during the construction process as the scanning functions without pause while interaction with the clay is occurring.

Our scanning system was designed to be open to a near infinite amount of analysis criteria. The definition of a criteria can be either explicit or implicit. In simple terms, an explicit criteria (left) would guide the builder towards a target or ideal geometry, whereas an implicit criteria (right) would be a preventive measure to ensure construction success, or an inherent property of the object, not directly visible in the shape geometry.

After the analyzation according to certain criteria, the computer gives the builder instructions for them to move on, to modify or to stop. This simple way of projection gives clear instruction to the builder, updates fast enough and ensures the smoothness of the construction process.

After the clay is baked, we fill the hollow with wet sand. Through the porous surface of the clay, water will evaporate slowly, creating a cooling effect on the seating surface as well as the surrounding environment, which will offer people a pleasant seat to sit on during the hot Summer of Tokyo.