Ryan Johns
M.Arch Thesis Spring 2013
Faculty Advisor: Jesse Reiser
Project Title: “Mixed Reality Modeling”
This project evolved as a recursive design-fabrication exercise which combines physical human input with the robotic manipulation of a stochastic material process (melting wax). By rapidly scanning a physical object while also melting it, the system attempts to achieve a topologically optimized result based on the given wax volume and user-placed loading conditions. A multitude of constantly-communicated variables give simultaneous control to the human operator, the computer simulation, the robotic manipulator, and the material process. These elements become inseparable, and their individual import becomes indistinguishable from that of the global system.
