Digital methods as catalysts for innovative Minnesota design

By Camille LeFevre

Since the "Here by Design" exhibit premiered in 2001 at the Goldstein Museum of Design, the world that Minnesota designers inhabit has changed radically. "There's been a huge shift in design technology in terms of digital fabrication and rapid prototyping," explained curator James Boyd-Brent, associate professor of graphic design. "It really wasn't on the radar six years ago and now it's unavoidable."

Digital fabrication refers to the creation of objects by computer. Rapid prototyping--developed to test equipment for large-scale manufacturing--encompasses such digital fabrication methods as 3-D printing and stereo-lithography. The two come together when digital fabrication methods are used to manufacture objects in small numbers, resulting in a new rapid manufacturing capability.

"Today, rapid prototyping affects design thinking, and digital fabrication plays a major part in design production," Boyd-Brent said. "There's a whole new world of possibilities for designers, in terms of speeding up production time and envisioning vast numbers of possible iterations for a project."

"Here by Design III: Process and Prototype," the third installment of the exhibit, examines the new possibilities these technologies open up for designers, Boyd-Brent said. For instance, the Mount'n Mover, created in prototype by BlueSky Designs, Inc., secures a variety of devices to wheelchairs, beds, and work stations and can be easily unlocked and repositioned.

Sketches for evens and lo-be chairs, George Mahoney, Solv Studio.

Marc Swackhamer, an assistant professor of architecture who investigates how digital fabrication techniques can address sustainability and speed of assembly, prefabrication, and affordability, has developed an acoustic wall of interlocking panels that also serves as a piece of furniture. "It's a complex system that exemplifies how digital fabrication can, paradoxically, bolster the idea of craft in design," said Boyd-Brent.

Using computer-aided design, the architectural firm Vincent James Associates Architects devised a folded-and-perforated stainless-steel skin that's part of a prefabricated building kit ready to assemble into a structure on site. One of its first uses will be as a guardhouse at the base of a gatehouse at the University of Cincinnati. "Designed to be visually dynamic during the day, it will transform into a lantern-like colored veil at night," explained Jennifer Yoos, a principal at the firm and professor-in-practice in the School of Architecture.

The "Here by Design" exhibit series was developed and premiered by the Goldstein to recognize and explore the range and scope of design at the University and throughout the state of Minnesota. "Here by Design III: Process and Prototype" runs through January 20 at two locations: the Goldstein Museum of Design, 240 McNeal Hall, St. Paul; and the HGA Gallery, first floor of Rapson Hall, Minneapolis. For information, go to goldstein.cdes.umn.edu or call 612-624-7434.

Camille LeFevre is a freelance arts journalist and an affiliate faculty member in the University Dance Program.

A version of this article appeared in the September/October issue of Minnesota magazine. Reprinted with permission.

Q-BA-MAZE

Inspiring creative play and design

By Camille LeFevre

As a young child Andrew Comfort was fascinated with a toy his grandfather made in which marbles rolled and bounced in seemingly endless, mesmerizing variations. He's still fascinated. Only now, the architect (BA Arch '91, MArch '95) has made his own variation of the toy. Called Q-BA-MAZE, the modern version is composed of colorful cubes the user can join together to create a maze in which a stainless-steel ball rolls, balances precariously, then tips into the next cube. Several of the cubes are included in the Goldstein Museum of Design exhibition, "Here By Design III: Process and Prototype."

Instead of crafting the toy by hand, as his grandfather did, Comfort used 3-D software and rapid prototyping to work through eight major iterations of the product. "Q-BA-MAZE has zero tolerance for error; the cubes have to fit together precisely in every dimension," Comfort said. At first glance, the cubes seem simple enough. But the geometry inside varies in order to change the direction and travel speed of the ball.

Also, the sides of the cubes have protruding joinery, which can cause the ball to hang in midair before rolling into the next cube. The 3-D software, "which is precise to six digits after the decimal," he explained, allowed Comfort to achieve the precision he needed to fit the cubes together without "any wiggle room."

The rapid prototyping process, a means of manufacturing 3-D objects directly from a 3-D computer file, also allowed him to design the injection-molded cubes with an invisible draft angle, so they easily pop out of their molds. "I could never have done that modeling of the cubes by hand," he said.

Because rapid prototyping is a low-cost process, Comfort had the time and luxury to experiment without breaking the bank. "Rapid prototyping is an easy and cost-efficient way to keep refining a product," he said. "Each prototype was about $70 a pop, while making one by hand could have potentially cost hundreds of dollars. And I was doing all this before I raised money from investors."

Comfort credits the connections made at a 2001 U of M architecture alumni gathering at the Manhattan office of EEK Architects, (where Peter Cavaluzzi, BArch '83, is a principal) with setting in motion a series of events that made the creation of the toy possible. (Read the details at www.playanddesign.org/.) After working at architectural firms in Connecticut and New York, Comfort started his own 3-D rendering company, then moved back to Minnesota in 2004 to work on Q-BA-MAZE. He launched the product in June from his office in the Ford Centre building in Minneapolis. The modular toy is available in 20- and 50-piece packs, which sell for $20 and $50. A patent is pending.