Statement of Intent
With 2D to 3D translation, my intent was to create a sense of movement and incorporate organic qualities into an octahedron, a naturally rigid and structural form. Through exploring different possibilities and iterations with this polyhedron, I ended up using a combination of modularity and negative space to create the second, altered version of my chosen form.
Ideation
We began the ideation process as a class through an exercise in which we were challenged to built the “perfect cube” in terms of craft. I ended up building two cubes, as my first construction (back right) showed more gaps and markings than I was happy with. I attempted to fix this with my second cube (front right and left).
Expanding on the cube exercise, we were then prompted to choose a a different and slightly more complex polyhedron to make based on a list, from which I chose to attempt an icosahedron.
Following these exercises, we were then able to explore and choose a polyhedron that sparked our interests, and I initially decided to experiment with a rhombic dodecahedron, although this later ended up leading me in a different direction.
The process for building a rhombic dodecahedron, though not as intimidating as the name makes it sound, was fairly intensive, as measurements had to be very specific in order for the shape to be geometrically accurate. After I built it, I ended up not loving the overall form as much as I expected to, and I frankly had little-to-no experience with 3D craft going into this project, so I started looking into simpler forms. I was drawn to the octahedron, as it was simple but interesting, which made it less likely I would end up spending too much time on craft issues and would be able to instead focus on more design exploration.
After deciding to work with the octahedron as my form, I started to ideate more about possibilities and different routes I could take, elements and principles I wanted to emphasize, etc. I was especially interested in the idea of applying opposing qualities to a rigid, geometric form, specifically in terms of movement and how it can add an almost organic quality to such forms.
As you can see in my sketches above, some of my ideas around comparison and negative/positive space (top left) began to remind me of these qualities of motion, and sort of reminded me of jellyfish or sea creatures and the way they swim, for example. This thought process helped lead me down the path of pursuing “organic movement” with my chosen form, and finally into production.
Iteration & Production
I kicked off production by working on prototypes based on my previously mentioned sketches from ideation, using construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. This almost felt like sketching, just in 3D.
The previous step allowed me to generate a rough, but useful template (below, top left) that I was then able to put to use through the rest of production. Once I decided to move forward with modularity and negative space, I was able to edit this new grid as needed to allow for the indented effect I had been going for in my sketches and prototyping.
I continued to use my prototypes below to create and visualize iterations of my the final form, which helped me figure out the placement of octahedrons among each other, how the balance would be maintained to prevent the piece from falling over, etc.
Finally, I was able to begin construction of my final piece (below). I was able to continue editing the grids of each individual octahedron in order to indent some faces and keep others original as needed.
This resulted in my final form, as pictured both above on the right, and below alongside my final unaltered octahedron.
Reflection
The process of 2D to 3D translation is one that was certainly outside of my comfort zone in terms of medium and technique, and this is something that I feel ultimately made me explore more throughout my approach. There are some things I would improve upon having gone through the process from start to finish, specially in terms of my hand-crafting abilities, which I do feel I improved significantly from this project. For example, I would probably have explored potential ways to create a net that accounted for more than one of the components of my final modular form in one, as this might have made the end result cleaner. Overall, I came out of this project with new skills, and even new ideas about the design process and the value of informed iteration and modeling.
Portfolio Project
The page showcasing my final 2D to 3D Translation project can be found through the link below!