Toronto Design Offsite 2016: 325 Church Street: STRATATONE

Society has become defined by webs of communication. Never before has a message been as widely distributed as has recently been allowed by modern technology. With this distribution comes distortion. A message becomes more abstracted the more people pass it along; an inevitable case of broken telephone. Stratatone replicates this concept. A pattern (the message) should be simple to repeat, yet as the commotion of those around it increases it becomes distorted; moving, growing, shrinking.

The project consists of two stepper motors per drawing surface. A base code runs the pattern which in a perfectly silent space would remain constant. As people traverse the surrounding area, noise peaks amplify the form and create a unique image over the course of time.

Thanks to Everyone

Thanks to everyone from Ryerson University, FCAD, the Design Fabrication Zone, our generous hosts, the Bata Shoe Museum, and of course all the great volunteers who were instrumental in literally putting this project together! It proved to be a great success and we look forward to more initiatives like this in the future.

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And of course the requisite selfie from the First Year volunteers...

Parametricism, Physical Computing, and Lots of Plastic: Stomata Production

Despite what the final outcome will be of the Stomata Project, it is worth taking a look at some of the digital modeling and parametric workflows that developed the geometry of the installation.

Additionally, it is important to keep in mind the logistics and oversight of the physical computing required to make such installation work responsive.

Though all of the previous two components are critical in developing a strong design, the end result has to be fabricated, and in this case using a great deal of plastic and laser cutting...

Stomata Prototyping

The prototyping of the Stomata components looks to be promising. This project will be dealing with pneumatics so the components will have to connect to a structure in order to retain its integrity. The [R]ed[U]x Lab team has always tried to expand its portfolio of techniques and explore new options for their design work. The Stomata project looks to be an interesting examination of the new, as seen in some of the flexible plastics and pneumatic technologies, as well as evolving techniques such as the tessellation and UV lights.

TODO 2014: The People's Choice Award

Though it seems like ages ago, a couple of [R]ed[U]x Lab team members recently picked up the 2014 Toronto Design Offsite People's Choice Award for "Eyes on the Street" earlier in February. We graciously accept the elegant Herman Miller limited edition plate... but now the question is how do we divide it among the team members (if at all)...

Remi Images of the [R]ed[U]x Lab Cart from The Stop's Night Market 2014

And here are some of the images that Remi took of the [R]ed[U]x Lab team's 2014 Night Market Cart - it may have been a big crunch at the end, but it appears that all students involved were pleased and proud of what they had assembled (with the exception of the lame menu signage).