Rapid manufacturing is a process by which computer-controlled lasers solidify liquid or powdered resin to create a three-dimensional rendering of a digital design. By contrast, the Honeycomb Vase was produced through what the artist has called "slow manufacturing": Libertíny constructed a vase-shaped beehive scaffold (to be removed at the end of the process) and then let nature take its course. Forty thousand bees build the vase in one week.
Honeycomb like structure build by humans and machines has been studied by Andrew Kudless and by ILEK students.
In the 19th century, graphic statics, a geometric method for the analysis of the force distribution in structures, has been developed. This scientific, precise method has an intuitive and descriptive character based on reciprocal force diagrams. The recent emergence of parametric design techniques in architecture enables the construction of associative geometry in CAD systems. In this lecture, a novel approach will be presented, combining parametric tools with historic techniques of graphic statics. This highly interactive three-dimensional procedure provides direct control of form and forces at the same time. The aim of this approach is the integration of the flow of forces into the computer aided design process.
Gehry's east river guggenheim project in NYC. The use of flexible sheet material like paper in physical models generates developable geometries.
Dennis Shelden, CTO at gt, describes in his phd thesis several ways to compute developable surfaces. Fig. (c) by Dennis Shelden.
Museum MARTa in Herford, Germany. Most of the roof surfaces are developable. Geometric modelling of the roof construction has been done by Jess Maertterer. Further discription on his page.
Helmut Pottmann and his colleagues form the Geometric Modeling and Industrial Geometry resarch unit at TU Vienna describe the concept of the PQ strip in this paper. The strip consists of planar quad faces. Fig. (c) by H. Pottmann et al.
By lofting the edges, a developable surface is generated. Developable surfaces can be flattened or unrolled without distortion.
Download a grasshopper definition of the PQ strip here.
Discovered by Rob Kusner, Director of the Center for Geometry, Analysis, Numerics and Graphics (GANG). The Kusner surface is an inversion of the Boy surface. The three discs are planes "reaching infinity".
On this blog I documented some of my findings, ideas, and projects from the years 2009-2013. Its a private and non-commercial website, and the content isn´t updated any more, so please forgive broken links and outdated information. I keep it as a personal archive.
Honeycomb Vase, "Made by Bees", by Studio Libertiny. 
