METABALLS

A centerpiece I developed for the lobby of the Arts District Design Center during my time at Synthesis D+A, inspired by the metallic architecture in the above spaces of the project, oozing into the entry space, like liquid mercury. The effect is one inspired by gravity affecting liquid, the attraction of these particles, and the results of their collision. The computational challenge for this project was to create an algorithm that would capture a natural fluid aesthetic while maintaining controlled and developable surfaces for potential fabrication.

 

The initial exploration of these forms was thinking of the sculpture as a result of equal dual elements colliding with one another. This led to inspiring the nature in which the generative script would take on its fluid form. The idea is to use the concept of metaballs, a geometric condition in 3D graphics where spheres discreetly fuse use into each other based on their proximity. Two sets of distributed metaballs are created in the same space, one as a positive, and the other as a cutting negative.