Holly SaundersStudent No. 583535 Semester 1/2012 Group 7

My Design is based off the process involved in the Petrification of Wood.

The Key Elements involved in this process are: Permineralisation, Decay, Tetrahedral Environments, Carbon Deposits and Com-

pression.

Of those concepts around the process, I explored different ideas and came up with

different concepts. Many of which were unsuccessful.

Starting with my sketchings in the top left, I was focusing on mostly the concept of

Compression and Tetrahedrons.

Below that I have incorporated both to-gether. The ring represents the compression while the hollow tetrahedron was designed

to answer both: decay and the permineralisation environment.

Thats when I started looking to incorporate these ideas into a larger model. To the right

I have displayed concepts that aimed to incorporate decay and permineralisation which I chose to convey through holes of

light.

The idea of sharp edges was to explore carbon dating. This was stylised further on.

My inspiration was sourced from all over the place. Inhabitat.com 2012 alerted me to the concept of the Victoria & Albert Museum in Scotland on the right, which is a series of inverted pyramids. This project can also be found at http://www.rex-ny.com and is a personal favourite

The Town Hall at Tempe Arizona is also the work of an inverted Pyramid, and while its far less stylised than the Vic-toria & Albert Museum, this building carries a lot of character of its own. It’s obviously a very bright building for all the windows which gives credit to the hollow aspect of my models. Designed by Architects: Michael & Kemper Goodwin and completed in 1970/1971,

At the bottom right we have a concept that closely supports the compression component which i decided not to pursue of the Mercedes Benz Museum. I was exploring the use of springs and triangular compression and came across this to support that sort of progression. I feel that it doesnt answer my concept nearly as well as the circular holes. However, had I chosen to use that side of the concept this may very well have been my preferred source.

This model is proudly displayed on http://www.e-architect.co.uk

This model to the left by Etruxes Architecture had me thinking about the light and glow which emphasized negative space, tying in nicely with my concept of decay as well as lighting up the holes and conveying a sense of refracted light which also complimented the mineral refracted light effect I was going for to represent permineralisation.

Also below that you see their work with tapered circles which I am particularily fond of incorporating.

On the right here we have a piece of petrified wood which was my starting point.

The petrification process has left the circular cross-section intact and the minerals have taken over to the point where there is nothing organ-ic left. It is the process I’m trying to convey, not the finished product.

In my quest for ideas i came across some other concepts, and I explored the concepts of spirals, as seen on the right referenced at http://www.civilengineergroup.com/tension-compression-yin-yang-structural-engineering.html

The image on the right was a concept I had to again demonstrate compression but it was making it too hard for me.

I revisited the concept of decay and it brought me across the following images and concepts:

Finally, with much thought I started to develop my concepts further to empha-sise compression with the use of springs, along with the holes I was sure would properly represent decay and the minerals that form in place of the decaying organic matter.

Feeling that these were unsuccessful I decided to explore the carbon half life concept. I liked what I came up with.

The Lantern Concept allows this to emit light through a central shaft. The pattern is the repeated graph of the carbon radioisotope over hollow holes where organic matter has decayed and allowed minerals to refract the light from inside. Minimal light is emitted from the center back portion of the design, while a weighted front is a gush of tree sap frozen to form a final tongue of organic matter.

The lantern is designed to be suspended from a height by the middle of the upper portion of the model.

The tail below is meant to represent the excessive decay and one follows the holes in the model downwards like a timeline; It sits significantly lower than the tongue.

The Key Elements I have kept are Permineralisation, Organic Decay and the Carbon Isotope.

This model is designed to emit light at different angles. Also on the right you see the a graph of the radioactive decay found in the carbon isotope which heavily tied in with the pet-rification process - it of course has a lot of carbon, and also the concept of decay. Image sourced from http://www.yellowtang.org/images/car-bon_isotope_b_c_la_784.jpg

References:springs ideas:http://www.masterspring.com/images/compression_springs(bjt042).gif

Manganites and Cupite: (researching tetrahedral constructs which gave me an idea for my texture)http://sartbaeva.chem.ox.ac.uk/Research_component.html

Inverted pyramids in architecture:http://inhabitat.com/the-victoria-albert-museum-as-a-daylit-inverted-pyramid/va-museum-at-dundee-by-rex-2/?extend=1 also: http://www.rex-ny.com/work/v-a-at-dundeehttp://www.tempe.gov/historicpres/HE-HistoricEligible/CityHall.html

Tension and compression:http://www.mercedes-benz-classic.com/content/classic/mpc/mpc_classic_website/en/mpc_home/mbc/home/museum/im-pressions.flash.html and:http://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/jpgs/stuttgart/mercedes_benz_museum_un131108_3.jpgas well as:http://www.civilengineergroup.com/tension-compression-yin-yang-structural-engineering.html

Examples of Petrified Wood:http://www.rainbowpetrifiedwood.com/

For the purposes of emphasizing the negative space in order to show degeneration of organic matter I have opted to introduce holes. These holes harbor the light and allow it to glow through.. this is sort of what I was thinking of. Sort of.http://www.etruxes.com/architecture/tapered-circles/

To explain the radioisotope of Carbon:http://www.yellowtang.org/images/carbon_isotope_b_c_la_784.jpg