Sunday, October 14, 2007

Brick Project

The Brick Project is a collaboration between the ceramics and architecture departments. Teams of students in both disciplines work together to re-define "the brick". Our team consists of an architect, Justin Richards, and 3 ceramics students; Drew Ippoliti, Ari Brice and myself.


We brainstormed an idea for our unit/module, which was drafted in in CAD. The CAD file was sent out to a stereolithograph printer, which printed a small-scale model in 3-D. After making final alterations to the unit digitally, we used a laser cutter to fabricate 16 layers, or slices in MDF which were laminated together. Using Bondo to fill in the ridges, a smooth full-size prototype was produced.



We cast a master mold of the prototype in plaster, and made a Hydrocal mold of that mold. The Hydrocal mold allowed us to produce 9 identical 3-part plaster molds for slipcasting.

We are working around the clock to produce ceramic positives from these molds, and will be installing the modules on Thursday night for the Brick Project show. I will be posting pictures from the show as soon as it happens! Click here to see more pictures of the prototyping and moldmaking process

1 comment:

chocolatebooks said...

Did your brick win??!?! I have to know!!