The fact that matter is always oscillating on a micro and macro level is very intriguing for me. Encounters of the oscillating organic elements such as carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen with each other in waterbodies may have created essential molecules such as amino acid chains for carbon based life to exist and evolve on earth. For this reason, in the beginning of my thesis, I was mainly interested in the interplay of three elements, alginate as the material, water as the medium and bass frequencies as the source of energy, or fuel. At the end of this reasoning, the form had become something to attain, therefore my initial idea was to provoke the matter with the mechanical waves in water medium and to try to obtain tangible forms or systems as a result of the process.
Alginate is a biomolecule and a derivative of algin which is synthesized by brown algae. It is used for creating tooth impressions in dentistry as well as creating body moulds for artistic purposes. Since it is an edible polysaccharide, it is also used in food industry as a jelling and protective agent. I am closely interested in alginate as a designer since it has suitable material properties for me to use it in the context of my experiments such as being a biomaterial that consists organic elements which are the building blocks of biological life, forming a homogenous and viscous mixture with water and jellifying relatively fast as in a couple minutes and generating tangible forms.
Alginate that I use is in powder form. A viscous liquid is obtained after mixing it with water and it becomes ready to mold. It is recommended to use ⅓ gr/ml ratio while casting impressions of alginate and it takes approximately 4-5 minutes for mixture to go into the jel form. I initially started the exploration process of alginate by mixing the material with water and molding the mixture into a 55 mm and 60mm wide petri dish with 3mm thickness of material. It was a simple cast without any vibrations in order to get to know the material viscosity to decide the ratio of the mixture that would possibly work well on the vibration generator. The liquid had to be less viscous therefore it meant that I could use more water. So I did, and I generated these 3 pieces. 2 pieces from initial molding and 1 piece from vibration generator.
After casting the first pieces, I prepared a liquid mixture of alginate and water with the ratio of ⅕. I drilled a 90mm petri dish on the center, mounted it on the vibration generator and poured 5mm thickness of mixture. I realized that, working with the bass frequencies was affecting the matter deeply in terms of creating deeper wave height and bigger cell size in temporal forms. The cell sizes (wavelength that projects on the material) were wider. In the beginning, it took a wheel-like shape at 40 Hz. At 160 Hz, the matter started to move upper, gathered on the edges and collapsed on itself. I could only retain one form -which seems quite amorph, and the plate was also inclined- as a result of this experimentation process, but that was mind opening on the way of learning the material activity since it was the first trial on vibration generator.
I was planning to provoke the viscous activity of alginate with bass frequencies on the vibration generator and also hoping it to solidify into some forms by giving constant vibrations to alginate, in other words, enough energy to maintain its cymatic form and solidify into it.
The energy is what lies under material activity. In his talk, Manuel DeLanda explains that the activity is caused by a battery, and this battery can be anything that influences the system in a way of creating different trajectories of events. He states that “any morphogenetic process needs fuel” (DeLanda, 2011) In my own theory, I was considering vibrations as fuel of my experimentation, yet throughout the process my understanding of “fuel” has changed considerably, especially after the flat pieces dried into a saddle shape in 2 days.
I was checking my initial trials on my desk on a regular basis. They were losing water, dehydrating gradually starting from the upper surface, so I was turning them upside down daily. In the morning of the 3rd day, I realized something very particular about the initial molds. They were not flat anymore. The pieces popped up overnight as they dry into Hyperbolic Paraboloid shapes which is actually a mathematical equation.
I am always amazed by the forms and functions of forms. When I encounter something first time, form is the first element that catches my attention. The natural forms in fact allure me more than artificial ones, maybe simply because I know that it took thousands of years for that form to evolve, coexist and operate coherently with its function or perform that specific function.
I had to contemplate on the activity of the initial forms. In the meantime, I did other trials on vibration generator.
Due to the vibrations, the matter gathered close to the edges and the center in the occurrence of this form, therefore, in between area is the thinnest. Presumably, why the piece has popped up in a complex combination of hyperbols and parabols rather than a perfect Hyperbolic Paraboloid shape was its excentricity.
I did a quick research to figure out where saddle forms can be found in nature, the most common forms was the rounded leaves, some fungal species, Galapagos tortoises and some geographical formations. I suspect that water balance, structural tensegrity, and changing pressures are influencing saddle forms that occurs naturally in the drying process of alginate.
A very simple process of drying can be a battery and provide enough energy to the system for a form to occur. Drying organic material such as leaves are changing their shapes throughout the process, but what makes the results interesting for me was the fact that it was a very specific, mathematical form. It is obviously caused by water, in other words, dehydration of the system. Yet in order to be able to say more about it, the relationship between the microstructure of the material and the water as a medium has to be investigated on a micro level. Again, the interplay that I am interested in is getting narrower. In the early phases, or in the theory, it was the relationship between the actors of alginate as the matter, water as the medium and bass frequencies as the source of energy, or fuel. Yet after some experimentation, now I am closer to the idea of interchanging roles. Is water the medium or the energy in this system? Could matter be acting like a machine?
I put one of the pieces in the water to see how it is going to behave. It floated for 1 hour, and then it started to sink and hit the bottom of the glass next day, yet the hyperbolic paraboloid form stayed. I left it in the glass for one more day, then I took it out. I tried to bend the shape, it was a little bit flexible yet the structure was reluctant to change into the form I desire. I dried the piece and it sustained the hyperbolic paraboloid shape.
Lately, I am experimenting on the forming behavior of rounded alginate plates with different thicknesses/diameters and with the surfaces that I leave alginate plates for drying process. Next step is going to be trying the same technique on perforated and topologically altered alginate plates.
It is very bizarre that how an organic wibbly-wobbly material dries into a very well calculated mathematical equation. The material is homogenous when it is mixed with the water and tend to jellify which means there is strong attraction between the molecules of alginate and it is activated by water molecules. What can be done with this activity that powers itself by dehydrating? How can this activity be used as an inspiration for future design practices? Such a simple act, a natural phenomena, drying under the atmospheric conditions can act as battery for a material activity. Can drying under the atmospheric conditions, and evaporation of the water molecules be a battery for alginate to acquire hyperbolic paraboloid form in much larger scales, especially against gravity? How can this activity be used in today’s production practices? Can we build bio and low-cost roofs by using this technique which are one of the most complicated and hard to build structural elements of architecture?
