Knitting behavior : a material-centric design process

This thesis explores computation as a communicative device between the physical and the digital, establishing a conversation between a material assembly and a digital model as a tool to inform the logic of the assembly's internal organization. In this research, the material assembly, which is defined as a material whose properties derive from the programming of raw matter to form unique internal structures, manifests through the technique of knitting, a material practice defined by pattern as rule-based code. A key contribution of this research is the development of a framework to help designers better understand how the topology of a knit structure can align with formal and structural motivations of tension activated architectural forms. This was accomplished through the identification of the knit pattern as code. Whereas traditionally the pattern is a static visual representation, in this research it is both the physical sequence of stitches and the dynamic properties of each stitch within a digital model. The dynamic properties of the physical material communicate through the knit pattern to the digital model, which explores the possibilities of form within the constraints of the material to remap the pattern's code and thereby re-informing the physical. This new framework may help designers create and evaluate material assemblies to better satisfy the local and global needs of form, structure, and aesthetics. The play between the physical and the digital is recursive, experimental, and interpretative - each informs the other while never truly resulting in the same output.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• McKnelly, Carrie Lee

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lawrence Sass.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99249

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/99249