Tessellate - An exploration of moving forms

The purpose of this exercise was to develop an understanding to the dynamic nature of forms in movement. Kinematics is the study of a form in motion. During this exercise we chose to experiment with concepts of elasticity in a various materials through motion .

This was a group project with 5 team members

Our inspiration was a Parquet Deformation which is a regular pattern of tiles that transforms as you go from left to right whilst maintaining the regularity of the tiling . Taking the inspiration of a grid metamorphosis we thought to explore how movement, texture and light would affect the grid to further create interesting patterns.

The Parquet Deformation Grid that we used when developing tessellate.

Tessellate is a kinetic installation built with minimalistic movements. It uses tensile materials that are layered and overlapped to create patterns. We saw this piece fitting as an ambient wall installation without drawing away from the actual space. Each unit consists of sections of tensile cloth which are tied to acrylic rods and nylon string. The acrylic rods light up in synchronisation with the movement and the music for greater visual effect. The nylon string carries out the movement between the tensile layers which produces the different fold, curves and overlapping patterns.

The details of the mechanisms and working system to create a working mock up of tessellate.

Various explorations of form and material.