Production no longer an obstacle to design
Proving again that production no longer places limits on imagination and design, mouldCAM has partnered with Australian architectural firm Ashton Raggatt McDougall to produce a revolutionary ‘brain-shaped’ canopy for the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Due for installation in early 2010, the unique canopy is part of the University’s $600million capital works program. Its design is based on the geometric Penrose tiles found in adjoining Storey Hall. Two geometric shapes, 54 and 72 degree rhombuses.
“With the canopy and the new facade we wanted to create a soft Penrose tile, a kind of primordial Penrose”, according to Adjunct Professor Howard Raggatt.
This cutting edge architecture, well outside the norm of conventional design, required cutting edge production techniques. Continuing a partnership that has already produced an undulating building facade and a 65 square metre ‘cloud-like’ awning, Ashton Raggatt McDougall once again turned to mouldCAM . To produce the intriguing shape, they supplied detailed 3D architectural CAD designs from which intricate patterns were cut, and a series of composite moulds created.
“The surfaces are shaped using CAD/CAM moulds, cast in fibreglass and then painted high gloss. The new rooftop pavilion should look like a green brain”, said Raggatt.
The rooftop ‘brain’ will be installed by mouldCAM.
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