I stumbled upon the fascinating anatomy of a snake’s skull. A snake can open its mouth 150 degrees, allowing it to eat much larger prey. This is achieved in the snake’s bone structure as the jaw bones are connected by elastic ligaments, the joint of the upper and lower jaws are placed far back in the skull and the lower jaw bones are not fused together at the front. Lastly the jaw joint contains a bone called a quadrate that acts as a double hinge allowing the snake to move its mouth laterally while it is open.
This gave me the idea of a structure that has several moving parts that allow it to constantly adapt and change to its environment. This could be loosely based on a snake's jaw structure and be as simple as a structure that opens in the summer and closes in the winter, however this is very basic and I wanted to elaborate more on this idea. With this in mind I wondered how a constantly adapting structure can influence the purposes and functions it will serve. This led me to looking into adaptive architecture and responsive kinematics. My search brought me to the video below that somewhat exudes a few of the ideas I have for my structure. Beginning as a block and constantly changing form, the building in the video exemplifies how not only can a structure adapt to changing weather conditions, but also take advantage of what these conditions offer.
I am now continuing my research on responsive kinematics to get an understanding of how some components may be able to work together to achieve the design I want to produce.
M. Defina
You should really consider systematically looking at how you approach this design. Like many others in this studio, you have quickly jumped to adapt a component existent in nature and design around it. Though it is good to have this enthusiasm, I would encourage you to really think about what you are going to do with the quadrate condition. Unfortunately the precedent video that you show has little connection to the quadrate condition aside from the fact that there are pivot conditions at play. The precedent, though interesting, would arguably be more reminiscent of arthropod exoskeletons that must fold and rapidly deploy in order to provide security and transportation.
ReplyDeleteFirst look at the mechanics of how the joint works and where it would be appropriately adopted in your design. Further to that, please remember that this is an SSEF competition first and foremost so try to address structural issues before you run into smaller connection issues as shown in the biomimetic precedent you are using.