Making it by Cris Lefteri

Friday 4 December 2015

Making it by Cris Lefteri

                                                                             Fig.1

Chris Lefteri is one of the most instrumental material experts working in his fields. He explores ways which in a product can be manufactured looking there pros and cons, speed of production, relevant materials, cost involved and the suitable production volumes.

At the seminar my colleague (Tu) who present the book ask various questions regarding difficulties we faced in model making; if we take into consideration the possible manufactural techniques when we design a building/detail and how the manufactural techniques affect the design. 

It was fun when we asked to create a quick paper model. I tried to make a roof inspired by Felix Candela’s ‘hypars’.

The examples of techniques shown in the book focused on cut from solid, thin and hollow and sheet. The examples were clearly demonstrated to make the reader understand how the technic worked and which materials were the most appropriate to used.

                                                                      Fig. 2

The trickiest question the presenter asked was ‘When you don’t know how to build/manufacture your design, will you change your design to fit the techniques you know, or you keep your design and find appropriate technique?  I was not sure if there was a right or wrong answer for the question as it the question was subjective and each design for an architect has its challenges. It could be the location of site, the size of the site or the material, prehab’s could be the manufacture technique that must be used to meet the requirement of the design. Moreover, if we have a look around us we can see several examples that consider innovated in terms of new manufacturing technique. This shows that with the technological available most designs are possible. However, sometimes architects face challenges either at the beginning or during the construction of a building. To conclude, in such case I would have keep the design and make sure that I have research all the available information to support the technical part of the design.

Reference: 

Lefteri, Chris. Making It. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2016. Print 

Figures:

Fig.1,https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d3/b0/9a/d3b09a583afbc1c2a91a30fe92f7b652.jpg

Fig.2http://a5.files.freshnessmag.com/image/upload/c_fit,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTM1OTg0Njk5NTU3NjIwMzU1.jpg