Fabrication and Form

Fabrication and Form Second semester, tuesday 13:00 -17:00 First year studies Course synopsis: An object's form is determined by many factors; some material, some environmental, some functional or cultural, and others technological. The course will focus a discussion on the correlation of form to a means of manufacture/making. While at the most basic level material form is governed by laws of physics, human-guided mechanical intervention in materials will most often produce forms that can clearly be understood as an expression of the chosen means of manipulation. A clay pot thrown on the potter's-wheel will most likely produce a circular concentric form due to the materials rotation on an axis. While archaeologists may look at an object/form and see the technology used in its making, designers look at a technology and see the objects/forms it can produce. This can be exemplified on tools as varied as a table-saw and drill-press, all the way to FDM printers and CAD software. A designer's fluency in methods of fabrication, can be expressed not only in well-correlated forms, but also in stretching technologies and hence the forms they produce. This theme will find expression in the courses assignments, while adding and familiarising with production/making technologies as part of the students toolbox.