ADC209 Studio Design III | Professor William Smarzewski | Spring 2024

Rhino 3D; basswood, foam-cor, hemp cord

The goal of this assignment was to create a cantilevered structure that would support a brick off the side of a table. We were tasked with considering meaningful tectonic architecture and designing a thoughtful armature.

World-famous bridges such as Kurilpa in Brisbane and Zakim in Boston drove the development of this design. Not wanting to entirely emulate these engineering feats, I turned to the tension masters of nature: spiders.

The program demanded taut yet graceful forces, revealing an intricate woven web of hemp cord. While the finished model, interlaced with thin yarn, looks delicate to the touch, the tension and compression gives strength.

The panel inlaid into the base of the piece relies on atmospheric pressure to hold the model in place. Relying on these quirks of physics coming together creates a seemingly fragile, weightless finished product while successfully supporting the brick.