Poster Text

THEME
THE HUMAN BRAIN IS ONE OF, IF NOT THE MOST GEOMETRICALLY
COMPLEX NATURAL STRUCTURE ON EARTH. FOR THE PURPOSES OF
EXPERIMENTAL MODELLING, TWO REGIONS OF THE BRAIN HAVE
PARTICULARLY INTERESTING GEOMETRY - THE CEREBRAL CORTEX AND
THE CEREBELLUM. THE CEREBRAL CORTEX, SEEN IN THE IMAGE IN THE
TOP RIGHT, IS A CONVOLUTED LAYER OF NEURAL TISSUE THAT FORMS
THE OUTER PERIMETER OF THE BRAIN. THE CEREBELLUM, SEEN IN THE
TOP LEFT, IS A SMALLISH KNOT OF HORIZONTAL FURROWS. EACH HAS
A UNIQUE APPEARANCE, BUT WHEN BROKEN DOWN INTO THEIR BASIC
UNITS OF GEOMETRY, THEY ARE BOTH ESSENTIALLY A SERIES OF LINES
OR TUBES THAT INTERLOCK, INTERWEAVE AND DISSECT EACHOTHER.
IT IS THIS FASCINATING INTERPLAY OF GEOMETRY THAT I ATTEMPTED
TO EXPLORE THROUGH MY MODEL. I WANTED TO EXPLOIT THE
POTENTIAL FOR DYNAMISM AND BEAUTY THAT THIS STRUCTURE
EXHIBITS, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CELEBRATING THE UNIQUENESS OF
EACH PRODUCT OF NATURE. THESE TWO PARTS OF THE BRAIN PERFORM
EXACTLY THE SAME FUNCTIONS IN THE SIX BILLION HUMANS ON EARTH,
HOWEVER NO TWO ARE THE SAME, AND IT IS THIS RANDOM QUALITY
OF NATURE THAT I PARTICULARLY WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT.

VARIABLE 1
THESE ITERATIONS WERE PRODUCED USING THE DIVIDE COMPONENT TO MULTIPLY THE NUMBER OF POINTS ALONG EACH CURVE OF THE MODEL. IN DOING SO, THE MODEL HAS THE POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM FROM A RELATIVELY POROUS STRUCTURE, TO AN IMMENSELY DENSE ENTITY OF INTERWEAVING “TUBES”. BY SPACING AND EFFECTIVELY SINGLING OUT THE MODEL’S KEY GEOMETRIC FEATURE (THE LINE OR PIPE) I AM ABLE TO DRAW ATTENTION TO IT, AND THEREFORE TRANSLATE A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE MODEL, AS WELL AS THE THEME.

VARIABLE 2
THESE FOUR ITERATIONS WERE CREATED BY MODIFYING THE LENGTH OF THE X, Y AND Z VECTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CURVES OF THE MODEL. WHAT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE IS THAT AS THE VECTORS INCREASE IN LENGTH, THE STRUCTURE OF THE MODEL BECOMES LESS CONVOLUTED, WITH MORE OF A SENSE OF ORDER TO ITS SHAPE. BY PRODUCING THESE ITERATIONS, I HOPED TO DEMONSTRATE THE WAY IN WHICH NATURE INCORPORATES BOTH TANGLED RANDOMNESS AND LOGICAL STRUCTURE INTO THE GEOMETRY OF ITS FORMS.

VARIABLE 3
THE FINAL FOUR ITERATIONS WERE PRODUCED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SHIFT
COMPONENT, WHICH OFFSET THE LINES CONNECTING THE POINTS ON EACH CURVE,
RELATIVE TO THEIR ORIGINAL POSITIONS. THIS RESULTED IN DYNAMIC CHANGES TO THE SHAPE OF THE MODEL, AND THROUGH THIS I WAS ABLE TO OUTLINE THE RANDOM AND UNIQUE WAY NATURAL FORMS ARE MADE. WHAT IS AMAZING IS THAT EVERY COMBINATION OF GEOMETRY IN NATURE IS DIFFERENT, AND YET EACH STILL RETAINS A RAW BEAUTY. IT IS THIS POWERFUL COMBINATION OF QUALITIES THAT I BELIEVE HAS MADE THE BRAIN SUCH A SUCCESSFUL SUBJECT FOR EXPERIMENTAL MODELLING.

METHOD AND REFLECTION
TO CREATE MY MODEL I CONSTRUCTED TWO CIRCLES, WHOSE
CIRCUMFERENCES WERE LINED WITH POINTS (USING THE DIVIDE
COMPONENT). THESE POINTS WERE JOINED USING THE LINE COMPONENT,
WHILE X, Y AND Z VECTORS CREATED ITERATIONS OF THE GEOMETRY
WHICH BRANCHED OFF IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. THE SHIFT COMPONENT
WAS PLACED TO CONTROL THE OFFSET OF THE LINES, AND ALL OF THIS
WAS FED INTO A CONE COMPONENT TO GIVE THE MODEL SOME SURFACE
AREA. LASTLY, A PIPE COMPONENT WAS USED TO FLESH OUT THE FORM
OF THE LINES, CREATING THE TUBE-LIKE APPEARANCE OF THE MODEL’S
SURFACE. SLIDERS WERE ATTACHED TO THE VECTOR, DIVIDE AND
SHIFT COMPONENTS TO CREATE EACH VARIABLE.
WHILE CHALLENGING, GRASSHOPPER IS AN EXCITING PROGRAM THAT
OBVIOUSLY HAS ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES WHEN IT COMES TO THE
REALISATION OF ARCHITECTURALLY AMBITIOUS DESIGNS. I FOUND IT
RELATIVELY DIFFICULT TO PICK UP, CONSIDERING ITS ABSTRACT AND
MATHEMATICAL APPROACH, BUT I AM PLEASED WITH THE RESULT I HAVE
ACHIEVED. I BELIEVE MY MODEL IS SUCCESSFUL IN CAPTURING THE
GEOMETRIC ESSENCE OF MY THEME, AND REPRESENTING IT IN A
COHERENT AND VISUALLY APPEALING MANNER. I LOOK FORWARD TO
FURTHER EXPLORING WHAT GRASSHOPPER HAS TO OFFER.