Electroform(alism) explores hybrid ways of making - reviving Nineteenth Century metal plating techniques and adjusting them to contemporary design and fabrication methods. In re-imagining electroforming as an intrepid, present-day process that moves beyond the simple replication of metallic objects on a master form, the strategy tests novel aesthetic, material and economic possibilities in service of mass customization. Using expendable and embedded substrates, the prototypes generate distinct metallurgical ornament and articulated skins. More importantly, perhaps, the process also conceives of a new mode of small scale fabrication – one that is adaptive, nomadic and generative.
ELECTROFORM(ALISM)
Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, 2013
Project Leads: Anya Sirota, Jean Louis Farges
Collaboration: Patrick Beauce, Alex Belykh
Design Team: Nate Doud, John Guinn, Brittany Gacsy
Production Team: James Chesnut, Catharine Pyenson
Fabrication: Dustin Brugmann
Awards: Research and Development (R+D) Award, Architect Magazine, 2013; ACSA Faculty Design Award, 2016
This project was made possible through a Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning Research Through Making Grant. Additional support was provided by the University of Michigan Office of Research.