Laura Ferrarello

The form of sound through hybrid materials

We describe a digital design process that interfaces real-time data with 3D modeling and 3D printing techniques. Digital Impressionism (DI) is a platform that explores new material possibilities, by 3D modeling physical and digital objects, as affected by invisible forces that act upon them in real time. Using a 3D pointcloud as a medium, we describe an experimental project run with students in our programme, incorporating realtime audio data to manipulate 3D physical forms, resulting in new static and dynamic shapes with what we call a hybrid materiality. The modeling platform of DI treats materials as composites, through which substance becomes physical via the digital interference the environment applies to digital forms. We describe dynamic modeling processes through which data enables a new hybrid tectonic made of composite shapes and materials. This abstract introduces the project and describes our methodology and results so far.

The Oxymoron of Touch: The Tactile Perception of Hybrid Reality Through Material Feedbacks

This chapter illustrates the concepts of ‘oxymoron materiality’ and ‘oxymoron tectonics’ through a process based on a feedback loop between human and machine creativity. I describe how touch and the material sensation of physical objects are central to this process. A context in which digital and physical perceptions of the real are interwoven creates an embodied sense of hybrid reality, with touch as the interface that helps humans to acknowledge and shape new forms. Machines, including 3D printers, haptic sensors and robots, participate in a dialogue with our actions, minds and memories, to participate in the formation of the hybrid real.