‘Mass customization’ is the core concept of computational design, which distinctively differs from the notion of industrial revolution marked as ‘Mass production’. The way an architect and a fashion designer works are very similar in the digital design process. Most building materials are found in a specific or a continuous sheet format; i.e. steel sheet, fabric are found in continuous format and brick, glass, wood, particle board are in a fix dimension. Therefore, whatever the size, dimension and format of a material are, it could be used in any complex form through a proper detail, as a fashion designer does with a piece of cloth; the outcome is never anticipated in respect of the use of a particular material. 
This installation project has been done with the underlying theme of ‘Touch the virtual’. It was an experimental work of ‘[S.O.F.T] lab’ with the students of Design Studio V at AIUB and the idea was to explore the process of fabricating a complex geometry in real. Geometry, form, structure and pattern were the key issues. No doubt, Rhinoceros and Grasshopper are the most popular and widely used software in academy and in practice and we used the same. An art form expressing the structure and aesthetics simultaneously; is standing on a base and three points from the base are spirally moving upward, splitting on the way and finally meeting at one point centrally. These three points formed three identical clusters which blend with each other and the twisting geometric pattern made an illusion from different angles. 
As the initial form is a doubly curved geometry, it needs to be converted in a single curved surface to get the unrolled layout for cutting pattern. The joining detail in both linear edges makes a floral pattern throughout the form which becomes a point of interest and expresses its beauty most. Computational design and fabricating tools are inseparable in the design process. But this experiment has been accomplished with a mixed approach of both digital and manual; 84 strips in total and of that 28 identical in each cluster, were printed in a model paper and cutout manually by scissor and NT-cutter; three clusters were made separately by joining the strips and assembled finally on the base. The interesting point of this installation is glue less join between two strips. The joint detail was inspired from the workshop of Strip Morphologies by Mode lab. The learning from this experiment for the students was of how to fabricate a complex geometry where form, aesthetics and structure coincide together.
Team:
Concept: [S.O.F.T] lab, Md. Mizanur Rahman
Studio Tutors: Ar. Jalal Ahmed; Md. Mizanur Rahman; Fauzia M Rahman
Students: Design Studio [V], Spring 2014-15
American International University-Bangladesh [AIUB]
Image Courtesy: Asif Rahman and Rafi Sadman © [S.O.F.T] lab
