INTRODUCTION TO STUDIES
The focus of the following studies is not on gaining scientific findings of ice per se, but simply on exploring how this system might begin to tweak the roles of elements, in this case melting, through a cybernetic design approach. I investigating how we can rethink melting from something that perishes to something that enables. Can we strategically utilize it for the benefit of mediating the integrity of the ice mass rather for its presumed decay?
In the same way that through reducing mass, while maintaining certain performative forms increases the soundness of common structural elements, we can imagine a parallel logic to utilize the inevitable melting to influence their stability. Here, focused melting is proposed as the method to induce these performative forms. It utilizes the inevitable melting to facilitate a higher, and perhaps novel, way of self-regulation in masses of ice.
STRATEGIC MELTING
Through the affordance of material properties, I began to test methods of strategically increasing and decreasing melting. I attempt to either strategically attract melting through a black non-permeable surface, or reduce heat with the use of reflective mylar.
The second type of ice melting study I explored froze the two materials into the blocks of ice, rather than just placing them on the surface. The question here was whether you could begin to melt strategically, not just on the surface of the mass, but inside of it; through its thickness.
In the last image slides below, direct contact melted much quicker than a heated volume. Through this direct contact, you could begin to shape melting on the surface of the ice in a much more tactical and deliberate way.
Black Heat-Absorbing Nylon & Mirrored Reflective Mylar
SNOW CAPTURING
Once having seen the possibility of shaping an ice surface through strategic melting, I wanted to study how the geometry and texture of a surface could influence its ability to capture and retain snow, while potentially enabling refreezing to occur. As I introduced the importance of firn to the health of the glacier; would it be possible for certain geometries to facilitate the creation of firn and therefore increase the stability of the overall mass? Would creating certain formations allow the shape of the surface to protect fragile zones from the elements? Would some textures interact better with certain types of snowfall than others?
Grid Texture & Snow Flake Detail
Project Credits:
Sole Contributor:
Ricardo Jnani Gonzalez
Thesis Committee:
Mark Goulthorpe. Associate Professor of Design, MIT
Terry Knight. Professor of Design and Computation, MIT
Brad Cantrell. Director of Master of Landscape Architecture Program, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Skyler Tibbits. Co-Director of Self-Assembly Lab, MIT
RELATED LINKS:
MIT Master Thesis: Part 1
This section is an investigation of existing self-regulation processes naturally found in the cryosphere. These methods are then used as the bases for creating a logic by which to enhance the ecosystem's ability to self-regulate.
MIT Master Thesis: Part 3
Proposing Cybernetic logic as a design approach for monitoring, mediating, and activating the fragile ecosystem of the cryosphere.