Exhibition - Manufacturing Gallery
The idea of the endless cycle of design and production promises a shift in manufacturing processes from the wasteful industrial systems of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The new design model provides a continuous assembly/disassembly line that cycles the product and its constituent matter in a never-ending loop of improvement. Cycle to cycle: Instead of disposing of waste, think about how to use it as an input. The goal is no waste generation at all. Apply the intelligence of nature to human needs. Waste=food.
Meanwhile, powerful new tools for virtual simulation link the entire manufacturing process in a continuous flow - from design to prototyping, to fabrication, and even to disassembly. The capacity in one field is immediately applied to another.
The Manufacturing Economy explores our capacity to produce a never ending quantity of goods to meet human demand. The result of this success has been an ever growing burden of waste that is taxing the environment. Inspired by the work of William McDonough and Michael Braungart, the room shows a shift in the manufacturing process where nothing is wasted and move in closed loop cycles.
Sections of the the garbage curtain and ramp leading out of the curtain. Fabricated by Britt Welter-Nolan, the garbage curtain took almost two months to build and fills an entire cube van when taken apart. Ramp objects including Herman Miller’s Mirra chair, and Pendleton’s baby blanket. Photos courtesy of Institute without Boundaries and Vancouver Art Gallery.
The first thing that visitors come into contact with in the Manufacturing room is a curtain made entirely of garbage. Faced with our amazing capacity to manufacture objects from the daily mundane packaging to complex electronics, the viewer realizes that eventually everything ends up in the trash. Passing through the curtain is a ramp of possibilities, where waste equals food and products that divert trash from landfills or are biodegradable suggest an alternative to the current cradle-to-grave manufacturing model.
Concept shown in the scale model (left). Lego who have eliminated PVC from their entire line and the POEMAtec car seat, used in Mercedes Benz vehicles, is made of coconut fibers and natural rubber (center). Model of Frank Gehry’s Der Neue Zollhof design in Dusseldorf, Germany (right).
Also included in the Manufacturing room are models by architect Frank Gehry, who uses a hybrid manufacturing CAD software called CATIA to facilitate and make possible his elaborate building designs. This sophisticated program Æ used by Boeing to develop the 747 jetliner Æ gives design and construction teams complete control of nearly every parameter, not simply basic form and dimensions but material strength and even response to environmental conditions. Gehry began using CATIA in 1990, after searching for the best way to translate his challenging, fluid designs into built form while remaining within the client’s budget and schedule. The office has integrated CAD/CAM and rapid prototyping into its work within a dynamic and highly iterative design process.
Audio Commentary by:
Bruce Mau
Britt Welter-Nolan (IwB 2004) - 1
Britt Welter-Nolan - 2
Explore the Exhibition:
Exhibition Introduction
Urbanization
Movement
Information
The Image
Markets
Energy
Materials
Military
Manufacturing
Living
Wealth & Politics
