VARIABLE THICKNESS began in Fall 2019 as a semester-long study into building a pneumatic forming system for using invasive species in an ecologically-conscious manner within the context of design. The project team, including Rachel Crosslin (M.Arch), Rose Gowder (B.Arch), and Zherti Jasa (M.Arch), had focused on this system, yet began a study of what the panel system could look like as a "Grass House". This idea became more developed onto a site in Norris, TN after entering the 2020 ASCA Housing Competition. This project from the Material Misbehavior studio led by Kyle Schumann and Katie MacDonald has been featured in writing by the New York Times. Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/style/design-products.html?fbclid=IwAR2iKqH7YrCbUnaFtVWanRuOpR6K1AV6MAnMp27y_vDPu9tAmmeE6MgjUiE
Project Abstract:
VARIABLE THICKNESS develops a novel pneumatic panel forming system for the production of customizable, prefabricated housing units from invasive plant species -- allowing for adaptation to a variety of sites, client specifications, and biomaterial sourcing. Using Philip Johnson’s Glass House as a model, this system is demonstrated in the design of a “Grass House” which builds upon, critiques, and extends the possibilities developed in this icon work modern domesticity.
The GRASS HOUSE is developed as a single family housing unit located in Norris, TN, sourcing Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea), a species invasive to the area, as a structural biomaterial that can be harvested as a simultaneous act of remediation. This housing prototype builds on a tradition of housing research and experimentation completed in the local context. In the early 1930s, Norris,TN was the first of thirty sites in which the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) constructed dams with the aspiration of generating not only electricity for rural areas but also regional economic growth. The implementation of biodegradable and intelligently programmable materials in this housing design builds off of the TVA’s prefabricated housing studies.
The novel forming system developed for the construction of the GRASS HOUSE responds to the increasingly urgent climate imperative and embodied carbon of traditional construction -- it demonstrates how architects can make use of biomaterials in structural elements, architectural surfaces, and furnishings. After conducting an initial survey of twenty-seven different invasive species in the region, Golden Bamboo was selected due to the naturally occurring fibrous and flexible structure of the species. Developing this housing prototype involved experimentation and research with various methods for forming and compressing these materials into biocomposite assemblies, leading to the creation of a novel, digitally-controlled, pneumatic forming system with which material assemblies of variable density, porosity, and rigidity can be constructed without the use of wasteful molds.
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the domestic context becomes increasingly critical as the stage of both personal and professional daily life, this housing unit provides an ecologically responsible model for customizing one’s space. The biomaterial composites offer potentials, which merit further exploration, for natural air purification that can aid in addressing indoor air quality and respiratory illness.