Generative Explorations into Baroque Helical Columns

This work consists of a series of fragments of 3D printed ceramic elements that are informed by Baroque Solomonic columns. The pieces came out of discarded elements from another project aiming to create a 3D printed ceramic skin for structural steel.  When working on the original project, I noticed the beauty in the ruinous and unfinished quality of the pieces when they were assembled as fragments, and this work is a result of these observations.

Generative algorithms are used when developing geometries for the 3D printing process. There is always a gap between the forms generated on the computer and what comes out of the machine due to clay being an unstable and unpredictable material. These works embody aspects of both precision and the unknown when working in this way. Furthermore, they question how we might harness aspects of the generative process in the development of such forms and how we may revisit baroque columns in the digital age.

As generatively developed expressions, they question how we might consider architectural ornament when the machine frees us from the labour of the production.

Dissemination

Research Publications

Pain, S, Generative Explorations into Baroque Helical Columns, 2023, 2D/3D (Fysisk produkt), Domus Argenia, Rome. http://www.artscience-ebookshop.com/ga2023_book.htm