Material Cards 4: Seaweed

Seaweed (or its Japanese name "Nori") used in making sushi is made from red alga. While dry, seaweed is very delicate and depending on the type of seaweed, can be brittle or softer and easier to roll. The seaweed is somewhat permeable and tears easily but is incredibly light weight. 

Seaweed absorbs moisture very well and can become mushy and soft. However, the seaweed sticks together very well when damp or wet. This property allows for pieces to be joined without other connection method which may tear or weigh down the seaweed. The seaweed is also far more flexible and stretchy when wet. It cannot withstand a lot of strain but will hold better than dry seaweed. 
Seaweed is very flammable and does not react well with the heat, hence, we had to be careful about its proximity to the tea light candle in our vehicles.

W Y Chan

The avatars

The Final Glider

Crafting

First, I use the slim balsa wood to make the frame of the wings.                                                                               

          

And then I put sushi paper around the frame.

The reason I use sushi paper is because it much lighter than the rice papaer and it is flatter than rice paper. So as a result, this one could glide more steadily than the previous one. 

Same as the tail. So after finish the wing and tail, I stick them with the body of the plane, which is a single wood stick. 

Finally, I put some plasticine on the top of the plane in order to balance the plane when it is gliding.



So Let's Glide!

Site Pictures

Left Site

Right Site 

Left Site Section (Dystopian)

PATH TAKEN BY BOTH THE VEHICLES

Material Card 3: Y Blocks

For the landing/departing dock at Onetangi, Waiheke, I had the idea of using mangroves or incorporating the shape of the mangroves in the dock somehow. However, I was unsure how to add the shapes without them simply being ornamentation on the walls or how to integrate them with the dock. I stumbled upon Y blocks (pictured right) on transmaterial.net and was incredibly fascinated by them. The Y blocks are made of clay and can be applied to interior and exterior walls. The shape of the blocks are quite unique in the sense that it allows for unusual patterning, tessellations, or shapes that was previous difficult with masonry construction. The blocks can be stacked vertically to make a wall or applied horizontally for paving. The Y shape is very appropriate for emulating mangroves and could easily be constructed to fit any unusual shape. However, larger installations of the Y blocks may prove difficult or unstable and the masonry may not integrate well with the landscape of the beach. 

(Source: http://transmaterial.net/index.php/2012/07/20/y-blocks/)


W Y Chan

Our First Glider

This short video shows a test flight we did of one of the first planes. As you can see, it doesn't fly great distances but it did reach about 3 meters or so. The plane was constructed with balsa wood with rice paper for the wings, using the rubber band propeller. We found that the rice paper was easily distorted when wet and it didn't create an optimum shape for flying. 

W Y Chan