TECHNICAL STUDIES

PROCESSING
- Software/Processing
- Use in architecture
- Daniel Hirshman’s Strays
- Jason Bruge / Veuve Clicquot
- Audrino board
- Use with processing

Jason Bruge/ WINDWALL / P3

- Concept behind Windwall
- Equipment
- Components
- Circuit boards / Setting up / Testing
- Building the Windwall

AEOLIAN TOWER
- SSL Workshop / Setting up
- Installation at the BFI

PAVILION
- Concept of P3 project / Influence on
concept of pavilion.
- One Dot Zero project summary
- Developing the concept
- Anthropometric data
- Connection of cubes
- Computer render of system in use
- Laser Cutting / Folding methods
- Implementation of folding

Student number: 10566721

DS04
 Introduction
During my first semester within Studio 4 (DS04)
we were lucky enough to be involved with a proj-
ect from Jason Bruges studio with Westminster
DS04 students.
During this time the project went underway in P3,
a fantastic space at the very bottom of the univer-
sity.
The project was research undertook by Jason
Bruges studio and revolved around two main
concepts: interactivity and the processes of wind-
to-light in fans.
These two concepts were to be displayed in what
we nicknamed the ‘Windwall’. The Windwall was
displayed at the One_Dot_Zero convention rough-
ly 1 week after the project began.

At the One Dot Zero event the Windwall was re-

vealed and demonstrated infront of the audience.
Fans created wind to which the fans light up spo-
radically in the colour of red infront of a large audi-
ence. When people walked infront of the walls,
in between the fans it caused an interaction; but
there was more to it than that. The fans were light-
ing up based upon a program which was created
and worked on the basis of black and white im-
ages our studio created.
Software / Processing
What is processing?
Processing is an open source project initiated by Casey Reas and Benjamin
Fry, both formerly of the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media
Lab. It is “a programming language and integrated development environment
(IDE) built for the electronic arts and visual design communities”, which aims
to teach the basics of computer programming in a visual context, and to serve
as the foundation for electronic sketchbooks. One of the stated aims of Pro-
cessing is to act as a tool to get non-programmers started with programming,
through the instant gratification of visual feedback. The language builds on the
graphical capabilities of the Java programming language, simplifying features
and creating a few new ones.
How it is used
Processing relates software concepts to principles of visual form, motion, and
interaction. It integrates a programming language, development environ-
ment,
and teaching methodology into a unifi ed system. Processing was created to
teach
fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context, to serve as a
software sketchbook, and to be used as a production tool.
Students, artists, design professionals, and researchers use it for learning, pro-
totyping, and production.
The Processing language is a text programming language specifi cally de-
signed to generate and modify images. Processing strives to achieve a bal-
ance between clarity and advanced features. Beginners can write their own
programs after only a few minutes of instruction, but more advanced users
can employ and write libraries with additional functions.
The system facilitates teaching many computer graphics and interaction
techniques including vector/raster drawing, image processing, color models,
mouse and keyboard events, network communication, and object-oriented
programming. Libraries easily extend Processing’s ability to generate sound,
send/receive data in diverseformats, and to import/export 2D and 3D fi le
formats.
Where did it come from?
Processing was based on the original work done on Design By Numbers proj-
ect in MIT. It shares much of the same ideas and is a direct child of that experi-
ment.
Design By Numbers (or DBN) was an influential experiment in teaching pro-
gramming initiated at the MIT Media Lab during the 1990s. Led by John
Maeda and his students they created software aimed at allowing designers,
artists and other non-programmers to easily start computer programming.
The software itself could be run in a browser and published alongside the
software was a book and courseware.
Design By Numbers is no longer an active project but has gone on to influ-
ence many other projects aimed at making computer programming more
accessible to non-technical people. Its most public result is the Processing,
created by Maeda’s students Casey Reas and Ben Fry, and which built on the
work of DBN and has gone on to international success.
Example of processing code
void setup()
{
println("Hello Will and Pete!");
}
While this is a valid Hello Will and Pete program, the following code is a better
example of the look and feel of the Processing language.
void setup()
{
// Describe a font we'll use.
PFont font = loadFont("myfont.vlw");
// Set the font and size to use for rendering text.
textFont(font,20);
}
void draw()
{
// Draw text to screen using the previously set font.
text("Hello Will and Pete!", 30,50); Above are examples of processing used to pro-
} duce visual effects.
Processing used in
architecture
Example of processing showing concept behind an
Design Indaba 2008 interactive design project
Jason Bruge created a temporary interactive design at the Design Indaba in South Africa. Here you can see that
IThe piece was designed, built and installed in the main conference area as an interactive this visual representa-
tion is for 1 person
wall surface. The concept was a surface of light that responded as a person walked, initiat- (represented by the
ing a moment of surprise. This allowed visitors to reconsider their movements and provide grey circle as the
a moment of pause and play in their journey that would normally be uninterrupted and mouse cursor). When
routine. you move the mouse/
grey circle across the
screen one part to an-
other a ripple effect is
created. This emulates
the lights reaction to
one person moving
across the interative
panels.

This demonstration
shows the reaction
that is created when
two people are infront
of the panel. Much
like the reaction when
there is one person a
ripple is created, but
here the second per-
sons ripple is created
horizontal creating a
cross-hatched reac-
tion.

This demonstration
shows the reaction
when three people
walk infront of the
panel. Based on where
the people move trails
of light follow the
peoples movement
and create a diagonal
pattern.
Jason Bruges / Veuve Clicquot /2008
As the Veuve Clicquot artist in residence for 2008, Jason Bruges Studio has created an installation which explores the
thrill of speed. Motor cars create an aural landscape at Goodwood, roaring along the track at amazing velocities. As a
metaphor for speed, this sound will be transformed back to movement through the animation of silken flags installed
by the Studio on the Veuve Clicquot lawn.

The impact of a passing car resonates through the array. The flags are individually controlled to point at the cars posi-
tion on the course, and their collective behaviour generates a composition representative of the movement. Each time
-trial creates a unique fabric notation which responds to the racing line and strategy of each driver.

This temporary installation will be the first part of a trilogy for Veuve Cliccquots Season. Following the Festival of Speed,
it will next be seen watching the Polo Gold Cup at Cowdray Park. In September, it will return for the Goodwood Revival.

At 4m high, the flags form a matrix containing more than 30 individual nodes, each programmed to respond to specific
variables of activity. The ephemeral array will sit within the scenery of seasonal events; of pennants, bunting and billow-
ing flags. Event data is recorded, analysed and finally played back as part of a performance at the end of the tour.

In order to control the flags, an application was built using Processing that could work for all three of the intended
installations. For the Festival of Speed, the software had to communicate to a bespoke wireless mesh sensor system,
and use the data to interpolate the position of the race car along the track. In the case of the Polo, the software had to
be able to take in various video feeds and track the movements of the polo players around the field. The resulting posi-
tions informed the flags of the relative location of the tracked object and the flags all turned to follow accordingly.

A few notable elements of the software:

It had to have the ability to easily change the on-screen positions of the flags and microphone sensors.
It had to be able to re-zero the individual motors in the motor control system, by activating and deactivating individual
motors at a whim.
It had to be extremely responsive and offer enough visual feedback to be able to quickly debug the system while in
motion.
The front end needed to be simple enough for anyone to control. The complexity and various methods of communica-
tion were well hidden 'under the hood'

Above: Here you can see the Veuve Clicquot flags set
on site. Jason Bruges himself looking at the system in
processing working real-time on site.

Left: Here I have captured screenshots of the video pro-

vided by Jason Bruges studio demonstrating the flags
moving to a point that changes in location. You can see
the effects of the flag changing due to the geographical
location, in the video this is of a real-time recording and
is a fluid movement.

There are also two pictures i’ve included of flags in ran-

dom placement.
Hardware / Micro-Processors The different levels of microcontrollers
There are several different levels of microcontrollers and microcontroller systems. Some

Arduino boards are very small, chip-size devices to which you have to connect your own electronics. Oth-
ers are larger, composed of several components and ports for input output, ready to plug
right into other devices.

Higher level microcontrollers will have a simple hardware interface to other devices
What are micro-processors? (usually a plug or a couple of wires), and a simpler programming language, if at all. They
will also usually be the most expensive of microcontrollers, because someone else has
A microcontroller is a small, relatively low cost computer, usually used for sensing input from
done the work for you. Higher level controllers must be attached to a personal computer High level microcontroller: Phidget
the real world and controlling devices based on that input. Most electronic devices you use
via serial or USB to operate. Lower level microcontrollers will require more work, both in
today have a microcontroller in them of some form or another. Microcontrollers are easy
terms of hardware connections (you will have to build your own circuits to interface them
to use with simple sensors and output devices, and they can communicate with desktop
to other devices), and in terms of programming (you will need to use a lower level pro-
computers fairly simply as well. When you’re building some form of customized sensor or
gramming language like C or assembler). However, lower level processors are generally
output device, using a microcontroller is an excellent way to separate the customized part of
cheapest and most flexible in terms of what you can make them do.
your project from the part that’s best done on a desktop computer. They’re also very useful
for when you’re designing a simple interactive device that doesn’t need the full power of a
desktop computer, but does need to be smaller or cheaper.
In the Windmill project Daniel Hirchman chose to use the arduino board. Below I have
listed the specifications of the model
This means that micro-processors are very appropriate for interactive design, such as the
jason brudge project as it does the work of a computer however it is very small, cheap and
durable. Middle Level: Arduino

Arduino module
How do they work? What is it: electronic module with microcontroller, power supply, USB-to-serial interface,
Like any other computer, a microcontroller has to have input ports to detect action by a user, input/output interface pins
and output ports through which it expresses the results of its programs. The pins sticking
out of the microcontrollers are the inputs and outputs. Other devices, like light, heat, or mo- Programming Language: Processing.
tion sensors, motors, lights, our sound devices, are attached to these pins to allow the micro-
controller to be sensitive to the world and to express itself. Hardware Interface: simple digital and analog circuits interface to I/O pins.
1: Here is a picture of an arduino board
Criteria for Choosing a Microcontroller Cost: Arduino: £15-30 (Depending on model) (diecimila model) and a ten pence piece
* Programming Environment --what type of machine with what kind of ports do you need to pro- to show the scale.
gram it, in what language eg Basic, Assembly, Java, C. Are their multiple pieces of hardware. Do you
need programming hardware. How much does it cost.
* Price of the Chip, of the initial development chip and then how much to reproduce the design a
million times.
* Digital I/0 --number of lines of digitial input and output
* Analog In --number of lines of Analog to Digital converters, speed and resolution of the measure-
ment.
* Analog Out --ability to provide analog outputs. are their dedicated analog outputs that maitain
the output while the microncontroller does other things.
* Speed of Execution -- Is it interpreted (slow) or compiled (fast).
* Amount of Memory --how big can your program be, how many variable you can use, how much
data can you store
* Supporting Knowledge Base -- are their books, news groups, web pages, friends to help you
figure things out.
* Compatable Product Line --can you add on boards to do things like control stepper motors or
telephone lines. Often these boards are expensive but they just snap into place without you making
any special circutry. If your time is worth anything then these boards are a good buy.
* Physical Size -- how tiny is it.
* Power --can they run on batteries and for how long.
* EPROM -- ability to keep a program in memory after power has been removed
 Processing code:
Example of use with Arduino

The scope of processing and the amount of different things it has to Above you can see in process-
offer is pretty large. On the last page Daniel made a visual represen- ing the Arduino is listed
tation that showed his concept and was interactive. Processing also
allows the user to (as shown to the left) control In the picture below you can
see the user connecting the
The screenshot to the left show how to make an Arduino board turn laptop to the arduino board to
on and off an LED for one second. As you can see to the left the green upload the code to the proces-
text allows the user to write an explanation without it becoming code. sor on board.

This makes the code so much more approachable for a designer, if you
shared it to another person they could follow what happens by the
description adjacent to the code.

This is one of a few reasons why processing is used so much.

CONCEPT OF WINDWALL

Circuit boards powers and con-

veys data to the fans

DS04 Students 2D graphics

DS04 Students 2D graphics

Processing - Grid Audrino board - process the program

into real time Fans are placed equally on a grid that
A program will be written by
Daniel from Jason Bruges that is mounted on a frame made.
divides the graphic in grids and
displays on the LED lights

While the wind is generated the fans will

light up based upon the people infront,
where the wind is generated and the peo-
ple infront (see picture the top picture)
EQUIPMENT USED
1 - Here you can see the tool tray that kept a lot of the pieces
that were to be soldered on to the chip boards.

2 - Screwdrivers and wooden boards were made for connect-

ing the two parts of the fans.

3 - Wire cutters were used to cut the connectors that are to be

connected to the fan.

4 - Soldering kit and solder ready to solder the chip boards.

Also you can see the clamps used to hold the boards up 1 2
steadily as soldering requires both hands.

5 - Large clamps were used time to time

6 - Large fans not really used in construction, but to test the

fans on the grid once they were installed.

7 -Glue guns

8 - Fans need to be used when soldering as the fumes are

toxic. Some of the soldering irons came with them attached.

Below is a Macbookpro which has processing on it.

3

6 7 8
COMPONENTS USED

3
2 6

4 5 7

1: Here you can see the boards used before most of the components
were soldered on.
2: Picture of the boards with all the components soldered and work-
ing.
3: Here you can a pile of the fan base pieces. This bit connects to an-
other part of the fan I’ve labelled here 4. This part is basically the bit that
connects the fans to the grid
4: This is the part with the motor and the LED are situated. Once a fan is
placed on the motor-turning piece it will work once the wind is caught.
6: Here you can see the connectors that were to be placed on the ribbon
wires featured in picture 7.
7: The ribbon wire had to be stripped at different intervals to reach all
the fans. The ribbons would support all the fans in a vertical row.
At the bottom would be the circuit boards featured in picture 1.
These would then connect to the audrino boards.
SETTING UP THE CIRCUIT
BOARDS

Before we started soldering the circuit boards that Daniel ordered we
had to practice on this board which had hundreds of holes that emu-
lated the soldering experience.
Here is a picture of me soldering the diodes to the practice board.
Once we were confortable and daniel had checked up on our solder-
ing we started soldering the chipboards that would deal with power-
ing up the fans.
When soldering we had to make sure that after each circuit board was
done that we checked each solder closely so that it doesn’t circuit.
What this basically means is that in the check you had to look closely
to see if the solder touched other parts of the circuit, causing it not to
work.

Here you can see that this part of the circuit board involved somebody This is a picture of the actual base chipboard that was used to con- Here is a picture of me soldering the diodes to the practice board.
cutting up the diode pieces nect the fans to receive signals from the audrino board and also to Once we were confortable and daniel had checked up on our solder-
power the fans. ing we started soldering the chipboards that would deal with power-
ing up the fans.
 TESTING THE CIRCUIT
BOARDS

Chipboard created
To check the boards after they had been soldered with the components
in place it was important to test that they work, otherwise non op-
erational boards would be put onto the grid and a vertical line of fans
would not light up.

To do this Daniel wrote a simple test in processing. This test ment that
if the circuit worked it would light up a special test panel which had a
series of LEDs. When the soldered board is placed within the test circuit
if all the solders are done correctly then the LEDs will light up, as you can
see in the bottom right picture.

Every circuit board needs to be checked before being placed to avoid

any complications later.

Left to right:

If the circuit board

doesn’t work however it
won’t light up it shows
the circuit board’s sol-
dering needs to be
checked and adjusted,
as shown in the left
picture.

If the circuit boards

work then the LEDs
light up, as shown in the
picture opposite.
BUILDING THE WINDWALL

Here a student is connecting the base of the fans to the motors

Here is a picture of several students soldering the wire connectors to the Connectors for the fan and circuit boards are cut to size and pressed togeth-
body of the fan. er in a clamp.
Here you can see the audrino con-
nected to the circuit-boards, connect-
ed to the fans via the wiring.
This is a very important picture as you
can see everything here working and
how they are connected.
Now that there are enough fans to go on the grid
we started placing them in the correct positions.
The fans had to be in the right position as the wir-
ing/connection points have to be in line.

You can see the Jason Bruges team and the One
Dot Zero organiser discussing the position. In the
next picture you can see us students placing the
fans in position and connecting the wires to the
fans.

At the bottom left you can see Dean checking the

video footage taken. The video recorder recorded
the whole process of assembling the grid to do one
of them ‘fast assembly’ videos.
CONCEPT OF WIND/LIGHT
FANS AND AEOLIAN TOWER
Here you can see several
pictures of the Wind Mall
ready for the One Dot Zero
event.

After testing to see if it

was working it was given
the clearance ready to be
displayed.

Here you can see some of

the results I have captured
with my camera. In the
picture directly to the left
you can see the large fan is
generating wind in the bot-
tom right part of the grid.
As a result only you can see
loose circle showing the
more intense part and the
lights dimmer where the
wind is less.

In the bottom pictures

you can see the grid being
displayed for a selective
audience showing differ-
ent patterns based on what
graphic was shown.

I have also shown pictures

of P3 for that evening, it
seems red was the colour of
choice.
AEOLIAN TOWER /SSL WORKSHOP
Here are pictures of the tower that was to hold 1200+ wind-to-light fans outside of the BFI Southbank.
In the picture directly above you can see the base on which the tower was to be placed. The even distribution is
to ensure the tower doesn’t fall over in the wind or for whatever reason. In all the pictures above you can see a
‘spaceframe’ type of construction is created to disperse the load of the tower. In the picturs above you can see
that the framework is hend together at several positions.
In the top left you can see the holes on which the crane will attach to the tower to
pull it off the ground and descend it onto the base shown here.
The picture to the far right shows the length of the tower to be erected. It is very
tall and will be higher than the bridge adjacent to the the BFI allowing multiple
views of the fans.
Once we arrived at the SSL workshop there was in excess of 800 The wind guide on the back of the component was not need- Once all the wind guides were cut off we needed to connect that component
fans ready to be made. Here is a box of the bottom part of the ed and needed to be cut off as they were to be placed against the propellor component with the base component. To do this we had to
fans that needed to be adjusted. mesh. To do this we used pre-cut holding slots and a scalpel. screw open the top part, connect it with the bottom and screw it back in.

Above you can see

the template ex-
ample. Unfortunately
the mesh that was
delivered was the
wrong size as you
can see to the right,
therefore additional
to the work of con-
necting the fans to
the mesh we also had
to bend open holes
for them using pliars.
This small error made
the task so long and
caused the schedule
to change from one
day work to two days
of work. Here you can see two of westminster students along with Jason Bruge’s people trying to work out and assemble the fans
to the mesh.
 From top left to bottom right:

The aeolian tower was sectioned off on site from the

public and connected to the crane to lift.
Before it was lifted the constructors connected the
crane to the tower, made sure it was safe and then
they started moving the tower across.

There was wheels attached to the bottom of the tower

so that the could move across the floor as the other
end was being lift up by the crane.

The constructors used a loosely built step/wall system

of wooden planks to stop the wheels, then cause the
tower to rise as the crane pulled it up. Once the crane
was now off the ground the workers started taking the
wheels off.

Once the wheels were off the workers kept an eye on

the bottom of the tower, guiding it physically if need-
ed with a connected piece of rope. I presume this was
also to stop it swaying.
AEOLIAN TOWER
From here the tower was moved into position with su-
INSTALLATION AT THE BFI pervisors keeping an eye on it from the bridge above.
Here you can see the same constructors about to connect Using the rope as a guide and slow movement from the Both constructors guide the bottom of the tower in place
the base of the tower to the top. crane driver the tower slowly descended into position. and give feedback to the crane operator

Now that the tower is in place the workers make sure it slots Here you can see the worker starting to tighting Both workers screw the bolts in position to make sure that
in properly the tower is secured. In the picture below to the left you can
see him hammering in a bolt to secure the two pieces.

To the right are two pictures of the crane and the tower.
In the first one you can see a man has been ascended on a
platform to disconnect the crane now it is in position. In the
second you can see tower is completely detached and the
crane is moving away.
CONCEPT OF WIND/LIGHT
FANS AND AEOLIAN TOWER