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The Big Data Institute model by Finlay Whitfield
现在
2020
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The Big Data Institute model by Finlay Whitfield

刊登 17.06.2020
Make modelshop

We’re holding the week-long Future Modelmakers 2020 digital showcase to celebrate the work of students graduating from modelmaking degree courses this year. They’re missing out on the New Blades graduate show and recruitment fair due to coronavirus, so we wanted to celebrate their work and promote some of the models that several students have worked on at Make as part of their work experience.

 

Client The University of Oxford
Scale 1:100
Dimensions 1100mm (l) x 700mm (w) x 700mm (h) x 400mm 
Time to make 8 weeks
Materials Brass etchings, acrylic, lime timber veneer, PLA 3D prints, resin 3D prints
Modelmaker Finlay Whitfield

The project

The Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford is a medical research building dedicated to complex analytical research into the causes, consequences, prevention and treatment of disease. It’s Make’s fifth building for the university.

What was the purpose of the model?

At Make they wish to have a presentation model of all of the completed projects for a showcase. Like Alex the year before with The Barn and Marcus with The Luna, I had the Big Data Institute at Oxford University. After speaking to the lead architect, Pete Matcham, I learnt the BDI had three big features that needed to be strongly communicated: the atrium space, the thin floor slab, and its horizontal louvres wrapping around the building. The atrium space was brilliant because it was from the basement level all the way up to the glazed roof; I presented another way to see the interior floors of the model and how they interlink. 

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How did you make it?

I started off by making a test model that demonstrated how the LEDs would work in the thin floor slab, along with the finishes used. Once this was signed off, I proceeded to build a Rhino CAD model where I organised and prepared components for laser cutting, 3D printing and CNC machining, and decided which bits would be made on the workshop machinery. Once the CAD model was finished, it was a process of laser cutting the majority of components, then spraying them for assembly. 

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Were there any interesting material choices, finishes, details or techniques in construction?

The floorplates were made from a sandwich layer system – the slab was 5mm with a 5mm soffit, so the main plate was a 4mm sheet with a 1mm skin on top with etched linework. The 4mm sheet had a channel cut out for the LEDs to sit in, with the 5mm soffit being a translucent acrylic to disperse light throughout the floorplate.

The horizontal louvres were made from brass etchings, so they were sprayed with a metal primer before an anthracite cellulose spray to represent the material in reality. The glazing had tiny holes cut out for the louvres to sit in. The tips of the louvres were dipped in a tensol solution that then could be attached to the glazing with dichlo (aka dichloromethane, or methylene chloride, a common PLA adhesive).

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Did you face any particular challenges and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge I had to overcome was figuring out how the louvres would work on the model. Calculating the shape, how many segments would slot into the glazing, would the edge of the etching sit against the glazing as a strip? We tested the various options on the test model I made, and found having three points on each louvre that intersected the glazing worked best, as it was quick to locate on the model, and three points of contact meant the louvre didn’t move.