Neuronal Stool

Neuronal Stool is a series of stool created through generative design engine. It pushes the limit of the geometric complexity produced by a combination of 3d-printed sand moulds and aluminium casting.

Traditional metal casting has relied on craftsman's ability to produce moulds that is usually time-consuming and lobor-intensive. However, with 3d-printing of sand moulds, almost any geometry is castable with less time and labor. In order to fully enjoy the geometric freedom that this fabrication method offers, we developed a design engine and cast two stools as prototypes.

The design engine incorporates liquid aluminium behavior during the casting in its geometric rules to grow the curves for the stool. With this geometric rules, it generates numbers of design alternatives by changing parameters. Every design thereby produced is guaranteed to be feasible for casting as the design engine considers the material behavior of casting in the design process. Then, similar design alternatives are organized by machine learning and displayed to users. It allows users to explore a variety of designs and navigates through the vast design space.

Dimensions of the cast stools are 450*450*450mm and 350*350*600mm and they weigh 7.6kg and 8kg respectively.