Augmented Materiality · RMIT University · 2025
Sound frequency as generative logic. Rhythm, amplitude, and interference patterns translated into spatial growth language. Each frequency reinterpreted as structural tension and density — forming tubular systems that appear as if sound waves have solidified in space. The transformation from hearing to seeing. From time to space. Architectural rhythm driven by the physics of sound.
The project explores what happens when the invisible medium of sound becomes the primary design input. Not sound as metaphor, but sound as data — waveforms becoming structural curves, interference patterns becoming voronoi distributions, amplitude becoming material density.
Fabrication used Mixed Reality overlays (HoloLens) to guide the physical assembly of the PETG tube system — holographic cues for cutting, bending, joint spacing, and tolerance verification. Digital precision transferred directly to handcraft.
Six materials tested before PETG was selected: Poly tube, White PVC, PEX pipe, thick and thin hose plumbing tube. Fabrication tools: heat gun, warmed sand for controlled bending, nylon fishing line for tension, UPVC connections. Later material explorations added Kombucha leather, straw, and Line-X polyurea paint coating to the palette.
PETG offered the optimal combination of thermal workability, structural rigidity, and translucency — the light transmission through the tubes became a secondary spatial quality, unplanned but integral.