> Jacal Wall

Thought I would revisit some ideas I've had since the Jacal project. This is a version of Jacal Digital as a wall unit. Instead of creating the total enclosure, what if the hybrid earth wall fit into a simple box earth house? This design embeds seating, shading and storage into one wall surface.

>Jacal Physical

Full Scale. The above process is a full scale iteration of the confessional. The form is very nice yet the top seems unresolved still. Staking it to the ground is much more effective and elegant then the former base idea. Unfortunately the material is not quite stiff enough to hold a human figure. Perhaps with the mud plaster the form will be stiff enough to accept a seated person. Despite the flimsiness of the final, the form holds the body really well. Mud anyone?

>Jacal Final

The final form, with thinner pieces and more regulated structure, is produced using .08 PETFG plastic sheets. Four sheets were used to mill the final pieces. Two passes, the hole pass and the contour pass, were used for each sheet. The final pieces were milled with almost not production problems, the lessons learned from the half scale model proved valuable. Within the next day or so the final form will be pinned and constructed.

>Sub-structure acrylic

Above demonstrates at full scale integrating the weave into the super structure. The dimensions of the members are from the rhino model and show spacing currently used in the digital model. By notching the superstructure, thinner strips of acrylic could be introduced accurately and seamlessly. the scale of these notches is too bulky however. Also, there needs to be the same number of horizontal notches, as vertical notches-the striped member doesn't follow the weave logic due to the 3x4 arrangement. Is this dense enough to accept mud plaster? The spacing of the thin members leaves about a 1"x.75" gap. On the final I will use a 4x4 notch scheme with a much shallower notch, perhaps half of what is shown, allowing for the desired weave.

>Sub-structure

Two weaving approaches were taken-weave within the grid and weave within the wing nut points. There seems to be more logic and dependability from weaving within the grid. I would like to try a notched scheme that would allow the fishing line to become more integrated to the members.

>Forgive me Father for I have THINNED

Above demonstrates a rendered version of the jacal with slimmer members and more of them. Also the top conditions becomes more resolved. Instead of a thick defined end to the form, the plastic pieces will be revealed to carry the eye upward, blurring the boundary between mud, plastic, and sky.

>forgive me father for I have deSIgNNED

Half scale. At this telling scale I really got a grasp on how to achieve the final scale. Using the router produced many problems such as laminating the acrylic to osb for backing. In hindsight, laminating the plastic to MDF will produce a more reliable finished product. Using the cheap osb created many warps and caused chips and breaks in the pieces. Also, acrylic is somewhat brittle. After discovering polycarbonate, I believe this is a more suited material. Polycarbonate has a higher rubber content and is far more flexible. However despite the problems the form comes across quite seductively.