Performance Enhancing

3 units

The term Performance has many meanings that are either quantitative, qualitative, or both simultaneously through a range of design professions. The suggested goal of Performance is an optimistic enhancement to a designed entity or idea and holds the potential to be highly provocative relative to the method it is deployed when arguing for a particular design procedure or effect. The double entendre suggested by the term performance relates to both how the system technologically improves a functional aspect along with a more theatrical act of performing. Design in both architecture and fashion relies on both interpretations to create a multi-dimensional discourse necessary to advance conceptual design investigation. The seminar class will explore issues of performance of complex surfaces at the scale of the human body. The class will consist of lectures, discussions, readings, physical material manipulation, and 3D digital modeling and digital fabrication. The use of Rhino (with T-splines and / or Grasshopper) or Maya will be deployed for the digital design of the skin systems. Material systems will be explored initially through manual experimentation and then combined with the digital investigation for the final a digital fabrication using tools such as 3D printing, lasercutting, CNC milling, and thermoforming, resulting in a final garment for the human body. The class is offered to both fashion and architecture students and the investigations would occur in teams of two where ideally one from each discipline is represented.