Playscape

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Year

2019

Location

Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum

Status

Built

Material

GFRP, Nylastic, Aluminum Frame

Exhibition

TechTwilight 2019 exhibits at AAHOM

Affiliation

Taubman College University of Michigan

Role

Conducted comprehensive material tests and collaborated with the School of Engineering to analyze results, optimizing structural design solutions. Researched, scripted, and fabricated custom foam tile flooring with a parametric puzzle typology for structural components. Scripted, programmed, and CNC-cut polycarbonate brackets.

Lead Investigators

Sean Ahlquist Evgueni Filipov

Researchers

Textile Design Engineering and CNC Knit Manufacturing : Tracey Weisman Yingying Zeng Structural Design and Engineering : Maria Redoutey Data and Analysis : Martin Gargaro Jie Shan Digital Fabrication : Allison Booth Ruxin Xie Christopher Humphrey Sigeng Chen

Tool Box

Rhino, Grasshopper 3-Axis Refurb CNC Router, WaterJet, LaserCut

Collaborative research in sensory-rich, inclusive environments at the University of Michigan. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other special needs can have a unique hyper-awareness of their surroundings. While this can cause anxiety and inhibit their engagement in social spaces, certain sensory experiences can spur enthusiasm, focus, and excitement for social interaction. Research led by Sean Ahlquist seeks to create responsive, sensory-rich architectural spaces that satisfy these individuals’ myriad unique, preferred environmental factors. By placing such environments within complete social settings, Ahlquist is exploring how an architectural space can create moments for inclusive experiences between neurotypical and neurodiverse children. Additionally, satisfying an individual’s sensory preferences in visual, tactile, and spatial stimulation could give neurodiverse children the confidence to explore other, more normative architectural spaces and social activities. In order to generate customized floor patterns, we developed the grasshopper definition for laser-cut customized foam tiles in our school. After few rounds of testing different tolerance, we finally got to the tightly combined flooring system.