MIT Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering | Design Minor
UC Berkeley Master’s in Mechanical Engineering | Design Concentration

Physics Fabricator - Stapled
Student - Spring 2018

Constructed five structures from individual staples to push the limits of the connections and surface tension of the staples with each other. The five structures are a tower, a box, an arch, and two curtains. Used molds to create the tower, box, arch, and one of the curtains. My design method was inspired by cubes created by Tara Donovan and rammed earth method.

The tower was created using a triangular prism mold and using vibration by hitting the sides of the mold to allow the staples to settle and fill in gaps to increase any interlocking. This method was based on how Tara Donovan created her cubes. A plate was clamped to push down on the staples to pack them tighter and this mold was filled three times and stacked. This meant that a tower higher than the mold could be built as in the rammed earth method.

The box was created using two cube molds, vibration, and the packing method.

An arch was created with a cylindrical mold also using the vibration, squeezing, and stacking method.

The first curtain was built using compression by filling a mold, and the staples were later hung in tension.

The second curtain was made using tension by holding up a thin layer of staples at the top of a sheet of metal and hanging staples off of this layer and building upon the staples already hanging in tension. The added staples were sprinkled on top of the existing staples while the supporting sheet of metal lay at an angle.