Created with Aran Dasan and first shown at Electromagnetic Field 2024, Aro-matic (main page) is a Solarpunk speculative futures project. A scent organ, able to blend and create cocktails of aromas. Below are some of the details of the process of computational form-finding with Rhino Grasshopper that led to the creation of the visual language of Aro-matic.
The bell, button and manifold shells
The shells were inspired by natural forms, including the fungi, Phallus indusiatus, commonly called the basket stinkhorn, which is kinda appropriate for a scent organ.
All 4 shells were created using the same method in Rhino Grasshopper.
Create a dome shape and mesh it.
Re-Mesh using the mesh machine. Triangular mesh with a setting to make it finer near the boundary, giving a more organic effect.
Take the dual of the triangular mesh to get a hexagonal mesh. (and a data dam for sanity!)
Sub-D multipipe and apply some materials for the render.
This is the whole definition.
Leading to these 3D printed forms.
I designed a base for each of them to incorporate the electronics, bell and LEDs. These were modelled in Fusion 360 or Rhino. The parts were 3D printed and assembled.
The manifold that sits under the main frame of the Aro-matic it solves the problem of routing the wires from the Arduino to the misters by making a feature of it. The shape of the manifold is based on a pebble that sits on my desk.
The button has neopixel LEDs and a button soldered inside.
The Aro-matic main Frame Structure
The main face and 8 mister holders were modelled in Fusion and 3D printed. Above, you can see an early iteration with a simpler ring and a later iteration with the Solar-punk futuristic face and a ring for LEDs in the centre.
The primitive for the frame was a low-poly mesh that I manually modelled in Rhino. The Grasshopper definition for the frame is based heavily on the exploration I did of 3D nodes for creating Domes back in 2018.
A fun challenge was integrating the Algorithmic frame with the traditional CAD modelling. Joints between different methods or different materials are always a design opportunity.
The nodes are 3D printed, and the frame is made of bamboo skewers. I made the definition output the lengths of all the bamboo sticks, hand-cutting every stick and assembling the frame, took a couple of long evenings.
