DeepForest

Concept / 2019 / Engineering concept

Can you make a space invisible from outside, with as little material as possible?

Can a region be made invisible from outside using as little material as possible? Using a single type of L-sectioned object, we generated an arrangement that hides a given region from view. Ten thousand observation points were scattered at random through the region to be hidden; from each point, taken as the origin of a polar coordinate system, the open lines of sight were measured, and one object was added in whichever direction was still open. This was repeated until no further placement occurred. A thousand runs were generated, and the arrangement that succeeded with the fewest objects – 754 – was adopted. How the interior is seen was evaluated position by position, with a further condition that the contrast against the areas clearly visible from outside should be large.

SPACE

The adopted arrangement: 754 L-sectioned objects. Elevation above, aerial view below

COMPUTATION

Sightlines cast in every direction as the observation point moves, measuring the angles still open. Blue is hidden from outside, red is exposed

DATA

Programme	Concept
Year	2019
Exhibited / Published	LIXIL eye No.19, Architecture on Paper 07: Deep forest for grasshoppers, 2019