This project is a process of active negotiation with polystyrene using 'Aggregations & Granular' as the operational tectonic organisation. The pre-set system of 'Aggregations & Granular' is treated as a design activity and forms the focus of our research enquiry. We do not seek to impose our will but to understand and respond to the 'feedback' of polystyrene particles, observing the implications of forces applied to the material in three different ways. In the end, we draw conclusions based on the behaviours of polystyrene aggregates in relation to the testing of its own limits and parameters. The behaviour of polystyrene aggregates are investigated under three different contexts. At the heart of each field of enquiry is a physical, iterative approach, applying the rules of 'Aggregations & Granular' i.e. a pre-defined set of tectonic rules to engage with polystyrene in a 'bottom up' way. //
1 // MACRODYNAMICS
External force is an event treated here as a 'catastrophe' because it destabilizes the aggregation. // The process of change as a result of the catastrophic event is dynamic. Time plays is an important role in the transformation of the polystyrene aggregates. // The zone of impact (in all dimensions) is unique for polystyrene. the volume of aggregates affected is directly related to local structural details of the material, its collective properties as well as the properties of interactions between individual particles of polystyrene. // But what happens at the intersection of 2 impact zones? Do aggregates push together to form a composite ridge? Or ...? // The fluidity of polystyrene is illustrated here. Due to the material's low density an circular form, the field of polystyrene auto fills itself after the immediate impact. This is also influenced by the limit of polystyrene's angle of incline. Repeated impacts doesn't necessarily produce multiples of the initial depth of displacement.//
2 // STATIC ELECTRICITY
The way that polystyrene aggregate changes under the force of static electricity can be controlled to create seemingly random results. It is precisely the manipulation of the 'environment' rather than the end product that constitutes the design of aleatory architecture. The material can be said to be able to adapt and find their own responses to structural or spatial disruptions. These granular material determines all local adjacencies and arrangements autonomously. // Violent disruptions to the environment (or parameters) under which polystyrene aggregates behave can cause drastic changes to the resultant form. Chance plays an important role here. The challenge is to allow chance and structural disorder to generate meaningful and useful forms.//
3 // SURFACE TENSION
Polystyrene's inherent low density and therefore its lightness makes the material extremely sensitive and responsive to extrinsic stimuli, however miniscule or minor they may be. The surface tension of liquids can therefore influence the aggregation of polystyrene in obvious yet surprising ways. Similar to the effect of static electricity on polystyrene, these unbound granular materials behave in a random, heterogeneous and somewhat self-organisational way. // We noticed that polystyrene naturally aggregate together when they are placed on the water surface. Water movement and surface tension as well as static electricity inherent to aggregates themselves interact to cause this assembly process. // Tension and stress systems of polystyrene aggregates are similar to soap bubbles under a stable formation. // What happens if a great disturbance is created on the medium in which polystyrene is dispersed? Again, here, we are manipulating the environment to influence aggregation, rather than direct manipulation of individual aggregates themselves.
