Architect 2014-07.pdf

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To achieve the desired
sound reflection or
absorption across a panel
surface, HouMinn Practice
used a Grasshopper
script to help determine
the wire placement
that would form the
topography of the
VarVac Wall panels.
AwArd
Varied Cable Mold
Polystyrene sheet
cables
Plywood frame
VarVac wall panel
Houminn Practice creates
one-off Panels witH minimal
waste, energy, and material.
“Custom fabrication allows architects to overcome what
some consider the scourge of repetition in building
components. But it also can be wasteful. For instance,
variable molding, which is used to make one-off
architectural surfaces and finishes, conventionally requires
a mold that is discarded after a single use. Blair Satterfield
and Marc Swackhamer, principals of HouMinn (pronounced
“human”) Practice, located in Minneapolis and Vancouver,
British Columbia, set out to streamline the technique, cut
costs and waste, and still allow for “endless variation,”
Satterfield says. Along the way, something remarkable
happened: They eliminated the need for a mold.
Juror Bill Kreysler was enthralled. “It’s huge,” he said.
“Forty percent of the cost of making a panel is just creating
the shape. Taking that whole issue of cost out of the
equation is a big breakthrough.”
HouMinn’s efforts culminated in the VarVac Wall, an
ornamental, acoustically absorptive wall installed at the
University of Minnesota School of Architecture, where
Swackhamer is an associate professor and director of
the M.Arch. program. The white plastic panels have an
undulating, non-repeating topography of mounds and
bubbles, some of which are sliced to expose the underlying
green, acoustical fabric.
Each 0.08-inch-thick panel was molded with just
heat and gravity. First, HouMinn stretched wires across
a plywood frame. Then they took a flat polystyrene
sheet, heated it until it was pliable, and laid it across the
cables, where it slumped into the voids. The resulting
bubbles could be exaggerated with a heat lamp, while the
rudimentary cable mold could be modified ad infinitum.
“As we actively reduce the mold itself, the material becomes
more of a voice in the conversation,” says Satterfield, an
assistant professor at the University of British Columbia.
Juror Gerardo Salinas saw larger applications for the
firm’s process. “There’s potential to use this technology to
wrap a whole building,” he said. Kreysler added, “Forming
a material builds into that material’s inherent strength.
There’s nothing that says you can’t create catenary arches.”
ARCHITECT JULY 2014 WWW.ARCHITECTMAGAZINE.COM