The New Architecture of Phase Change MANIPULATING ICE USING TRADITIONAL AND DIGITAL METHODS Pieter Sijpkes and David Theodore School of Architecture, McGill University The paper presents speculative avenues for constructing 3-D ice models at various scales using traditional fabricating methods and modern CNC and rapid-prototyping techniques. Canada has a long history of using ice and snow for the construction of houses (igloo), ice palaces, and ice roads, in some cases dating back thousands of years. These techniques will be reviewed and evaluated for their suitability in modern uses. Computer-driven ice imaging and production methods present many opportunities and challenges. On the software side, we will speculate on how to use parametric software for form-fi nding; on the hardware side, we will refl ect on how to translate these models into task planning for ice-building machines. Initially, these machines will be off-the-shelf robots and rapid prototyping machines, but we envision using specially constructed “cold irons,” “re-icing” robots, and automatic “ice bricklaying” machines. Vapour deposition on a substrate is envisioned as well. An overview of the design and adaptation of water delivery systems, through drip or spray nozzles, as well as methods of cooling water through natural or artifi cial means will be given. The role of additives (for colour and / or strength) will be outlined. 32 ACADIA 2007 THE NEW ARCHITECTURE OF PHASE CHANGE Pieter Sijpkes, David Theodore INTRODUCTION and the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Center This paper outlines an experimental project for the for Intelligent Machines, includes Prof. Jorge Angeles, design and construction of ice architecture at various an expert in robotics; subsequently, some of our trials scales, partly inspired by the long history of harness- also involve using material delivery systems attached ing phase change processes in other materials. Our to robotic arms, or using larger robots as construction three-year study, builds on a history of ice architecture workers that mimic the movements of human bricklay- in Canada, in Quebec (Figure 1) and in particular at ers. Ultimately, we hope to invent techniques that will McGill University.1 Since 1971 we have experimented inspire others to create sculptural and architectural with building nylon reinforced hyperbolic paraboloid (inhabitable) works, and deliver them to a broad and shells, catenary arches, and pisé-work domes out of ice. interested public, designers and lay people alike. We propose to add modern computer driven modeling and production methods to the age-old skill of snow PHASE CHANGE AS A MANUFACTURING PROCESS and ice construction. The three basic methods for creating form in compu- Our project literally proposes building a house, or a ter-controlled fabrication are subtractive, additive and hotel room, or an ice sculpture, as easily as we dispense formative (moulding) processes.3 All three have workable ice cream cones or make architectural models using analogues for ice architecture: traditional ice sculpting rapid prototypers. Ice architecture has strong poten- with chisels corresponds to a subtractive process, while tial for further formal and technical development even natural icicle formation and building from ice blocks beyond the speculative research plan we propose here, are additive; everyone who has ever made a snowball or given the current understanding of the material and a snowman knows about formative processes. But most computational possibilities: software + hardware + mate- signifi cant for ice is the possibility of manipulating rial. CNC milling of ice, for example, has tremendous phase change, from vapour or liquid to solid. business potential in the commercial ice sculpture indus- Induced phase change in manufacturing is a very old try. A Volkswagen Polo Twist, was CNC-sculpted from process. It has been applied to many diff erent materials. blocks of ice for a celebrated “guerrilla ad” in London, For example, a gelatin mould is a simple device that, England, in 2004.2 Note that for us rapid prototyping is combined with temperature manipulation, will form a generic term meant to include all manner of methods liquid gelatin into a self-supporting solid. Until the for transforming 3-D computer models into 3-D objects mid-1800s metal smiths dropped molten beads of metal using computer-controlled production techniques. Our (copper, bronze, silver) and let them solidify to various speculations thus go beyond the confi nes of additive sizes, thus using surface tension as a form-giver. Shot “ink jet” rapid prototyping and include techniques such towers were used to form perfect spheres of lead for shot as contour-crafting, vapour deposition (using moisture- by dropping drops of molten lead a long way into a vat.4 saturated air), and the deposition of super cooled water. Phase change is also important in traditional ways of The project team, based in the School of Architecture building. Liquid mud, for instance, can be moulded into FIGURE 1 “Old Father St. Lawrence Shaking Off His Winter Coat and Making Ready for a Good Summers Work.” FIGURE 2 Icicle; Reversed Icicle; Frank Lloyd Wright’s perspective drawing for the Illinois (Mile High Tower). EXPANDING BODIES: ART, CITIES, ENVIRONMENT 33 DIGITAL METHODS OF FABRICATION AND CONSTRUCTION adobe bricks. Closer to home, the pure-snow igloo was reinforced by melting the inside surface and refreezing it, thus forming a solid ice shell supporting the snow dome so that it could resist the weight of a polar bear. In using computers to create form with ice, this potential for manipulating phase-change is crucial. NATURAL ICE In far northern (and southern!) latitudes, widely diver- gent ice formations are a common sight. Nature itself displays water in many diff erent ways, and some of these natural processes may be harnessed to suit modeling or building. For instance, did Frank Lloyd Wright use an icicle as his model for “The Illinois,” his mile-high tower project for Chicago? If not, maybe he should have (Figure 2)! Icicles can be structural forms, too. How big can icicles become? Niagara Falls photos show icicles of twenty feet long and more, their ultimate size depending on wind and humidity.5 Experience in the arctic shows solidifi cation of water vapour in very delicate forms such as the frost-like icicles that form on the metal of Quonset huts in the artic.6 Can this process be duplicated in a computer-controlled production process? It has been common in Northern climates to harvest river and pond ice throughout the winter months and store it in insulated icehouses, to be used for the cool- ing and preservation of food throughout the summer. The McCord Museum has a fascinating collection of photographs dealing with ice harvesting.7 Harvested ice blocks were also used in the construction of dramatic ice palaces, which were erected in cities such as Montreal, Quebec City and Minneapolis-St. Paul as centre pieces of winter festivals, as long ago as 1884 (Anderes and Agranoff 1983; Latouche 2005).8 A very detailed study and pilot project “ICEBOX-Fab- rikaglace,” which proposed using the cooling energy of winter-accumulated ice for summer cooling purposes Top to bottom: was done by the Canadian Federal Government’s Depart- FIGURE 3 Water sprayed on stretched nylon ment of Public Works in Ottawa and Quebec City between double-curved subsurface; McGill University 1976 and 1984. The study is very complete, and it con- 1975 (30 feet high structure, 1" thick ice shell). tains a treasure trove of data on rates of ice accumula- FIGURE 4 Catenary Ice Arch McGill University. 2000 blocks cast in 2 liter milk cartons tion, nozzle design, and general ice-thermodynamics supported by temporary wooden form work that will be of great use to our project.9 More recently, (thickness 4", span 20'). Harvard-MIT research scientist Moshe Alamaro has FIGURE 5 Snow cast in curved plywood forms proposed bulk freezing as a way to store water in the for Ice Pantheon, McGill University, 1996. winter.10 In summer the melt water could irrigate dry Northern areas of the USA. These days the melt energy of ice is used for commercial cooling large buildings, the way small-scale ice blocks were used for domestic cooling for centuries. Similar bulk depositions are already in use for rec- reational ice architecture such as ice climbing.11 Such bulk or mass deposition is a potential method for a 34 ACADIA 2007 THE NEW ARCHITECTURE OF PHASE CHANGE Pieter Sijpkes, David Theodore CNC carving process; robots could sculpt the mass into layer-by-layer in a freezing chamber (Liu et al. 2002; Bry- inhabitable forms. In later phases of the study, we will ant et al. 2003). These researchers vaunt the low-cost of use the Multimodular Manipulator System (M3) robot ice prototypes, as well as the environmental benefi ts of (designed by a team led by R. Patel and J. Angeles), to using water in comparison to other deposition materials. service and maintain aircraft and space structures, But for us, translating the techniques into architectural composed of three modules, altogether forming a sys- scale production remains the fi nal goal. tem with 11 controlled axes with a vertical reach of 3.5m The project has three main technical hurdles: form- and horizontal 2.5m. The idea is to use bulk deposition, giving, water delivery systems, and adaptation of current and then either a) use the robot to mill the ice based on modeling and CNC software to the unique challenges CAD models or b) cut the mass into ice blocks and use of making ice architecture: How can we use the phase- the M3 to stack them, working much like a traditional change from water to ice or from vapour to ice creatively? bricklayer or stone mason.