Heureka — Xiliu Yang

Xiliu Yang

I am a researcher, builder, and designer working at the intersection of computational design and robotic fabrication, spatial and interactive interfaces, and human-machine collaboration.

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Hygrofold

Index

2020
Heureka Science Museum

Project Lead: Yasaman Tahouni, Dylan Wood, Tiffany Cheng (ICD)
Research Assistants: Xiliu Yang, Ahmad Razavi, Ekin Sila Sahin
Photo Credit: Institute for Computational Design and Construction

Read more about it and watch the video here.

Hygrofold combines hygroscopic wood laminates and 3D printed bio-filaments to create a shape-changing curve-fold mechanism that actuates through humidity changes, without external energy input.

I was a research assistant working for Yasaman Tahouni on this project. I was responsible for designing and prototyping the printed meso-structure that encloses the bi-layers.

To modulate the shape-change, I built a Grasshopper script that generates variable print paths across the element (centre, fold seam, and wing). These gradients were iteratively refined by partially printing out the elements and evaluating the stiffness and visual effects. The key was to make sure the layer thickness and density were neither too constraining (limited movement) nor too flimsy (breakage over repeated actuations). This took many rounds of testing before arriving at the final design.