![Photo of Vernelle A. A. Noel crouched in front of her self-constructed blue dancing sail sculpture](https://arts.psu.edu/assets/uploads/work/_1280x720_crop_center-center_80_none/the_sail_final.jpg)
The Corporeal and Computational in Design and Fabrication of Lightweight Mobile Structures
This work describes a new approach to designing and fabricating costuming and dancing sculptures and the potential application of this system at the architectural scale.
A novel design system is presented based on the movement, form, and spatial relation of characters and dancing sculptures in the Trinidad Carnival. A system that produces lightweight mobile structures from 3D printed connections, lightweight rods, and textile is also presented.
Through a detailed case study, a new dancing sculpture is designed and a full-scale lightweight mobile structure at the architectural scale is fabricated. Fabrication of the lightweight structure is achieved using Digital Crafting and Crafting Fabrication approaches to wire-bending, which includes the early development of a digital fabrication program for rod elements.
This work has potential implications for costuming and dancing sculptures; architecture; computational design; and craft practices.
Gallery
![Computer-generated bird's eye-view image of a person standing in front of sail dancing sculpture](https://arts.psu.edu/assets/uploads/work/_860xAUTO_fit_center-center_80_none/sail_1.jpg)
![Computer-generated three-quarter-view image of a person standing in front of sail dancing sculpture](https://arts.psu.edu/assets/uploads/work/_860xAUTO_fit_center-center_80_none/sail_perspective_2.jpg)