The FabPod project took up the challenge of designing and prototyping a meeting room enclosure to sit within the DRI’s open plan work environment on level 9 in the new Design Hub at RMIT. The project combines research into the sound diffusing properties of hyperbolic surfaces, utilising a combination of digital modelling and mass customised CNC prototyping and architectural traditions of craft production and material effects.
The design and fabrication project for the full-scale prototype began with a design intensive in August, 2012, actively engaging RMIT students, practitioners and researchers across fields of architectural design, acoustic design, computer aided design and digital fabrication.
While techniques for evaluating reverberation and absorption of sound are well developed, the diffusion of sound is a more emergent area of research. During the design intensive a digital workflow was developed to allow for the quick generation of form, geometric articulation and material distribution, the acoustic performance was then digitally simulated and fed back into further design iterations.
This process was applied to the design and construction of a meeting pod for the DRI of the full-scale prototype.
Photos by john Gollings
