Tuesday, April 21, 2009

HUMAN BODY AND LANDSCAPES

Before the easter break i needed to rapid prototype some models at barttlet and for some reason the machine had broken down and Martin told me i wont be able to make the models till the break ended. since i really needed to get the models done i asked martin to refer me to some other place where i could 3d print my models. He told me about cavendish imaging.
when i got to Cavendish imaging i was confused because it was part of a private medical practice.I wondered why would they have RP machines? How would this machine be of help to them?
When i went inside i saw all these detailed models of bones and skulls sliced through different sections. these models were so detailed that i asked them were they 3d models using MAYA and some other 3d softwares, it surprised me even more to know how they were made.
Before performing a complex operation or to implant teeth in broken jaws and bones the doctors perfomed CT scans whcih gave them all the digital data and references of the desired part of the body. then the data from the CT scans were transfered to RP machines which then constructed RP models layer upon layer. These models are then carefully studied byt he doctor before he/she performs these complex operations.This whole idea and the medical usage of RP machines was new to me and it really intregued me. I have asked them for permission to let me use some of their work as case studies for my project.
I think it was so relavant to this project, even though this project deals with a really big site covering kilometres and the medical usage of constructing parts inside the body using detail scans. if we can use CT scans to construct intricate models of body parts then maybe we can use the same concept to construct landscapes using detailed topographic surveys only if there was a system which used this data to construct landscapes layer upon layer.
more visuals regarding the medical implications of RP machines will be uploaded on the blog soon.
Last year a group of students from my class in barttlet went to plymouth with shaun murray to do a workshop with university of plymouth students, this work shop also dealed with the concept of out side and inside a human body, the relationship of GPS (and other surveying devices for landscapes) and ultrasounds for human bodies. This workshop also got me thinking and helped me delvelope the realtionship of outside and inside , of internal parts of the body and landscapes.
I am designing a system which can take water from the river Gilgit and use detailed topographic surveys to manipulate the process of erosion, directing it to soft soil in the site where required to construct channels where the dwellings may emerge over time.