Tri-Lux
A digitally fabricated system that translates the gyroid structure found in butterfly wings into an architectural form. Tri-Lux explores the spatial and structural potential of naturally occurring geometries, translating microscopic complexity into a performative architectural form.
Close up of Butterfly Wings
A gyroid occurs in isolated facetted crystallites with a pronounced size gradient. When interpreted as a sequence of time-frozen snapshots of the morphogenesis, this arrangement provides insight into the formation mechanisms of the nanoporous gyroid material as well as of the intracellular organelle membrane that acts as the template.
Butterfly wings are made of a hard material called chitin. Around 2008, people discovered that the chitin in some iridescent butterfly wings is made in a gyroid pattern. The spacing in this pattern is very small, about one wavelength of visible light. This makes light move through this material in a complicated way, which depends on the light's color and the direction it's moving. Butterflies have naturally evolved a photonic crystal based on a gyroid.
Process
The process began with a simple cube. Curves were added to define the gyroid-inspired form, which were then used to generate a surface. A single module was rotated and duplicated to create a base of four units. This base was then stacked to form the complete gyroid cube.
