Art Exhibits

Simar Mangat, Danielle Pallo, lsha Patel

Sela emerges at the intersection of biomimicry, additive manufacturing, and lighting design to revolutionize how we imagine architectural illumination. Inspired by the micro­geometry of shark scales, the units are overlapped using a hanging system, creating a layered assembly that echoes the structure of shark skin. When mounted against a perforated brick wall, the system plays with shifting apertures and depth, producing a dynamic radial lighting effect across the facade. Integrated lighting transforms the assembly into a sculptural feature wall, while each unit can also function independently as a sconce, emphasizing modularity and adaptability.

By leveraging the strengths of clay 30 printing, Sela challenges conventional lighting fixtures, demonstrating how a traditionally heavy, earthy material can be reimagined as an elegant, luminous medium. The result is a prototype that expands the possibilities of ceramic fabrication and merges craft, computation, and atmospheric design.

Grace Liang, Nicole Chan, Ulyana Bunina

The Weave is a modular green wall system fabricated through clay-based additive manufacturing. It addresses the high cost, maintenance demands, and limited flexibility of conventional green walls through customizable ceramic modules that integrate planter cavities, structural connections, and lighting openings within one system. Its key innovation is a parametric design-for-manufacturing workflow that generates both module geometry and additive manufacturing toolpaths simultaneously, allowing surface textures, structural features, and planting cavities to be fabricated directly without molds or traditional tooling. Fabrication parameters, including layer sequencing, extrusion rate, and point displacement, are embedded in the design process, while iterative prototyping tested weave spacing, planter geometry, material shrinkage, and assembly tolerances to demonstrate a scalable approach to integrating vegetation into interior and exterior environments.

Devasrl Baxi, Kristen Chow, Jason Luu, Kalling Mal

Framed in Layers reimagines what conventional art gallery display systems could be by challenging the current notion that artwork must be separate from its display system. Historically, the boundary between art and architecture was much more discreet and architectural elements were seen as an extension of the artwork, creating a holistic viewing experience for the viewer. Currently, the reintroduction of historic ornamentation in contemporary galleries would be unaffordable; clay 3D printing enables the opportunity to archive a modern reinterpretation of architectural ornamentation. By merging architectural ornamentation with large-scale 3D clay printing, modules are created that can support and enhance the display of artworks. The stepping motif is inspired by the Brion Tomb, a cemetery designed by Carlos Scarpa for its poetic simplicity. Due to its modular design, it can adapt to artwork of any size. Framed in Layers represents multifunctionality in 3D-printed clay modules, proposing a modern take on gallery display systems.

Mohadeseh Naderi, Tuyasin Jubaida Mou

MAPLE KEY is a modular partition system developed through ceramic additive manufacturing. The project explores how clay 3D printing can create an interior architectural element that is expressive, functional, quick to assemble, easy to adapt, and efficient in both production and use. Rather than copying conventional building units, it uses additive manufacturing to produce a repeatable clay module that filters space, light, air, and visibility. When assembled into a larger screen-like structure, MAPLE KEY defines zones without fully separating them, preserving openness and visual permeability. Its modular logic allows the system to be expanded, rearranged, or customized for different interior conditions with minimal complexity. With potential applications as a decorative screen, plant support, or light-integrated feature, the system responds to contemporary needs for adaptable, sustainable, and visually rich interiors.

Patricia Poiana, Isabella Radusinovic, Sophia Chalk

Inspired by the Pediastrum Duplex, a fresh water algae cell, PhoeVe conveys a transition of scales from the microscopic to the macroscopic dimension. Inspired by the original cell boundary, the system as a whole follows a radial pattern, and is adapted to follow existing masonry system parameters, and stretches outward towards a square boundary. The system holds many qualities: performing as a screen, providing visual interest while modulating light, shadow, and airflow, and incorporating a sculptural element into a standard wall assembly. Structurally, the arrangement of each unit is important to the reciprocal distribution of loads and transfer of forces into the adjacent wall system. Through this joinery, the system’s strength is optimized by its rotational symmetry and internal distribution of loads. The varying apertures on either side of the piece creates unique profiles, inviting the viewer to move around it and experience the differing perspectives to the assembly. This balance between technical resolution and artistic beauty is a constant challenge faced by Architects. PhoeVe works to unify these aspects by creating a seemingly weightless system, which seeks to engage and capture visitors through the use of cost-saving sustainable materials and practices, and bring attention to the elegant geometry of the microscopic world.