coccolith

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Morphogenetic Construction

The task was to create a structure using an organic element as the idea, and it explores the unit and how they are building blocks toward the complex organic structure.

From research, the coccolith was deemed the most suitable for this project, and to recreate one as a unit for the structure, cotton buds, having resemblance to the scales attached to one coccolithophore, were used. Initially, dried glue 'strings' were used to join the cotton buds, but the aesthetics did not turn out well. With real strings and hot glue, as well as powder over the glue, there was improvement, but the powder did not hide the strings well. The final structure was completed when cotton pads replaced powder, and to mimick a ball of coccoliths, more than 10 other unit structures were created and joined together.

Each unit structure has two layers, closely resembling the structure of a coccolith, and each unit structure had their layers overlapped to form a ball. Given more time, this project would have extended to a cylindrical structure, with balls of the unit structures building up the cylinder.

Structure formed from cotton buds, hot glue, strings and cotton pads

2014