Material reality has become plastic. Technology of design and technology of manufacture alters materiality breeding what can be called synthetic materiality. This is a constructed set of surface effects resulting from the mixture of actual material properties and geometry-induced properties of digital operations. In the most captivating mixtures, the real and the virtual become so intertwined that one perceives a new synthetic materiality. The optical and tactile sensations produced by these surfaces bring a new lushness to design research.

-Heather Roberge

Between the Sheets is an elective technical seminar at UCLA’s Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design initiated by Heather Roberge.  In brief, technical seminars at UCLA engage in focused design research in areas of digital fabrication and materiality, typically producing 1:1 prototypes of architectural systems or objects.  The specific ambition of Between the Sheets is to explore the potential of using SPF (superplastic forming) of aluminum as a fabrication process to develop a rain screen cladding system.  The specific tolerances of the SPF process, as outlined by Superform USA, a pioneer of this technique in Riverside, will serve as formal constraints for the development of the system.  The image above is Bioform, a gallery installation at Artist’s Space in New York, designed by Heather Roberge and fabricated by Superform USA.