OYSTER SHINGLES

Fourth Year - 3D Printed Ceramics - Adam Marcus

These Oyster Shingles reintroduce texture and biodiversity to the uninviting underwater world found around many industrial waterfronts in the Bay Area. Focusing on the Olympia Oyster, 3D printed slumped clay shingles are designed to experiment with and optimize oyster spat adhesion. A variety of textures and porosity generated by both digital and manually manipulated techniques create a range of spatial opportunities for an unpredictable environment. The shingles are printed flat with a clay 3D printer and then slumped on a digitally fabricated formwork to dry. Connection holes allow this modular system to be attached vertically and hung with simple stop knots to create a porous yet sheltered undulating surface water can flow through.

Surface optimization and texturization from a modular system produces a foundation for a range of species & habitats to grow. Similar to the process of layering extruded clay to create these shingles, we hope oysters will be able to layer and cluster akin to a natural oyster bed.

This body of work focuses on both the digital and manually manipulated techniques to create a range of spatial opportunities. Physical adjustments of speed and extrusion during the printing process can create irregularities and find material limits. Digitally fabricated extrusions are further manipulated by hand to create a range of tactile vessels. Glazes made from scratch preserve fragility and enhance texture in new ways. Using both the hand and the machine creates opportunities for craft and precision by combining both old and new techniques in ceramics.

This body of work explores 3D printed clay as a technique to push material boundaries and create texture. Physical adjustments of speed and extrusion during the printing process can create irregularities and find material limits. Digitally fabricated extrusions are further manipulated by hand to create a range of tactile vessels. Glazes made from scratch preserve fragility and enhance texture in new ways. Using both the hand and the machine creates opportunities for craft and precision by combining both old and new techniques in ceramics.

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Architecture at its core has two simple purposes. One is to create a visual landscape that sparks wonder inside the viewer, while the other is to respect and provide benefits to the ecosystem where it is built.

I graduated from California College of the Arts studying architecture. I am highly interested in material science, chemical engineering and the manipulation of existing materials through innovative fabrication processes. The future I see is not only formally and functionally beautiful but sustainable, efficient and accessible. We must challenge the possibilities of "now".