[p2p-research] open structures' modularity revolution

[Michel Bauwens]

thanks Eric, I planned this for the 18th,

Michel

On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 10:13 PM, Eric Hunting <erichunting at gmail.com>wrote:

> Here's my take on the Open Structures project.
>
>
> The Open Structures Project (http://www.openstructures.net/pages/1)
>
> In recent years a large number of Open Source hardware projects have
> emerged, exploring the potential of community based technical development
> that was once largely the province of software. Among these, some of the
> more interesting are those that pursue platforms or modular systems for some
> spectrum of uses rather than a single design or device. These seem to
> suggest a growing awareness of the once generally overlooked but critical
> paradigm that distinguished the computer and software industries from those
> of the past and which has been largely responsible for their exponential
> pace of advance; the reliance on shared technology platforms supported by
> global communities of alternately cooperative (in the context of interface
> and interoperability) and competitive (in the context of
> cost/performance/design) developers and manufacturers. Observing the
> powerful disruptive impact this has had in these industries, many are coming
> around to the notion of re-creating this kind of Post-Industrial revolution
> in other areas -with some of the greatest impact likely in its application
> to tools and building systems where there is a potential to realize the same
> kind exponential cost/performance advance in the general sphere of
> manufacturing and the chronically progress-resistant application of housing.
>
> The Open Structures Project is one of the more ambitious of these
> platform-oriented open hardware projects and it takes some of its cues from
> the work of designer Ken Isaacs; perhaps the first developer in modern
> history of a deliberately open building system known as Matrix -later to
> evolve into Box Beam and todays Gridbeam. There are similarities to Matrix
> in the basic type of framing systems OS employs with many structures, though
> they have gone much farther toward establishing form factor and
> interoperability standards across a variety of applications, materials, and
> types of framing. Whereas Matrix defined a modular dimensional system
> confined largely to the wooden beams used in construction, OS attempts to
> define a volumetric grid affording a volumetric interoperability for any
> number of structures and elements regardless of function. This is similar in
> nature to the Japanese 'ken' system of organization deriving from tatami mat
> dimensions and associated rules of proportion that was once the basis of
> traditional Japanese architecture. They then established databases or
> catalogs of components and kits/structures, all open designs, that can be
> combined freely into a larger habitat. These databases function as both a
> dissemination channel for designs as well as a market for those produced by
> designers as a small business.  In effect, the Open Structures system is a
> 'habitat platform' built on the foundation of its dimensional grid that
> extends from individual pieces of furniture, tools, and machines to entire
> complexes of buildings and potentially incorporates all the functional
> elements of a self-sustained human habitat. Quite an ambitious objective
> and, since this is still a relatively new endeavor, only a fraction of the
> necessary elements have so far been developed and remain largely
> experimental. Still, the current work is impressive and the founding group
> has managed to stage a number of public exhibits.
>
> Having followed OS from its earlier stages, I've noticed that this
> promising project has seen a somewhat slow pace of advance despite its
> relevance to the open technology movement. This project seems to have been
> overlooked by the larger Maker community in the US and Europe, perhaps
> because of its lower-tech nature, and, in this author's opinion, deserves
> much more attention even if it is not yet making home fabbers and robots.
> There are few others looking into things at the level of a whole habitat
> platform and that ambitious idea deserves more exploration.
>
> Eric Hunting
> erichunting at gmail.com
>
>
>
> On Jul 22, 2010, at 8:30 AM, Michel Bauwens wrote:
>
> > Hi Eric,
> >
> > could you also discuss the following for our blog:
> >
> > see
> >
> > = The OS (OpenStructures) project explores the possibility of a modular
> construction model where everyone designs for everyone on the basis of one
> shared geometrical grid. It initiates a kind of collaborative Meccano to
> which everybody can contribute parts, components and structures.
> >
> > URL = http://www.openstructures.net/pages/1
> >
>
>


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