Cheng Gong and Kiem Ho of the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles researched scripted panelizing systems and sought a script that would maximize control of visual and spatial effects without sacrificing variation and complexity. Ultimately they would come to call their findings “Tiling Within Tiling.” They favored scripts that allowed them to build in a higher level of variation while also creating vague, unpredictable relationships between a large multitude of panels.

First they found a way to explicitly manipulate the UVs along a 3D surface. Second, they built the panels in such a way that created continuities that were more prominent than the seams between individual panels. They looked at the artist Asao Tokolo and his 2D patterns that used repeating elements to create an unlimited number of variations and relationships.

Clean geometry and multiple levels of specificity were favored. Going through several iterations that manipulated scale, geometric flow, twisting, shearing, panel types, depth variations and different surface geometries, the team investigated the extent in which the script could adapt in creating a complex and versatile skin for the project.

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