The University of Arizona College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture Material Labs is an extension of the University of Arizona’s pedagogical mission to provide environments to explore, model, fabricate, and test design ideas. The labs encompass a 9,000 sq. ft. facility providing a professional quality environment and equipment accommodating a wide variety of materials including metals, woods, concrete, ceramics, glass, plastics, CNC tools and digital fabrication.
Students Learn RhinoCAM!
MecSoft Corporation recently had the opportunity to sit down with Paulus Musters, the Material Labs Manager at the University of Arizona College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture to discuss how RhinoCAM is an integral part of the multi-year learning process for students in his Material Labs classes. Read the complete case study here! Here is an excerpt of what Paulus had to say about RhinoCAM.
“We use Rhino exclusively for 3D modeling and design so RhinoCAM is an excellent fit for us. Learning RhinoCAM is integrated right from our beginning classes where students learn how to integrate toolpaths into their design projects and run the g-code on our ShopSabre CNC routers.” Paulus Musters, Material Labs Manager, University of Arizona College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture |
RhinoCAM and the Trombe Water Wall
Designer: Eddie Hall
The Trombe Water Wall shown below was designed by Eddie Hall, manufactured at CAPLA and shipped and assembled in Washington DC for the Solar Decathlon competition held by the Department of Energy. This building process is a thermal mass eco-friendly system that uses water as the primary insulation material.
The hydro-containment cells within the walls are vacuum formed from recycled plastic. The advantage of this building design are many. The system is lightweight and can be quickly shipped (empty of water) to the build site, assembled and then filled with water. Using water as the thermal barrier is proven to be several times more efficient than concrete and offers a beautiful interior design affect. The hydro-containment cells can also be extracted from and entered back into the plastic recycle system as a renewable building materials.
More about Paulus Musters
“I am a maker and a teacher. It’s my pleasure to start with students, some of whom have never picked up a hammer, and guide them over time to develop into people who can make anything they dream of, anything they draw, out of any material.”
Paulus is the Material Labs Manager at The University of Arizona College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. You can read more about Paulus here!
More about the Material Labs at the University of Arizona
Interested in the Material Labs at the University of Arizona? Here is additional information links about each lab.