Phase 2: Schematic Design
Week 11: March 17, 2012-March 20, 2012
The more I continue to analyze and translate the barrel cactus into architecture, the more I question how I am doing in terms of approaching my topic of biomimicry accurately. I had an interesting past week. I went to BRIT, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas and spoke with a very helpful Barney L. Lipscomb. Barney helped me to understand that there are 6 species of barrel cactus and that I am studying the Ferrocactus genus/Echinocactus genus (what is commonly known in the America's as the barrel cactus). Barney also helped give me some names of highly regarded biologists and researches that I am currently attempting to communicate with about the project.
On a design note, this past week I dove back into the insides of the cactus. I am a visual person and because of that I decided to dissect the closest thing I could find to a barrel cactus, and that was a prickly pear cactus. Dissecting the prickly pear was very helpful to understand what the cortex tissue really is and how it works. I was amazed by the thickness of this water storage tissue and how moist it is inside. This led me to designing the cooling pads another way. I still think they need to be an absorbent natural material like cotton, but I think their design should relate to the cortex tissue and its cells. Take a look at my new ideas and inspirations...
This Thursday I have an appointment with a professional knitter/crocheter and am going to try to improve my crochet skills in order to achieve the look I want.
