RMIT Mace

BACKGROUND: The design of the RMIT Mace draws upon the intricate and ornamental characteristics of the historical mace, reinterpreting these through computational design processes. It was fabricated through a laser sintering process that fuses titanium powder to create a highly intricate and lightweight structure. The research project utilises behavioural processes of design, drawing on the logic of swarm intelligence that operates through multi-agent algorithms. This advances an algorithmic logic that incorporates the pragmatic constraints of 3D titanium printing (Selective Laser Melting) into the generative algorithm. CONTRIBUTION: This research project expands the application of behavioural processes of design to develop intricate mass, made possible by pushing the extremes of geometric complexity that can be fabricated using directly printed titanium. It opens up a new set of formal and structural possibilities in both architecture and product design, based on fine grain lattice structures that are both highly ornamental and structurally efficient. This contributes to Snook's ongoing research into algorithmically generated high resolution fibrous lattice structures, developing a strategy for building these lattices through direct metal printing. The project also contributes to Mayson's ongoing research developing additive manufacturing (3d printing) practices through innovative applications in product design. SIGNIFICANCE: The RMIT Mace was the subject of an essay, authored by Snooks, in a special issue Architectural Design (Volume 86, issue 6, 2016), a leading international journal published by Wiley (UK). It also appeared on the front cover of Architect Victoria (Autumn 2016) - the official journal of the Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter.