March 21 – Kinetic Stool Pavilion

The students at Toyota Kosen pushed forward with the design-build process. After I provided them with a few additional pointers, they successfully constructed the pavilion inside one of their school buildings. The temporary site was spacious enough to accommodate the structure while giving them ample room to work around it.

As part of the project, the students implemented innovative building strategies, such as integrating VR with QR codes to manage components. This allowed them to use software guidance to determine the exact placement of each piece.

The mock-up build was a success, with all components fitting together as intended. I advised them to avoid fully securing all joints, instead only fastening the necessary connections. I was concerned that repeatedly screwing and unscrewing parts could loosen the holes, potentially compromising the structure’s stability.

Another important discussion focused on reinforcing the foundation with M8 bolts. Initial tests suggested the structure might not require them, but as a precaution, I recommended adding at least three bolts per member to ensure structural integrity.

The second iteration of the entrance design became the final version. Due to time constraints, the students were unable to explore additional refinements to further enhance the pavilion’s design quality.

Bulgaria Pavilion Sign for Expo 2025 Osaka

I was unable to participate in the hands-on construction of the mock-up build due to another project. I was commissioned to produce a sign for the Bulgaria Pavilion, which will be featured at Expo 2025 Osaka, presented by the World Expo.

The design document was provided by KMDW (Kobayashi Maki Design Workshop), the design team behind the Bulgarian Pavilion. The sign reads Болгария in Russian, meaning “Bulgaria.”

The sign consists of eight panels, one for each letter, with each panel measuring 800 × 1600 mm. The panels will be CNC-machined from black poly-lumber, a material that has a poly-coated front and back face with a softwood core.

While the overall design was straightforward, the intricate details of certain letters presented a challenge when generating the cutting data. I was using a 3mm Amana Tool 48302-K CNC Spektra compression bit, but some of the letters contained details smaller than 3mm. While there were workarounds, they would have significantly increased processing time for each board.

Given the tight schedule, I asked the designers to revise their design so that we could keep the CNC processing time to approximately three hours per board or less.