Mapping Movement

This project investigates the hidden geometries and dynamic motion within a planetary slider crank mechanism, a designed based on Franz Reuleaux’s principles of kinematics. By analyzing its mechanical behaviors through drawings and experiments, I explored the interplay of proportions, angular relationships, and their ability to generate complex patterns. This study highlights the fusion of precision engineering and artistic interpretation, revealing the unseen aesthetic potential of motion.

By dissecting its components, I unveiled cyclical geometries that trace an elegant interplay between linear and rotational motion, creating a visual narrative of the machine’s operation. The drawings highlight the circular transformations generated as the slider travels along its path, emphasizing the harmonic relationship between geometry and motion. This analytical process not only illustrates the mechanism’s inherent beauty but also reveals its potential as a foundation for exploring the spatial and kinetic possibilities of transforming mechanical principles into architectural expressions

About the project

Year

2025

Context

Personal Project

Collaborators

n/a

Guidance

Through defamiliarization, the somersaulting patterns of the mechanism’s motion are extracted and reinterpreted. Three hand-drawn studies trace the primary joint’s movements and align them in cardinal directions to reveal the hidden somersault motion. These drawings transform the traced path into a metaphysical fabric, an imagined screen in tension, forming the foundation for a larger system governed by this dynamic rule set