Sculptable Mesh Structures for Room-Scale Form-Finding
2026-07-09 • Human-Computer Interaction
Human-Computer Interaction
AI summaryⓘ
The authors created a large, flexible mesh structure that designers can physically shape by stretching or squishing its edges to quickly make rough 3D models. This helps designers work with real, touchable prototypes instead of just on a computer screen. The mesh has sensors that measure how it's altered and sends this info to a computer, so the rough shape can be turned into a digital model later. This approach saves time and makes it easier to link early physical models to detailed computer designs.
low-fidelity prototypingshape-aware meshresistive length sensorsCAD (computer-aided design)physical modeling3D prototypinggeometric sensingcomputational design pipeline
Authors
Jesse T. Gonzalez, Yanzhen Zhang, Dian Zhu, Alice Yu, Sapna Tayal, Nazm Furniturewala, Ziying Qi, Somin Ella Moon, Leyi Han, Alexandra Ion, Scott E. Hudson
Abstract
It can be hard to design a physical structure entirely within the confines of a computer monitor. To better capture the interplay between real-world objects and a designer's work-in-progress, practitioners will often go through a sequence of low-fidelity prototypes (paper, clay, foam) before arriving at a form that satisfies both functional and aesthetic concerns. While necessary, this model-making process can be quite time-consuming, particularly at larger scales, and the resulting geometry can be difficult to translate into a CAD environment, where it will be further refined. This paper introduces a user-adjustable, room-scale, "shape-aware" mesh structure for low-fidelity prototyping. A user physically manipulates the mesh by lengthening and shortening the edges, altering the overall curvature and sculpting coarse forms. The edges are equipped with resistive length sensors, and transmit their configuration to a central computer. The structure can later be reproduced in software, connecting this prototyping stage to the larger computational design pipeline.