biorhythm - cymatics (1/3)

Around 2005 I created a couple of visualizations and algorithmic design-patterns for my friend Nik Schweiger. Nik just founded his design label 3deluxe/biorhythm in Berlin and was working on a concept for the conversion of the Café Moskau into a multifunctional venue and recreation center.
His design subdivided the building into areas of contemplation, communication und conclusion.
The formal aesthetics, the ornamentation and the layout of the spatial organization should be deduced from the phases of the chladni figures.

Ernst Chladni invented a way to visualize the modes of vibration of a rigid plate. By drawing a violin bow over the edge of a sand-covered metal plate he made the plate resonate. At certain frequencies of resonance, the sand forms into spontaneous and symmetric patterns.



Today this is more commonly achieved with loudspeakers and a electronic frequency generators. The effect is not limited to sand but works similar with fluids or grain.

When the plate vibrates with certain frequencies, it begins to resonate - the waves running through the plate and their reflections from the edges interfere with each other - they amplify or soften each other and therefore create standing waves. Various areas of the plate vibrate in opposite directions and at the boundary lines between them, where there are no or only few vibrations, the sand particles settle and collect.


In the next post I will describe a simple method to visualize the various chladni figures in software...