Chelsea Watson
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100x100 Computational Design Challenge

Throughout 2020 I created 100 computational designs in 100 days as a way to learn creative coding and explore generative art

Day 73 - Alma

alma-4.png

This week I’m learning about the women of the Bauhaus and creating sketches inspired by their work. Today I’m paying homage to Alma Siedhoff-Buscher (1899-1944). When Almas started at the Bauhaus in 1922 she was originally assigned to the weaving workshop with the other female students. However, after a year she was able to transfer to the wood-carving department, but only if she stuck to designing for children. Play was an important element of the Bauhaus curriculum, and Alma’s work exemplifies this principle. While she created colouring books, dolls and furniture for children, Alma’s most famous design was her Kleine Schiffbauspiel ("little ship-building game") which consisted of 32 primary coloured geometric wooden blocks. Sadly, Alma was killed in an air raid on September 25, 1944.

I’ve mostly stayed away from 3D as it feels like a whole other world. I got a pep talk from John Maeda last week that encouraged me to at least play around with it, and thought paying tribute to Alma would be a great excuse to do just that. After all, women don’t just think in two dimensions (suck it, Gropius).

Drawings:

Sketch:

x = -300
y = -300

function setup() {
  createCanvas(700, 700, WEBGL);
  background(245)
  noStroke();
  smooth();
}

function draw() {

  translate(x, y);
  ambientLight(255);
  directionalLight(255, 255, 255, 255, 255, -100);
  rotateX(mouseX / 2);
  rotateY(mouseX / 2);
  rotateZ(mouseX / 2);

  let shades = ["#F5BE00", "#2F2F6B", "#C4001E", "#3F5E2D"];
  let shade = random(shades);
  c = color(shade);
  fill(c);

  let shapes = [box, cylinder, cone];
  let shape = random(shapes);
  if (shape == cone) {
    rotateZ(22);
    shape(random(15, 25), random(15, 35), 5)
  } else {
    shape(random(15, 25), random(15, 35))
  }

  x = x + 60;

  if (x > 300) {
    x = -300;
    y = y + 60;
  }

  if (y > 300) {
    noLoop();
  }

}
Chelsea Watson