TILT collaborated closely with Senior Associate, James Perry from fjmt to deliver the UTS Central sun shading system. We spoke to James about the project in detail, fjmt’s design intent, the benefits working with an industrial designer to deliver a technically complicated design and how the prototyping process provided confidence in the final outcome.
What was FJMT’s original concept for the sun shading system?
Before Tilt, we had a material called ETFE (Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene – a fluorine-based plastic). Our idea was that this ETFE would provide and control the shading. We had several prototypes to test however soon realised the challenges with the material.
Why TILT?
One of our Associate Principals, had worked with Tilt previously. We started talking to Tilt as soon as we had an idea about what we wanted to do with the operable louvres.
Tilt was engaged to undertake a concept design phase – where they worked with us, the builder Richard Crookes Construction, and UTS. This process took around six weeks and TILT developed a workable concept based on what we’d documented. We needed to find out if our idea was possible within the timeframe, what
we could do and how we could expedite the process because we didn’t have much time.
As architects, Tilt’s value was in the way they translated our concept into a technically-sound approach. Tilt understood what we wanted and how to technically deliver something that was very complicated, with very limited access for installation on site.
We hold our design intent to a very high standard, and Tilt delivered and installed our design with an equally high level of quality.
How did TILT’s role fit in amongst contractors, consultants and sub-contractors?
When we initially came up with the idea of getting some aluminium cut louvres made and installed in a fast time frame, the builder was unconvinced. As soon as Tilt spoke to them, it gave the builders great confidence that we’d made the right decision. It was incredible. Essentially, we’d made a decision that helped the builders.
Tilt are great operators, and by all working together seamlessly, we were able to beautifully and quickly resolve the design.
What were the benefits of the prototyping process?
It’s a huge benefit to see the working prototype in 1:1 scale. It gave the team a lot of confidence that this was the right approach. We spent time working with Tilt to develop several prototypes because it was important to get it right.
What are the benefits of working with an industrial designer on a project like UTS?
It helped that we had a very clear design intent. What you see as the end result is what we had documented (in terms of the design idea). Working with TILT helped to resolve how we would technically be able to get our design to work. Industrial designers understand the engineering behind a feature – that’s not our expertise as architects.
Tilt also had a lot of helpful fabrication knowledge. It’s the collaboration that makes it successful – Tilt were able to turn our design into a reality.
Read the full case study below: A detailed look at the discovery, design and construction of the UTS Central Sun Shading System.