The Horned Melon Artifact

Eli Agutter
Spring 2021
Research Studio 1

A structure derived from my intensive research into the horned melon. I stretched fabric over sharpened wood dowels laid out according to a melon whose horns were dipped in ink and subsequently rolled. Extensive material tests led me to choose this fabric because of its qualities when stretched. It allows light to pass through much more at the points of the dowels. I envisioned this as a much larger structure that could live as a large-scale exhibit and provide the feeling of what it might be like inside the melon. The images towards the bottom are maps I created based on three melons and prints I made at the beginning of the project. Maps were made using Rhino 7 and the plugin Grasshopper, and the Artifact was built using standard hand and power tools.