Clay harvested from the stream bed becomes the base material to make a masonry stove that warms the Cedar Cabin. A wood fueled updraft kiln was fabricated within the Pavilion as an in-house ceramics oven for experimenting with the clay material.
Test firings confirm the terra-cotta like characteristics of the clay body, and explore it’s workability via subtractive milling on a robotic arm. Modules of various surface thickness simulate changes in heat retention during use.
From this, an overall stove geometry was developed that decreases in surface area and thickness from front to back to anticipate heat loss and maximize thermal absorption. The base incorporates refectory additives to optimize heat distribution.
The walls of the stove are milled in zones using a scraping end-effector and subsequently sliced into modules optimized for placement in the kiln to be fired.
This project is an ongoing collaboration with Jean-Nicolas Dackiw, resident robotics developer at the Architectural Association in Hooke Park.
