DesCours Digital Fabrication being cut on Central City Millworks' CNC Router
The contemporary architecture and art festival, DesCours, uses cutting edge new media and interactive installations to lure culturally adventurous art aficionadas into new visual experiences. This year’s DesCours, presented by the New Orleans chapter of the American Institute of Architects, is the third annual week-long event. Twenty-six architects and artist teams have prepared 11 sites in the French Quarter and Central Business District.
The installations are in unseen, abandoned and underutilized buildings, giving the viewer the added sensory opportunity to appreciate the art in normally unavailable architectural gems. These hidden areas become a natural “art gallery” to display art and media to showcase works from nationally known artists. This week-long celebration of architecture and art is completely free to the art patrons willing to seek out the installations.
Twenty-six architects and artist teams prepared 11 sites in the French Quarter and Central Business District
Central City Millworks frequently works with artists and architectural students to achieve their design goals with the use of our CNC router. A CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) Router is similar to a printer for wood. Instead of creating a computer file and sending it to a printer, the CNC file is sent to our CNC Router that uses sheets of plywood as a printer would use paper. The plywood is hand loaded on a 5’x 12’ table with a powerful vacuum to hold it down.
The computer controlled router moves in 3 axis to cut out any shape to close tolerances. Complex concepts can be converted into reality easily with a CNC so many architects and artists design with it in mind. CCM has worked with Tulane Architecture Professor Marcella Del Signore cutting digital fabrications for art installations so when NanKo Studios asked her for a local shop to cut their 2009 DesCours fabrication, she recommended CCM. Nanko Studios emailed an autocad file that Rob Thornton (one of CCM’s CAD expert) then converted into a CAD file. The attached pictures show the project being cut on our CNC.
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