{"id":971,"date":"2025-08-06T13:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T13:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inventorics.com\/?p=971"},"modified":"2025-08-13T09:56:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:56:11","slug":"cluster-2-the-detergent-bottle-as-building-block-from-geometry-to-pattern-to-surface-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inventorics.com\/?p=971","title":{"rendered":"CLUSTER 2: The Detergent Bottle as Building Block: From Geometry to Pattern to Surface Structure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In this part of our ongoing exploration into how detergent bottles can become building blocks, we return to the idea of designing the shape of the bottle. Not by changing the form in complex ways, but by applying what we\u2019ve learned from space-filling geometry.
Instead of completely transforming the bottle, we focused on minimal modifications, while making it suitable for a second life as a modular element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Revisiting Space-Filling Grids<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a previous post<\/a>, we explored how space-filling solids (like the truncated octahedron) could approximate the shape of a detergent bottle. We tried mapping detergent bottles into these grids or developing add-on components to match the geometry.
But what if, instead of adding parts or forcing bottles into a system, we subtracted the geometry from the bottle itself?
This approach allows the bottle to become part of the space-filling grid while remaining functionally unchanged but with a surface structure that enables bottles to interlock after use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig.01: Adding and subtracting truncated octahedrons within the space-filling grid.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our first attempt was to subtract and add solids, almost like turning the bottle into a Lego-like unit that could stack directly. We used the truncated octahedron, but quickly realized the form was too dominant. The bottle lost its character and became too bulky and unfamiliar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we scaled back. Instead of reshaping the entire bottle, we focused on its two flat faces\u2014typically the front and back. By intersecting these surfaces with a smaller-scale pattern based on the rhombic dodecahedron, we created a 3D pattern that acts as an interlocking surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig. 02: Boolean intersection using the rhombic dodecahedron grid.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unlike traditional 90\u00b0 designs, this pattern is based on 120\u00b0 angles, allowing for criss-crossing layers.
Advantages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n