Form & Heritage

Engineering

Workshop notes

Engineering projects from the studio, outside the commissions: design studies, prototypes and the equipment behind them.

Images on this page are renders from the design models, except the photo of the topographic map.

Wood and steel wall shelf

2026Hardwood deckLaser-cut steelWelded brackets

A wall shelf for a small server rack. A hardwood deck sits on two black steel brackets with the Form & Heritage mark cut through each one. The deck keys onto the brackets from below, so no screws show in the wood.

Hardwood shelf deck on two black steel brackets, seen from below Black steel bracket with the Form & Heritage mark cut through the fin Shelf deck from above with a vent opening and mounting points

Rack power and cooling case

2026Circuit board3D-printed prototypesMetal

A rack-mount power and cooling module, from the circuit board to the case. Design versions are 3D-printed; the final case will be metal, with vent patterns sized for airflow without giving up stiffness. One version has its openings shaped by topology optimization, the method explained with the shelf bracket on the How we design page: only the metal that carries load is kept.

Airflow Even at full load, the power supply breathes only 25 °C room air. A simulation of the printed version shows five fans moving 116 m³/h through the case, and the warm air leaving without circling back to the power supply.

Airflow simulation of the 3D-printed version: lines of air pass through the case and out past five fans, colored from blue at 25 °C to red at 45 °C 3D-printed design version of the case, with honeycomb vents in the floor and side wall 3D-printed design version with five fans mounted on top Metal version of the rack case with graded round vents Rack case with fans, power supply and circuit board fitted inside Alternative version of the case with openings shaped by topology optimization

Topographic map of Texas

WalnutReal elevation dataCarved relief

Texas in walnut, with the land’s real shape carved into the surface from elevation data.

Walnut topographic map of Texas carved from elevation data, on a marble counter

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