Router Routes

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Router Routes

Router Routes

This project extends previous work while continuing an investigation of the tool path as line. It takes its name from the digital fabrication machine used in its production—a flatbed 3-axis CNC router—and from the tooling paths (routes) that generated its final form. The two-dimensional compositions of semi-circles and squares explored in Outline expands here into a series of 2.5D carved wall panels designed for recombination into varied visual patterns. Parallel lines constitute the primary formal operation in each panel, following one of two geometries: concentric paths within a semi-circle or straight paths within a square. Twelve grooves, cut with a 1.75-inch diameter router at ¼-inch offsets, reference the fluting and fillets of classical columns. The use of oak as the panel material further evokes these precedents, recalling theories that ancient Greek fluting was used to allude to the texture and vertical articulation of tree bark. The semi-circular and square panels can be assembled in multiple configurations, with arrangements of four, six, and eight panels demonstrating the range of possible outcomes. Across these compositions, the tooling paths guide the eye from panel to panel with each concave groove terminating in a precisely registered semi-circular cut corresponding to the diameter of the router bit.