Nine 3D-Printed PLA Resonators Turn Fabrication Waste Into a Tuned Sound Field in Georgia

An installation called Ninefold: A Distributed Resonant Field is on view at the Reeves House Visual Arts Center in Woodstock, Georgia, through September 24, 2026. The show features nine large-scale 3D-printed forms, each acting as an acoustic resonator tuned to a distinct harmonic frequency. What sets it apart from most gallery sculptures is the material: every piece was printed from PLA waste collected from campus fabrication laboratories.

From Makerspace Scrap to Sound-Producing Form

The project was developed by Hyojin Kwon of design studio Pre- and Post-, percussionist and composer Jeremy Muller, and architect and material researcher Misri Patel. The team gathered discarded PLA from makerspaces, shredded it into pellets, blended it with virgin material, and ran the mix through a pellet-based additive manufacturing process. The fabrication intentionally left variations in translucency, color, and layered deposition visible across each surface rather than sanding or finishing them away.

That choice is central to what the work is doing. The recycled content is not hidden. It is the point.

Nine Frequencies, Nine Forms

The nine forms were generated computationally using reaction-diffusion algorithms, which produced geometries that continuously expand, contract, twist, and fold. The result is not a set of identical objects. Some grow into tall, slender columns. Others widen into chambers or narrow toward their centers. Each one was tuned during the design phase to a specific frequency in a harmonic spectrum.

When installed together, the nine resonators create a distributed sound field. The audio does not come from a single speaker. It moves through the room from multiple points, and the relationship between the objects shifts as a visitor changes position. Standing in one spot gives you a different chord than standing ten feet away.

The acoustic concept draws on Edgard Varèse's idea of organized sound, and on the spatial thinking of composers and architects including Iannis Xenakis and Le Corbusier. The installation treats the gallery as a single instrument rather than a space containing separate objects.

A Dual Exhibition on Material Reuse

Ninefold is paired with a second exhibition called Plastic Reimagined: Material Agency & Circular Design, developed with students from Georgia Tech's graduate architecture program and curated by Carolina Cuevas. That show examines how discarded HDPE and PLA can move through computational design and large-format fabrication to become architectural components rather than waste stream material.

The combined program runs through September 24. On August 20, the Reeves House is hosting a Night Viewing event: an artist panel with Kwon, Muller, and Patel, followed by a live 60-minute performance that activates the nine resonators in a darkened gallery.

Admission is free. The objects were also fabricated in modular sections, which means they can be transported and reinstalled elsewhere rather than being single-use gallery pieces. That is a practical detail with philosophical weight in a show about material longevity.