Though I can’t be sure exactly what the architects, engineers, metal smiths, and mathematicians behind Seeyond had in mind when they chose to name their parametric design-build system, I can make an educated guess that it had something to do with this aphorism: “To the Infinite and Beyond.”

Seeyond Parametric Design-Build System. Created by Seeyond.

Seeyond Promises Unprecedented Variability and Precision for Non-Load Bearing Walls

The product, which is more of a functional manufacturing philosophy and process than a tangible item, was designed to combat the uniformity and limitations of cubicles and other conventional office partitions. Seeyond has actualized this goal with “a user-controlled parametric design and building system.”

Sounds seriously hypothetical, I know, but I can assure you that Seeyond is every bit a living, working, and tremendously exciting concept. With the help of the company’s own computer specification tool, called Tess, Seeyond allows architects and designers to specify a type of feature, then modify its size, shape, relief patterns, and lighting, before exporting the data into machine code for fabrication.

Seeyond works with any material that can be cut and scored with a CNC machine. Once the latter does its work, individual pieces are folded and fitted with high-performance rare earth magnets for assembly. The upshot is that the imaginative contents of the architect’s or designer’s head are brought to full three-dimensional reality in no time flat.

The technology is still young, and most products that have been created with Seeyond are prototypes assembled in the company’s manufacturing facility. But some projects have already been commissioned, including a freestanding enclosure for a PR firm and an illuminated restaurant wall.

As far as materials, the technology is tremendously versatile, but Seeyond has mostly chosen to work with cellular resin for its recyclability and light weight. Other likely contenders include monolithic resin, sheetmetal, and MDF.

Base pricing for Seeyond ranges from $50 to $85 per square foot—not bad for a burgeoning technology that promises to create unprecedented shapes and objets d’ art, not to mention wall-mounted structures, ceiling clouds, column wraps and partial enclosures… “Elegant, powerful and efficient, Seeyond empowers your infinite imagination.”

About the Manufacturer: The creation of Jonas Hauptman, Paul James, and Walter Zesk, Seeyond is a parametric design tool that gives designers and architects the ability to devise nearly any shape, size, and texture of non-load bearing wall and see it emerge after a CNC-cutting process as reality before their very eyes. “Seeyond Architectural Solutions exists to bring your imagination to life. To make custom specialty structures more affordable and accessible. But mostly to consistently deliver on the promise of your unique vision.”