Posts filed under 'Interactive'
The SplineGraft project sets up a reactive environment in which sound dampening panels are continuously reshaped by a network of actuating devices, triggered by user movement. The panels are grafted into an existing environment, supported by structural racks allowing a range of different configurations. The SplineGraft can be set in different overall shapes independent of its behavior. The different parts are grafted onto each other; the profiled polyurethane panels are articulated by the configuration of the structural racks. The texture of this primary form is reshaped in real time by the control system integrated in the structural racks; a continuous form finding process with emergent patterning effects. In return, the spline ridges of the panels disperse these transformations horizontally.
Structure
The supporting structural racks are assembled from cnc-milled clear acrylic units, each integrating the actuating mechanisms, milled tracks for cabling and etched nickel brass conduits for inter-unit connectivity. The angle between each structural component can be set in five different positions, allowing the rack to be set at a convex or concave configuration, while maintaining conductive links between each part. Each rack of five units is controlled by a micro controller, steering the integrated actuators in the form of dual shape memory alloy wires. The central intelligence of each rack communicates with neighboring racks through radio.
SplineGraft behavior
The behaviour of the SplineGraft is controlled by a genetic algorithm; a computer program that simulates and compresses the geologically slow processes of natural selection to nanoseconds of computational time, in order to evolve solutions to specific problems. The Spline Graft algorithm is in this way trying to emit patterns of movement which stimulate occupation of the space it has been grafted in to. The matching of sensor readings and motor reactions in an apparently intentional way by the Spline Graft, transforms architecture into a cybernetic agent involved in the making and production of space.
SplineGraft materials
CNC-milled acrylic structural components with integrated wiring, machined polyurethane foam, etched nickel brass conductors, IR Movement Sensor, custom made PCB Cards, AVR Atmega8 Microcontrollers, Radio Modules, diverse electronic components, Flexinol® shape memory alloy actuators with protective Teflon tubes. SplineGraft was developed by Krets partners Pablo Miranda and Jonas Runberger. A full list of credits are available on the project website.
My thanks to Chris aka Pixelsumo for the tip.
February 21st, 2007
If your in Rotterdam at the moment, get down to the Graffiti Research Lab’s most recent offering. I got to see a sneak peak while I was at Eyebeam in New York a few weeks ago and I’m really pleased to see it working so well at its current venue, the ‘KPN building’ which incidentally was designed by Renzo Piano. Saturday 10th (tomorrow) is its last showing so if you can make it, be there for around 2200 hours.
KPN Telecom Building
Wilhelminakade 123
Rotterdam
February 9th, 2007
Video (8Mb)
I’m always interested in kinetic architecture so I was excited to hear about Pavel Hladik’s current project which investigates the possibility of material systems that could enable new forms of interactive environment. This project aims to find an elegant and more effective solution that can realize a controlled flexible environment. Pavel uses shape memory alloys (SMA) to create moving structures. The assembly represents an interactive structure with emergent properties. While still at a research stage, I look forward to seeing how it develops, here are more details on the project.
The material system consists of components (from spirals of SMA) that affect each other. The SMA used in the project is a material consisting of three metals: nickel, titanium, copper (NiTiCu). Because of the characteristic of the alloy the deformation could be up to 5%. The material features two structures: the Hot shape and the Cold shape. The cold shape structure is very soft and could be deformed under load pressure whereas the hot shape determines the final position of the structure. The final result is coded to the SMA during the process of its production.
Components are assembled to create an electrical circuit in addition with lightweight conductive fibers. NiTiCu spirals serve as resistance wires. Therefore they are gradually heated. The stability is provided by lock joints and Teflon foil which serves against buckling of the whole assembly. Moreover, there is a variant with strong strings that hold the particles together. Physical representative models tested the pattern as well as possibilities for assembling the position and size of components. The proposed system opens a discussion regarding the division of environments and space. The structure could be used as an “intelligent” interior division or an environmentally sensitive shelter.
website
The design of the moving structure takes advantage of the Teflon foils and Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) NiTiCu. This structure is fixed to the ground or to another structure and is a part of the electrical circuit. The reactions controlled by computer are caused by the various circuits which connect the members of spirals of SMAs. The members are covered by the layered Teflon foil which is welded to the shape which is determined by the critical shape of the whole structure.
The structure changes the shape continuously between the two critical positions. The SMAs change the shape according to the transformation temperature caused by the current passage. The deformation is about 5% but using spirals multiply the result. The transformation temperature is 30°C and that is why the spirals are covered with the heat protection covering. Two conditions of the structure come out from the characteristics of NiTiCu - the cold shape and the hot shape. The structure could be packed and transported during the cold shape position. The spirals of SMAs are welded to the joints which are connected by the system of locks which provides the stiffness of the whole structure. The structure is multilevel, and allotted chains determine the critical shape.
January 9th, 2007
The NoRA structure designed by students of Architecture & Design, Aalborg University, was presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale as an interactive architecture exploring how advanced architectural computing and sensor technology could attach the individual perception of place to temporary structures acting as agents for urban experiences. Architectural entities often closing up communication with the urban environment were questioned in a media architecture where the ‘capsules’ of urbanism contains a particular quality.
Excellent Paper that supports the Nora project and explores the ideas of Performative Urban Environments by Ole B. Jensen & Bo Stjerne Thomsen
Video of the making of Nora
In this way the moveable structure of NoRA embedded the potential for ‘in-between’ spaces to become new meaningful places and hence new types of ‘public domains’. This thinking leans on Performative Environments as a notion of what a building does instead of what it is, opening up for an urban architecture to be dynamic, open and facilitating self-organising, communicative environments for an organized complexity between flows of local interactions and network behaviour.
The design concept for NoRA was initiated through fluid dynamics software absorbing site characteristics as cultural movements, light and shadow into the organic mass. As a build structure NoRA was transported to the Island of San Servolo in Venice and programmed to release its variable sound and light scheme according to the movements of people around the building as well as a acting as a medium and stage setting for the users of the program facilities to project into the urban environment.
See Website
Here’s a full list all those involved, and my thanks to Bo for informing me of the project.
January 8th, 2007
Dune 4.0 by Daan Roosegaarde is an interactive landscape which physically changes its appearance in accordance to human presence. Placed in the main corridor of Montevideo, Dune 4.0 is composed of hundreds of fibers which react in correspondence to the movements and sounds of the visitors. Daan described this as a "hybrid of nature and technology " which "functions as a platform on which the relationship between visitor and the existing architecture is enhanced. By means of looking, walking and interacting, visitor and space merge into one coherent environment which could be best interpreted as a kind of Alice in Technoland”.
Dune 4.0 is part of a series interactive installations I make called ‘Liquid constructions’. There is Liquid Space, 4D-Pixel, Liquid 2.0, Wind 3.0, Dune 4.0 and for the U3 Triennale in Slovenia his is building Flow 5.0. Check out Regine’s recent interview with Daan about Dune 4.0 on wmmna.
January 5th, 2007
In December William J. Mitchell presented The Zaragoza ‘Digital Mile’ (detailed info) to the students at the Bartlett. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance up till now to write about it so here’s some of the most exciting aspects of this project developed at MIT. The Zaragoza ‘Digital Mile’ will incorporate digital media into everyday aspects of the public realm to make places that respond to their users; accommodate multiple activities; and provide stories, information and services to the people of the city. It will question how can technology enhance public use and enjoyment? Can it make space more productive, or meaningful? What types of urban forms best accommodate digital media? Can it create a public realm that is more flexible and adaptable to different users, activities, or moods? How do you develop content for the media and who should manage it?
All of the spaces, parks and buildings on the Digital Mile include free, public wireless connectivity as well as open access to the digital systems and responsive media elements located along the Mile. Digital systems are programmable according to users’ wishes and thus facilitate experiences on the Digital Mile.
These are concentrated along the pedestrian path called the Paseo del Agua. The WATER WALL is an interactive fountain where people can digitally control the streams of water. With a command – by jumping into the water or sending a message through an electronic device – the water can start and stop or change in pressure. This is a monumental urban element like a canal running through
the city, but twisted into a vertical plane so that people can experience it from a distance as a landmark or interact with it directly. The intelligent streetlight system creates a distinctive atmosphere along the Mile by changing color or intensity in response to the time of day, demands for use, or artistic desires. In tandem, digital street furniture - - like café tables, bus stops, and signage — display information about such practical matters as menus, bus arrivals, or the location of available parking spaces. These digital systems are intended to make moving through the Digital Mile a seamless, entertaining, and instinctive experience. Two event places, Portillo and Almozara, anchor the Digital Mile and feature responsive digital elements to support different activities and enhance users’ perceptions of the urban environment.
Affixed to the facades of buildings, URBAN PIXELS delineate the edges of the Zaragoza Digital Mile from the rest of the city. When viewed from the air or from the ground by pedestrians, drivers, and train passengers, this ‘light’ footprint intervention works synchronously or asynchronously to emphasize different moods or zones along the Digital Mile. Each pixel unit includes a solar charging unit and can be programmed wirelessly.
The MEMORY WALK walk makes visible the way people travel through the city by recording pedestrians’ steps across a space. Every time a footstep falls on a digital paver, the paver emits an additional increment of light. As people cross the pavement, paths of light are illuminated where people tread the most; untread areas emit no light. Thus, people become aware of the traces their movements leave upon the surfaces of the Digital Mile.
DIGITAL AWNINGS are screens that can rotate in four directions: up, down, left, and right. The movement of the awnings is controlled by either pre-programming, a command by mobile phone, in response to people’s physical movements, or in the service of a collective special event. This system enhances the experience of the Digital Mile by displaying abstract, impressionistic, provocative, personalized, or integrative content, including information and images related to Zaragoza’s history or people’s real-time activities in other areas of the Digital Mile.
January 4th, 2007
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