Posts filed under 'New Materials'
If your building interactive architecture, its obviously not just about understanding digital technology, you have to have an understanding of all the materials in construction that would lend themselves to interactive spaces. I’ve just got hold of this book Transmaterial: A Catalog of Materials That Redefine Our Physical Environment and I’d recommended it to anyone interested in particularily interior design or interactive installation design. To support the book is an interesting website with the occasional material getting shown online. Here’s their blurb ‘With more than 200 materials, organized by category, described, pictured, and annotated with technical and sourcing information, this catalog is an essential tool for any architect or designer interested in keeping up with the rapid developments in the field of materials, looking for a source of inspiration for their designs, or just eager to get their hands on real materials in an effort to understand the incredibly innovative palette now available to us.’
Website
January 30th, 2006
Last night I was at the smart materials event at the Dana Center in Londons Science Museum where a number of interesting materials that could be potentially applied to interactive architecture. I personally didn’t find anything that was mindblowingly new but it was good to talk to some of the people in this industry and discuss the future uses of these materials.
An obvious way to start an overview of Smart Materials should be to provide a definition of Smart Materials. However, beyond the completely accurate but not too useful, “a material that displays smart behaviour” that is easier said than accomplished. To define a Smart Material we really need to understand what is meant by Smart behaviour and then, by means of some examples, to develop our definition.
Smart behaviour occurs when a material can sense some stimulus from its environment and react to it in a useful, reliable, reproducible and usually reversible manner. A really Smart material will use its reaction to the external stimulus to initiate or actuate an active response, e.g. with an active control system. Whilst this is perhaps a more useful definition examples from familiar items would help at this point.
There are some materials that are designed to change their colour at a particular temperature. They find uses in bath plugs that show when the bath water is too hot, children’s feeding spoons and coffee or tea mugs. Gromit’s nose on the PG Tips mug is a very recent example. Technically this is described as “thermochromic” behaviour where a thermal stimulus causes a useful optical response.
Smart behaviour is therefore the reaction of a material to some change in its environment, no material can be Smart in isolation, it must be a part of a structure or system such as the bath plug, the spoon or the coffee mug.
Another interesting heat responsive material is Oricalco
This men’s shirt by Corpo Nova is woven with titanium, which allows the fabric to react to temperature shifts. The shirt holds its wrinkles when bunched up, and then instantly relaxes when exposed to a current of hot air (as from an electric hair dryer). The shirt can thus be ‘ironed’ while its user wears it.
Here’s a project at MIT using Smart Materials I really love called Puddlejumper
Puddlejumper is a luminescent raincoat that glows in the rain. Hand-silkscreened electroluminescent lamps on the front of the jacket are wired to interior electronics and conductive water sensors on the back and left sleeve. When water hits one of the sensors, the corresponding lamp lights up, creating a flickering pattern of illumination that mirrors the rhythm of rainfall.
more on Smart Materials soon to come…
January 20th, 2006
Ferrofluid is a very interesting material originally developed by NASA it has now found itself been used for a whole range of devices including dampers for controlling and stabilizing large building that move around in the wind. Whats also amazing is that they have such lovely visual qualities when magnetized. 
The term liquid architecture is used a lot in interactive architecture based on the ideas of how architecture becomes animated by adding the 4th Dimension of Time. Sachiko has taken this idea of liquid architecture more literally with these stunning sculpture made from Ferrofluid which changes its state by the introduction of electro-magnetic waves into the fuid turning it solid. 
Words can't describe so just enjoy this beautiful video from wmmna
December 27th, 2005
NEC Corp. said Dec. 7 it has developed a thin, pliable battery that can be charged in about 30 seconds. The new product, 4 centimeters square and 0.3 millimeter thick, can light a light-emitting diode for about 20 minutes after being fully charged.
NEC Paper-thin Battery
I can think of hundreds of applications for technology like this and especially coming with the new e-paper and flexible display technologies coming onto the market in the coming few years. Unfortunately it only has a relatively short lifespan but could be ideal for wearable devices.
Fujitsu e-Paper – Bendable Color Electronic Paper
via gizmodo
December 15th, 2005
elementlabs
One of the many interactive hypersurface technology companies on the market.
Below are two of their products the Versa TILE and Versa PIXEL
Versa TILE
Video – I feel a little sorry for the kid.
How does it work?
Each tile is edge-lit by LEDs to give smooth light output. Like building blocks, tiles can be placed together in any configuration. Proven LED video display technology lets Versa TILE produce a broad spectrum of rich, saturated colors—as well as flesh tones, browns, grays and other color not possible with conventional lighting technology.
How is it controlled?
Each single Versa TILE represents one pixel on the screen of a PC or Mac. What you see on the computer display is what you get on Versa TILE—whether video or still images. Content can be created using any graphics program or adapted from widely available stock imagery.
Versa TILE is currently available in two versions to suit both rental applications and permanent installations. Sizes for each version include 50 cm x 50 cm (25 tile) and 1 meter x 1 meter (100 tile).
Versa PIXEL
What I think is great about this new product is its ability to be used for flowing architectural spaces.
Versa PIXEL is a new product line from Element Labs released at PLASA 2005. Its distributed architecture gives designers complete freedom over pixel shape and placement – including intricate 3-D arrangements.
December 9th, 2005
Not that I would consider carpet my first choice for interior design, its interesting now how more and more inteligent systems are being introduced into furnishing products such as carpets.
Carpets with inbuilt intelligence can now run office functions such as climate control, alarm systems and guidance technology. A partnership between two German firms, carpet maker Vorwerk Teppichwerke and semiconductor specialist Infineon Technologies has created a ‘Thinking Carpet’, equipped with sensors able to manage a range of control functions in the office of the future
For instance, pressure sensors can report an alarm as soon as people enter a security zone. In the process, intelligent software solutions are able to analyse the signals, even individually. Thus an alarm is triggered, for example, only when traces of movement commence on a window or an emergency exit, but not at free-access entrances. Security zones can be individually defined and individually controlled on a time-frame basis as well. As soon as registered signals are additionally relayed to a security control centre, the point of alarm (break-in or fire) can be localised precisely in a matter of seconds. Besides this, pressure sensors in the carpet can also be utilised as door-openers and light switches, or as electronic counters for people, too.
In combination with shatterproof LED modules, the ‘Thinking Carpet’ also becomes a controllable guidance system. For example, in this case light-emitting diodes in the carpet mark the shortest route to an emergency exit. The combination of different sensory functions (pressure, temperature and motion) can additionally enable the detection of people lying motionless on the floor, triggering a call for emergency help.
from wmmna
November 14th, 2005
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