NAU‘s proposal (finalist) for the 2007 New National Library of Czech Republic Competition stands as a symbolic representation of the Czech culture; its past, present, and future. The focus of the project revolves around the dichotomy of two main spaces–the National Archive and the Universal Collection–which are wrapped by an exterior membrane. At the bedrock, the monolithic tower containing the National Archive twists into a lifting gesture towards the city center. Anchoring the tower on the opposite end is a two-story Universal Collection, horizontally floating above the ground. The external skin creates a continuous void of public spaces above and below. Transparent and permeable properties are available in this envelope, offering an array of climatic and acoustic functions including: complete transparency at the top, perforations for skylights in reading rooms, windows in office spaces, and permeable openings in the ground floor. Read the rest of this entry »
Ascending Twist in Czech National Library / NAU
Aeolus – Acoustic Wind Pavilion / Luke Jerram
Designed to make audible the shifting patterns of the wind and visually amplify the ever changing sky, the acoustic and optical pavilion is a large musical instrument. It is an Aeolian harp, designed to resonate and sing with the wind without any electrical power or amplification. The project was designed by Luke Jerram, a multidisciplinary artist known for his large scale public engagement artworks. The idea of investigating acoustics of natural elements was conceived during the artist’s research trip to Iran in 2007, when Jerram interviewed one of the Qanat desert well diggers. Read the rest of this entry »
Project Distortion – Reality Altering Parametric Installation
Made up of over 151 individually tuned sound and light cones, “Project Distortion” is a parametric installation that mixes light, sound, space and infinitely altered reflections into fantastic reality. It is a result of teaching-based research collaboration between CITA, Department 8 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York.
This mobile pavilion is digitally fabricated and reconfigurable, focusing on acoustic and visual performance and its interaction with the visitors of the Copenhagen Distortion Festival at Pumpehu, where it was exhibited in 2010. Splashing curious fragments of light onto the ground and its surroundings, the mobile installation visited four music venues during the festival taking center stage outdoors, in a small nightclub, on the street and in a crowded lobby. During the all-night parties, visitors could inhabit the structure that revealed a kaleidoscopic golden surface reflecting movement, light, sound and color. Read the rest of this entry »
Secret Garden Installation – Investigating Texture and Fluidity of Natural Systems
The installation is a composition of three biomimetic pieces created for the Milan Design Week 2012. This project, designed by Zaha Hadid, is located in Milan’s Brera neighborhood, in the garden between the Academia Art Museum and historical roman houses. Together with Paola Navone’s installation, Hadid’s piece constitutes the ambiental whole named The Secret Garden.
“The composition of each of the three showcased works is derived from the intricate beauty of organizational systems in the natural world. These fascinating scenarios are established when energy is applied to geology–developing a geometric set of repeated growth and erosion cycles.
Each piece, immaculately crafted in marble by Citco, invites further investigation; revealing formal complexity, repetition and textures that celebrate the detailed process and fluidity of natural systems – a persuasive manifesto of nature’s unrivalled logic and unity; a journey of discovery into the forces of their creation.
The exacting arrangements, structural integrity and precision of these natural systems inform a rich architectural language with the inherent capacity for complex programming. Read the rest of this entry »
Your Sound Galaxy/ Olafur Eliasson
Your Sound Galaxy, is a new combination geometric installation light fixture by Danish-Islandic artist Olafur Eliasson that focuses on a user-based interaction between compound geometric forms. Your Sound Galaxy consists of twenty-seven polyhedra suspended from the ceiling and arranged in two horizontal, concentric rings. The polyhedra are further arranged in an ascending clockwise sequence, increasing in the number of faces per polyhedron as the sequence advances. These concentric circles are organized into nine ‘families.’ ‘families’ consist of three polyhedra each, which are organized within the circles like slices of a pie, where the two outer ‘dual polyhedra’ and one inner polyhedron make up one ‘family.’ The ‘dual polyhedra’ relate to each other in that the number of vertices on one match the number of faces on the other; the inner polyhedron is a physical combination of the two. Read the rest of this entry »
HouseSwarming Installation is an Environment-Sensing Device / Didier Hess
HouseSwarming is a site-specific installation designed by Didier Hess, for the Art Center College of Design, California. It was specially commissioned for the “Open House” exhibition, designed and produced by Ubersee. The project uses sensor-node technology that transforms it from a lighting source into an environment-sensing device. It is a responsive structure that mimics biological systems and natural patterns. Read the rest of this entry »
Biomolecular Self Assembly / Skylar Tibbits + Arthur Olson
Studies on self assembling structures continue, as Skylar Tibbits and Dr. Arthur Olson of MIT in collaboration with Autodesk Research present project Biomolecular Self Assembly at this year’s TEDGlobal 2012: Radical Openness.
While programmable self-assembly has been studied at the molecular level for some time now, this project promotes the idea of using energy to interactively reassemble molecular structures. Instead of using smart robotic systems to construct these structures (like Gramazio & Kohler did in their flight assembled tower), kinetic energy found in extreme near-zero gravity environments or places of high altitudes, space, or underwater, could cause polarized particles to self assemble. “Imagine using wave energy underwater to trigger the self-assembly of multistory structures, or parts dropped from high altitudes to unfold fully erected structures, or even modular, transformable and reconfigurable space structures!”
Three components–geometry, energy, and attraction–are needed for self assembly. Particles assemble as in a biological model of enzymes to specific geometries, creating the most stable geometrical structure after a process of weeding out bad bonds and re-assemblies. Read the rest of this entry »
Aluminium Extrusion Bench / Heatherwick Studio
Designed by Heatherwick Studio, these seating structures are made from a single piece of aluminium. Without any fixtures or fittings, the component is created through a specific aluminium-extrusion process, resulting in unexpected forms of raw and sculptural qualities.
The aluminium extrusion process is usually used to make smaller section components for façade systems, train carriages, automotive parts and so on. A large press capable of exerting up to ten thousand tons of pressure creates the extruded sections by squeezing aluminium through its die (the opening that forms the shape of the profile to be created). The aluminium emerges in a raw unpolished finish which is then cut and sometimes shaped; each cut piece of bench then undergoes 300 hours of polishing. If pieces of the extrusion are not used they are melted down and made into further billets. With technological advancements, this principle finally found its application in the design industry, making it possible for the eighteen years old idea for the Extrusion Project to be realized. Read the rest of this entry »
Chrystalis (III) is a Self-Organizing Sculpture / Matsys Designs
The project, whose morphology attempts to break away from the initial geometric input, is a barnacle-like structure that continues the current architectural discourse of integrating form, growth, and behavior. The tendency is to cross over from architecture to biology, creating a self-organized structure but retain design control through use of different software and digital tools. Conceived and fabricated by Matsys Designs, Chrystalis (III) sculpture is in line with the studio’s previous work, as it explores emergent relationships between architecture, engineering, biology, and computation.
The cells are organized across an underlying substrate plane. They shift and slide across the surface as they attempt to find a more balanced packed state through the use of a relaxed spring network constrained to the surface. Each cell is composed of two parts: a cone-like outer surface made from cherry veneer and a non-planer inner plate made from poplar veneer that stresses the outer cone into shape. Each of the 1000 cell components are unfolded flat in the digital model, digitally fabricated, and hand assembled. Read the rest of this entry »
Customizable Apple Accessories Offer New Self Expressions / Uncommon
Launched in 2009, Uncommon‘s mission is to offer its clients the option to individualize Apple product accessories with unique designs. Currently, customers have the option to print their own digital photos or featured designs by a selection of artists onto their accessories. Uncommon is the first manufacturer to offer mass customization with proprietary 3D TATT® printing on plastic to customers. Clients may also buy ready-made cases. Read the rest of this entry »