A field of motion sensitive rods provided the first opportunity for interaction inside the ESI Design’s Shanghai Corporate Pavilion at the World Expo 2010; photo by Basil Childers
Few aspects of product development have seen more innovation in the past decade than lighting design. Legislation and consumer demand have hastened the evolution of energy efficient solutions and programmable software now enables infinitely customisable lighting scenarios. Architonic examines some shining examples of products and projects that demonstrate the diverse and unusual possibilities offered by these new technologies. (by Alyn Griffiths) (more…)
This poetic installation ‘For those who see’ is the final year project of the German designer Daniel Schulze who recently graduated at UdK (Universität der Künste) in Berlin. It is composed of a matrix of 7 by 7 boxes which individually release synchronized signals of smoke in the air. The pressure for the ascending smoke is generated by vibrating speakers, which are vortexing the air at a perfectly circular opening. (more…)
'A Parallel Image' by Gebhard Sengmüller, photo by Julius Höhne
During this year’s Transmediale, the annual festival for art and digital culture in Berlin, the Austrian artist Gebhard Sengmüller presented his impressive installation ‘A Parallel Image’. It consists of a camera and a monitor which are connected through 2 500 cables.
A Parallel Image' by Gebhard Sengmüller, photo by Julius Höhne
Gebhard Sengmüller explains: “A Parallel Image” is an electronic camera obscura. This media-archaeological, interactive sculpture is based on the fictive assumption that the currently still valid principle of electronically transmitting moving images, namely by breaking them down into single images and image lines, was never discovered. The result is an apparatus that attempts a highly elaborate parallel transmission of every single pixel from sender to receiver.”
A Parallel Image' by Gebhard Sengmüller, photo by Julius Höhne
The installation was realised in collaboration with Franz Büchinger, supported by Fels-Multiprint.
A Parallel Image' by Gebhard Sengmüller, photo by Julius Höhne
A Parallel Image' by Gebhard Sengmüller, photo by Julius Höhne
At this year’s ‘Passagen’, one of the major frame programs during the imm cologne, the Belgian designer Wendy Legro presented this poetic, interactive and modular sun blind and illumination system.
'Morning Glory' by Wendy Legro
“In the morining the sun slowly arises as mother nature’s sign for us to wake up. Our body gradually prepares for our daily activities. As the day comes to an end, and the sun sets, curtains are being closed while lights are switched on.”
'Morning Glory' by Wendy Legro
“This product works autonomously with a light-sensor. During the day, mechanical flowers on a frame attached to a window are closed enabling sunlight to come in.
When sun sets, the flowers open and start to emit light. In this way, awareness for this important phenomenon will be brought back.
My self-set guidelines are based on the mathmatical perfection of nature. I wanted the flower to display nature’s growing motion.
The hexagonal shape enables different flowers to be linked together; fully covering a window. The flowers are made of nylon with the SLS-technique used in rapid manufacturing. The material is flexible and strong, without losing its delicate look”, the designer explains.
The US artist Daniel Rozin currently presents his interactive installation ‘Weave Mirror’ within the Decode – Digital Design Sensations exhibition at the V&A in London.
With his 10 meters interactive installation ‘Flow 5.0’ the Dutch artist Daan Rosengaarde won this year’s Dutch Design Awards in the category Best Autonomous Spatial Design.
Made from hundreds of ventilators, photo by Lotte Stekelenburg
“Flow 5.0 is an interactive landscape made out of hundreds of ventilators which reacts on your sound and motion. By walking and interacting the visitor creates an illusive landscape of transparencies and artificial wind.”
'Flow 5.0' by Daan Roosegaarde, photo by Lotte Stekelenburg
Clients: Evolving and upgraded at Studio Roosegaarde. Commissioned by new media festival TodaysArt, The Hague, NL. Prototype commissioned by Kapelica Gallery, Ljubljana, SLO.
With thanks to: Peter de Man (partner in sound & interaction), Mark van Meerkerk, Marnix Rijnart and Johan Otten (Studio Roosegaarde). Photography by Lotte Stekelenburg and movie by Ward ten Voorde. Made possible with the support of JET GmbH, Mondriaan Foundation and Royal Netherlands Embassy.
PROJETiONE is a collaborative thesis founded by four students from theInstitute for Digital Fabrication at the Ball State University in Indiana, USA. With their kinetic installation ‘MorphoLuminesnece’, which is just one example of a range of impressive interactive works, the institute was represented at this year’s BEYOND MEDIA, the Florence based festival for visionary contemporary architecture.
MorphoLuminesence by PROJECTiONE
Here is what the designers explain:
“MorphoLuminesence is a kinetic ceiling prototype, originally described as a simple surface in Rhino. The surface was triangulated into panels or ”petals” using a combination of the PanelingTools plug-in and manual modeling based on a specific tessellation logic. “Morpho” consists of these kinetic petals, laser cut from white acrylic, which hang from stems of clear tubular acrylic with planar elbow joints. The acrylic tubes were laser cut using custom fabricated jigs to create angles and grooves along each piece. The compound joints of each petal were created using unique laser cut acrylic angles and pivoting model airplane hinges. The surface is actuated using monofilament attached to small, high torque servos. The servos are mounted to acrylic towers above the MDF top surface, providing maximum leverage. Variable value RGB LEDs, above the petal surface, are tuned across the visual spectrum to provide a wide variety of lighting effects.”
MorphoLuminesence by PROJECTiONE
“The MDF soffit was modeled in Rhino as a network of the stems. Although the original form was a NURBS surface, the tooling patterns and g-code where generated using Mastercam. The preview modes allowed us to tweak the step sizes until we could achieve the right aesthetic. The ridges allowed material to be placed where it was structurally needed to keep the petals stable and fixed. The top of the soffit became the circuit board for the LED’s and base for the servo towers.”
The mounting
“A series of prototypes informed the shape and structure of the components that create the overall form. Acrylic panels were flexed to their breaking points, fishing line was stressed, and multiple materials were tested for the rigid top surface including, HDF, MDF, Particleboard, and High Density Foam.”
The CNC-milled MDF soffit
“The surface reacts to people standing and moving beneath it, as Arduino micro-controllers are used to receive infrared sensor data and to control the position of the servos. The sensors detect speed and direction of people in relation to the piece. If a user stands still for a long enough period of time, the petals will retract into the completed surface, but once activated by human occupation, the piece opens and closes pods.”
MorphoLuminesence by PROJECTiONE
Team: Elizabeth Boone, Eric Brockmeyer, Adam Buente, Kyle Perry
Faculty: Mahesh Senagala, Joshua Vermillion
Partners: The Morpholuminescence project was made possible by the generosity of the following industry partners: Buente|Buente Architects, Capstone Real Estate, LHI Lighting Sales, Ridout Plastics, The Estopinal Group, and VPS Architecture
