Transmaterial » digital

Flight Assembled Architecture

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:33 +0000

Flight Assembled Architecture is a demonstration project that exhibits research conducted on flying machine enabled construction by ETH Zürich professor Raffaello D’Andrea and architects Gramazio & Kohler. The first installation to be built by flying machines, Flight Assembled Architecture utilizes software-controlled flying robots to place foam bricks individually in order to construct a large open-weave structure. Imagined as a scale representation of a 600 m tall towering city, the installation “addresses radical new ways of thinking and materializing architecture as a physical process of dynamic formation,” says D’Andrea.

Contact: ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Liquid Display

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:00:12 +0000

The Liquid Display is an ambient display comprised by a screen filled with liquid and programmed air bubbles. Developed by Nicolas Büchi, the interface consists of multiple water or water-based emulsion filled cubes. The Liquid Display is intended to convey information discretely—approaching the limits of perception—rather than the increasingly saturated information exhibited by contemporary display technologies.

Contact: Nicolas Büchi, Basel, Switzerland.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Dukta

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:00:16 +0000

Dukta is a timber forming system that uses precise incisions to impart flexibility. Developed by Christian Kuhn and Serge Lunin, the method allows stiff wood panels to be easily shaped in three dimensions. The near rubbery flexibility is achieved with staggered, regularly arranged incisions. Different cutting options expand the scope of possible applications, and the simple method is suitable for various wood products such as plywood, fiberboard and solid wood. The process may also be applied to plastics and metals with similar effect.

Contact: Dukta, Olten, Switzerland.

Dynamic Performance of Nature

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:00:51 +0000

Situated sensing technologies have created unprecedented ways with which to achieve a new synchronous relationship with the world. According to Portland-based design practice SoftRigid, the ability to observe the behavior of our environment through an orchestration of high-tech sensing devices displayed through dynamic architectural interfaces will enable a new form of environmental perception. SoftRigid’s installation Dynamic Performance of Nature embodies this ethos by utilizing an array of locally- and globally-distributed open-source environmental sensing devices integrated with a dynamic and communicative material assembly.

The project captures live data about weather such as wind speed and direction, temperature and relative humidity, and other measurable environmental phenomena such as seismic activity, from around the world and translates it through full-color LED lighting embedded within semi-translucent HDPE. The installation communicates this information to museum visitors via custom processing scripts that display the information in illuminated flows of varying color, intensity, and direction which respond to the unique geometry of the wall’s overall form. According to the manufacturer, the assembly is designed to create an inspiring and informative user experience that imparts to its visitors this ethos of 21st century sustainability, seeking to transcend conventional applications of green techniques with something alive and integrated with the environment, connecting people to place through a synthesis of information, material, and architecture.

Contact: SoftRigid, Portland, OR, USA.

3D-Printed Wellboard

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 27 May 2011 14:00:27 +0000

Wellboard is a lightweight, cellulose-based material pressed into a variety of profiles for use in exhibition, shop and furniture design applications. 3D-Printed Wellboard employs an image-transfer process developed by Okalux entitled Okacolor. This innovative printing method allows digital images to maintain their geometrical integrity despite the deformations inherent in the contouring process. The combination of custom digital imagery and specific profiles can generate layered visual effects.

Contact: Well Ausstellungssystem GmbH, Hannover, Germany.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Raycounting

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:00:59 +0000

Raycounting is a method for generating form by registering the intensity and orientation of light rays. 3D surfaces of double curvature are the result of assigning light parameters to flat planes. Developed by Neri Oxman, the algorithm calculates the intensity, position and direction of one, or multiple, light sources placed in a given environment and assigns local curvature values to each point in space corresponding to the reference plane and the light dimension. The models explore the relation between geometry and light performance from a computational-geometry perspective. Light performance analysis tools are reconstructed programmatically to allow for morphological synthesis based on intensity, frequency and polarization of light parameters as defined by the user.

Contact: MIT Media Laboratory, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Wind 3.0

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:00:05 +0000

Wind 3.0 is an interactive wall feature comprised by hundreds of fibers which respond to a viewer’s presence based on a connection between electronic sensors and ventilators. Wind 3.0 moves with the viewer—when there is a lot of activity the wall makes large fluid motions, while in other circumstances the fiber animation resembles a soft breeze. In this way, a direct relationship is made between human behavior and sculptural dynamics. Developed by Netherlands-based Studio Roosegaarde, Wind 3.0 plays with the similarities and differences between nature and technology.

Contact: Studio Roosegaarde, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Unrepeatable Carpets

Blaine Brownell — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:00:54 +0000

A collaboration between visual artist Marcel Kronenburg and software engineer Marten Teitsma, Unrepeatable Carpets are the result of a process designed to create unique carpet patterns throughout buildings. A reaction against the repetitive monotony of standard carpet tiles, Unrepeatable Carpets apply randomly generated images and patterns to a variety of carpet materials. Custom-designed software runs a computer-controlled carpet printing machine, and this process generates an endless variety of outcomes using a particular decorative pattern. Due to the universal quality of the pattern, however, tiles may still be easily replaced when necessary.

Contact: Carpets for Buildings, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Media Cubes

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:00:40 +0000

Media Cubes invite tangible interaction to control media. Unlike conventional remote devices, this system consists of two cubes made out of wood. The system can track the orientation and rotation of the objects in order to relay particular commands. The user controls a particular function by orienting its symbol up, then rotating the cube to adjust the function—such as changing the volume level or scrolling through a song list.

The technology inside the cube is fairly simple. Gyroscopic and accelerometer sensors detect movement with a high level of accuracy. The signal is then sent via radio technology the same way a wireless mouse works. The cubes are charged with contactless induction technology, and there is no need for a power input. In this way, the Media Cubes demonstrate the unexpected integration of technological controls with a more intuitive, tactile interface.

Contact: Mattias Andersson, Johanneshov, Sweden.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.

Laser-Sintered Textiles

Blaine Brownell — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:00:51 +0000

Laser-Sintered Textiles, based on a concept by designer Jiri Evenhuis, have opened a new frontier of possibilities for the production of future textiles. Instead of creating textiles by the meter, then cutting and sewing them together into final products, Laser-Sintered Textiles could one day make needle and thread obsolete.

After several years of research in software, materials, and surface quality, Freedom of Creation (FOC) launched its first commercial products for the public in 2005. Since there were no machines made specifically for manufacturing interlocking textile patterns by layers, FOC employed rapidmanufacturing techniques such as laser sintering for their manufacture. FOC’s textile products don’t require any assembly and products may be made inside their own packaging.

Contact: Feedom of Creation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Find more information in Transmaterial 3.