Project Objective : Our research is focused on nano scale understanding of material behaviour to shape-control-design landforms. Making a small intervention through deposition of a binder into an abundant naturalmaterial, letting nature’s forces to take over to present and fade away landforms. A small intervention for a big change! What if we could control how our landforms are shaped using natural forces and natural materials of abundance? Can we really decide and design landforms of the future, literally?

The Self-Adaptive membrane is as totally passive and kinetic system that allows the expansion on a geometry that automatically responds to the natural increase of heat of the environment. Many systems available in the market use motors and sensors to conserve energy expended on cooling and heating, however these systems require electricity to operate. Our research is based on the use a thermo responsive smart material: Shape Memory Alloy and the exploit of its full capacities to achieve a passive performance.

Team: Nohelia Gonzalez / Shreyas More

Contemporary architectural trends of predominantly glazed facades correspond to the human desire of maximal daylight and transparency inside of their built environment. However, such large glazed areas come along with a large amount of solar radiation which has a major impact on a building’s interior tempering.
Particularly in such regions with tropical climatic conditions the probability of overheating is supplemented with a frequent lack of air ventilation due to constantly high ambient humidity. High energy consuming ventilation and air conditioning systems are often required to provide a pleasant indoor climate. For instance the number of private households with air-conditioning in Malaysia have increased from 13.000 in 19070 (0.8%) to 775.000 in 2000 (16.2%). In fact, 29% of the total yearly Energy Consumption of Malaysia (24.5 GJ/ year) is used for cooling processes, including Air Conditioning systems and ceiling fans.
Within the scope of this research project the approach is to provide solutions for the central problem of poor ventilation and overheating at hot and humid locations by identifying if a facade envelope can operate as a self-regulating system responding to individual environmental conditions.

This research project speculates biomimetic ventilation and cooling strategies responding to climatic and seasonal environmental parameters. The Hydromembrane is a humidity sensitive composite system which can be introduced to different potential applications, at a macro- or a micro-scale.The membraneconsists of six layers and merging three materials with significantly different physical and chemical features. The Hydromembrane reacts to moisture as the input and responds with aperture deformations as a primer output. A secondary cooling effect appears due to the Hydromorph’s property of water absorption and evaporation. The aim of this research was to develop a passive composite material which benefits from the Hydromorph as a shape memorizing actuator.
The Hydromembrane is highly shape adaptive due to its flexibility and thinness. It can be applied as a second skin to existing buildings or as a smart textile. The membrane exhibits full shape memory without loss of definition. The system performs completely passive in contrast to ordinary ventilation and cooling systems which are highly energy consuming. Additionally, the Hydromorph is permanently durable which lowers the costs of maintenance in the long-term perspective.
This proposal suggests dynamism and adaptivity through transformation and shape shift, triggered by the Hydromorph’s main property of vast volume expansion. The Hydromembrane functions as a self-regulating composite system which effectively balances interior climates to satisfy human comfort criteria regarding humidity, temperature and air movement. Reacting according to environmental conditions the Hydromembrane is able to control interior humidity and temperature ratios.

A NEW PARADIGM OF DATA VISUALIZATION

Multiplying a colour changing pixel on a skin to display real time data with the technology at hand today a lot of interactive building facades have come into existence. Although some maybe powered by passive means replacing the medium of the visual field itself has rarely been attempted. The idea of our project is to develop a pixel that changes colour in response to environmental changes and to exercise control over this colour change. A composition that could facilitate control through remote interfaces. This research opens up the possibilities of a new paradigm in how we use mechanically powered systems to control visual representation. We believe our project has the potential to contribute more to the concept of smart cities in terms of information sharing and display. Retail outlets could have passive facades that change seasonally which communicate a required message to customers. Skyscrapers could have skins that project any form of visual data to interact with people outside or even with other buildings. Building skins can be passive systems for real time data visualization. Thus smart cities can have smart buildings with communicate through their facades.

REMEMBRANE.NET [click to visit our site]

REMEMBRANE BOOK [click to read]

The Remembrane project is a research that aims to design a new adaptable system that can be endlessly reshaped to meet the requirements of the users and perform in an efficient and sustainable way. It is based on the study of tensegrity and pantograph structures as a starting point to develop multiple digital and physical models of different systems. It is not the goal of the project to design a specific architectural or urban element but to define a system that could be further developped in many different ways.

An important part of the project is the investigation of smart materials that can replace motors to create a lightweight distributed system of actuators embedded into the structure. Nitinol (a shape memory alloy) has been studied and used in the prototypes as a very light linear actuator, requiring only heat to be activated.

The study of different ways of interacting with kinetic structures and the possibility of creating a prototype with artificial intelligence is the last but essential aspect of the project. A web based user interface has been specifically designed and developped in order to easily interact with the prototype. The interface can be used to send orders to the structure manually or to switch to automatic mode in which the structure will make its own decisions according to the data measured by the sensors.

The Remembrane prototype allows us to envision a shift in the future of architectural approach in which spaces, buildings and entire cities will be able to move and adapt autonomously to perform in the most optimal way.

REMEMBRANE 2.0

REMEMBRANE VISION

REMEMBRANE 1.0

PRE-REMEMBRANE

research booklet link:  http://issuu.com/ninapapakonstantinou/docs/fabricflation/1

Textiles’ tension and their ability to transform into self- supporting and self-adapting surfaces, when a system of patterns from different materials is embedded on them, has been  our  main interest from the beginning of the Digital Matter- Intelligent Constructions Studio.  This system can generate significant three-dimensional structural organization from   a two-dimensional leightweight and flexible surface of fabric, which grew to be our  objective for the DMIC research.

At the first stage, our research was focused on the deformations that occur when simple patterns are being 3d-printed with certain filament on stretched lycra fabric. The conclusions extracted from this stage are important for the form-finding of our final structures in a bigger scale.

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Deformation Principles

The next step of our research was to define a way to enlarge our structures. The PLA filament we mainly used for the 3d-printing is a typical thermoplastic material, meaning that becomes pliable or moldable above a specific temperature and solidifies upon cooling. This way, when the prototypes are heated the printed pattern becomes less stiff and at the same time the forces of the stretching of the fabric prevail and the deformation becomes more intense. Except if an external force is applied, the pattern becomes stiff again when cooled in a new position. The exploration of pattern deformations onto prestretched textiles revealed the potentiality of the  3d Printing Research in terms of application procedure and derformation control, as well as the need to be redifined in a larger scale. Thus, our research focus shifted to  alternating material deposition and application procedure, taking into consideration the intended behaviour of our project, which is based on materials and systems that change stiffness and in that way deform fabric structures.

Depositng flexible filament on prestretched fabric frames and, at the same time, adding actuating parameters apart from fabric pretension. enabled us to scale up and enhance the deforming patterns exploration. Inserting air in tube patterns, similar to the two dimensional patterns explored and controlling the occuring deformations became our research objective, as it would augment the deformed patterns that were tested during the 3d Printing Research of our project. As air flow enables tube stiffness change, we experimented with air importation in tube networks on prestreched fabric.

Square Particle Deformation

Square Particle Deformation _ One Diagonal

Square Particle Deformation _ Two Diagonals

Anchored Particle _ Variation of Anchor Points Distance

The last stage of our research focused on studying and printing pneumatic artificial muscles, as well as the means in which the can be implented in the deforming fabric structures. Air flow insertion on 3d Printed Patterned Tubes showed the capability of stiffness change on our experiments and more importantly the ability to enhace deformation state range. However, as a mean of stiffness change it proved to be limiting in terms in controling and stabilizing the deformed fabric patterns. Subsequently, we considered using inflation instead of merely air passage, in order to provide a higher level of ruling on the deformation states of the patterns.

In this way, we started printing pneumatic artificial muscles, in order to study  their function and principles, with the aim of embedding them on the process  of stiffness change of patterned prestretched fabric. Testing various muscles and the parameters that control their behaviour enabled us to provide more  control on the occuring deformed geometries on prestretched fabrics. Along with this research, we tested  prefabricated silicone tubes and ways in which we can simulate artificial muscles principles and their inflation movent, so that we could test the scalability of our research.

Basic Artificial Muscles  Deformation Experiments

Fabric Implementation

Free Form Curved Muscles

Inflated 3D Printed Tubes Deformation Princliples

Considering the expriments of various 3d Printed Artificial Muscles, it became evident that prebended shapes that are inflated have the highest percentage of deformation. The bending movement can be controlled by individual manipulation of the muscles side thicknesses, as well as by their geometry. In that way, for designing our performative prototype, we chose the most deforming arificial muscles -those printed in a curved shape- in combination with the most deforming patterns on prestretched materials. Compiling the above in linear, two dimensional and three dimensional ways, we finalized our prototype design. Thus, we designed two performative prototypes, one that is based on a 3d printed tube structure, and a close up of part of it in real scale, using the silicone tubes. These prototypes generate various curvature forms that can have multiple applications as linear objects, surfaces and spaces.

3d Printed Prototype Tube Structure

3d Printed Prototype Tube Structure _ Actuating Moments

3d Printed Prototype Tube Structure _Multiple Actuating System

Scale Up _ Silicone Tubes Pattern Fabrication

Muscle Simulation using Siicone Tubes

3d Printed Prototype Tube Structure _ Components and Assembly

3d Printed Prototype Tube Structure _ Final Scale Up Prototype

Applications

Linear Formation _ Pattern Compilation

3dimensional Pattern Combinations

Space formations_Indicatory sections

Space formations

Space Assembly Variations  depending on User Stimuli

The  Urban platform is a constantly evolving phenomenon of the modern cityscape. Being the infrastructure of the arts, informal performace deserves a structure that can be as flexible and fleeting as program it accomodates. Pneuhertz is an air supported structure that inhales to assume a predetermined form and acoustic quality to match its user requirement. It exhales to leave a folded footprint of fabric.

The system is a network of interlocking air pockets of tpu nylon that are restrained by a series of variable resistance bands. The internal air channels are  to change the absorptive and reflective properties of the structure to resist or allow the propagation of waves. The structure contributes to the static and dynamic nature of sound in its translation from deflated to inflated states

https://youtu.be/8fOttOAKPAg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO6fSB9KZ8I

https://youtu.be/jxHTD614Scc

Soft Skin is a research project that investigates possibilities of using airinflation in architecture, as an active response to constantly changing parameters in environment. The Skin is a new composite material made of thin layers of flexible silicone rubber and elastic fabric. Material system consists of series of inflatable cells combined in groups, which could be inflated or deflated to change form and appearance. This tunable topography responds to real time data of wind and light. These two parameters determine behavior of the skin that responds with different air pressures inside the system.