A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to see The Living at the CCA in San Francisco. Founded in 2004 by David Benjamin and Soo-in Yang, both graduates of Columbia, The Living is an architecture firm which also happens to run what they have termed Flash Research Projects. The rules are simple: each project must cost less than $1000, run less than 3 months, and the result must be a functioning prototype.
During their lecture, David and Soo-in covered three projects they’ve developed—Living Glass, River Glow, and Living Light—including the premise of each project and the design and development process, which I must say they have done a great job of documenting on their website.
The premise of Living Glass is “what if architecture responded to you?” Over the course of this project, they developed one prototype a week, either developing a new prototype or revising the prototype from the previous week. Using Flexinol wires (a shape memory alloy) cast in silicone, they created what are effectively gills in a surface, producing a kinetic wall.
The gills function on a couple of levels. They can regulate airflow in a room by opening and closing. When coupled with a thermostat, they can regulate temperature in a room. When coupled with a CO2 sensor, they can effectively respond to the presence of people in a room by allowing fresh air into the room when CO2 levels rise above a certain level. The physical motion of the gills produces a visual indicator of an otherwise invisible phenomenon.
With River Glow, the premise was “what if architecture produced its own energy?” This project consists of artificial lilypads which float on the surface of the water, take in sunlight during the day using thin-film photovoltaics, and at night use pH sensors to test the water and LEDs to relay those results to the shore in real-time. While the on-board sensors are not as accurate as EPA testing, the results (feedback) are immediate, whereas tests require at least a 1 day wait. Prototypes of River Glow have been implemented in a number of cities, including Copenhagen. (The above image is a prototype floating in a bathtub.)
Living Light is a project that interfaces data about air quality with public interest in air quality. This public sculpture is a representation of Seoul, folded into an arch and divided into panels which indicate air quality. The panels glow when air quality is better in a particular region of Seoul than it was the previous day, and it blinks when people query air quality using a mobile device. The Living won a commission from the Metropolitan Government of Seoul, South Korea for this project.
Check out The Living’s website for more information about their projects and their process. I also found a WorldChanging article from last year which talks about these projects and has a video of their presentation.
