In July 2011 I had this chance to take part in a workshop on smart materials with ZHdK and ETH, Zurich.
This event attracted participant of different backgrounds and from different part of the world -Europe and USA (Allison- I still can’t believe you came to Zurich from Texas!)
Firstly, we experienced working with glass-fiber reinforced plastic sticks (GFRP). They are stiff and at the same time bendable enough to make circles, simply secured with small metal tube not to come back to its straight position. Circles, when joined together in specific combination, create variated shapes, from flat to three- dimentional. After some experimentation with those shapes we came to triply periodic minimal surface, which was the structure of our further development.
Then, participants divided into groups, concentrated on hands on usage of smart materials loops applying them to our GFRP structure. So there we had flat speakers loops, electroluminescence screen (EL) loops and electroactive polymers (EAP) loops. They made sounds, gave light and performed movement. Supported by Laura reading our Frankenstein stories -the final installation was like functional independent breathing organism. (http://blogs.iad.zhdk.ch/emotiveenvironments/collective-stories/ -I can assure your life won’t be the same after reading those stories :))
This workshop was part of a research initiative called “Emotive Environments” which you can read more about here: http://blogs.iad.zhdk.ch/emotiveenvironments
more at: https://vimeo.com/28147647
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariasmigielska/sets/72157627575865457/
Great thanks to lead project designers: MA. Dipl.- Ing. (arch) Karmen Franinovic, Mag. Art. Florian Wile (Interaction Design group, DDE, Zurich University of the Arts), Mathias Gmachl, Rachel Wingfield (Loop.pH design studio), Dipl.- Ing. (arch) Manuel Kretzer(Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, ITA, ETH, Zürich ),dr. Nat. Sci. Daniel Bisig (Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology, DMU, Zurich University of the Arts ).
The same super thanks to all great project collaborators: Katrin Bächli, Urban Bieri, Szilveszter Buzasi, Allison Dryer, Luke Franzke, Laura Kaehr, Moritz Kemper, Roman Kirschner, Jorge Orozco, Barbara Peikert, Margrit Rieben, Andrés Villa Torres, Silvan Zurbruegg.
