Last week I found myself in Zürich, Switzerland, which in itself is somewhat unusual for a person who typically lives and works in the great state of Texas.  To add to that, while installed in said location I experienced one of those intensive periods of excitement and discovery that only happen when you toss yourself and an over-stuffed rolling suitcase headlong into a foreign country and participate in a workshop in order to learn how to screen print electroluminescent lamps (and also to learn that, although they are healthier, multigrain croissants are simply not as delicious as the regular kind).

I should preface this by explaining, as I did many times to curious collaborators over the course of a week skipping up and down five flights of art school stairs coated in phosphor ink, exactly how I came to be in Switzerland in the first place.  The travel process was pretty standard, actually: I took a car to the airport, and then flew to another airport, and then another one, and then rode an extremely quiet and efficient train into Zürich, which turned out to be an extremely quiet and efficient city.

But in all seriousness, I’d like to extend sincere thanks to Manuel Kretzer, CAAD – Chair of Computer Aided Architectural Design, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Karmen Franinovic, Interaction Design, DDE, Zurich University of the Arts, Daniel Bisig, Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology, DMU, Zurich University of the Arts, and Rachel Wingfield and Mathias Gmachl of Loop.pH, along with my amazing fellow workshop collaborators, all of whom I consider excellent, encouraging, and genius-tastic new friends, for the opportunity to participate in the Actuated Matter Workshop because … the experience was completely epic.

So epic, in fact, that I am in the process of producing a series of posts that focus on each of the materials/technologies that we investigated (I will turn the list into a series of links once everything is written because only today am I over my debilitating jet lag/have finished doing all my laundry):

Glass-fiber Reinforced Plastic

Electroluminescent (EL) Lamps

Electro-active Polymer (EAP)

Printed Loudspeakers

Thermochromic Ink

Although I have written about some of these items in the past, I must confess to you all that a hands-on approach where you try to make these materials do something specific has given me a new insight – and I almost feel like each has a distinct personality (and some may even have distinct personality disorders).

Another thing I noticed was that there is a peculiar rush associated with actuating matter – when Manuel casually electrocuted our EL lamps into functionality, I felt like Dr. Frankenstein watching the monster open his eyes for the first time and it flooded me with a curious mixture of fascination and relief (not to mention a bit of suprise that the modules actually worked after the number of failed trial attempts).

EL Modules from ARCHITERIALS on Vimeo.

And, lucky for us, the EL lamps did not turn around and run out the door to kill innocent villagers like Frankenstein’s monster.  Well, at least, not as far as I know….

Image courtesy my.firefighternation.com

Manuel Kretzer sent me a description of the project, Material Animation, excerpts from which I’ll share here:

Material Animation is a kinetic light installation made from laser cut electro-luminescent (EL) foils which senses location, number and velocity of human occupants and responds through a multitude of wireless networked components to encourage further interaction with the environment.  It merges advanced techniques in parametric design, digital fabrication, physical computing, electronics and material science with theories and computational approaches to machine intelligence and sets them into a real world context.

The experiment is situated in three rooms of an idle emergency bunker below ETH Zürich’s Science City campus. Each room reflects a different theme and approach to physically animate the distinctive material properties at an architectural scale. Electroluminescent foils are extremely thin, flexible and lightweight screens which emit a homogeneous cold light across their surface without the need for additional infrastructure.

So to recap: you enter an unused emergency bunker (danger! – I told you not to take off your helmet!!) and then wind your way through a series of darkened rooms, each of which contains objects that are not alive, but which can sense your presence and respond.  Each room is equipped with one Microsoft Kinect Sensor, which is usually used to control the Xbox 360 console using gestures and spoken commands. The device features an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone, which provide full-body 3D motion, capture, facial recognition and voice recognition capabilities.

The behavior of the elements in each room depends on the number of people present in each room, their location, movement and speed, and if more than two people are in the same room, also the area of space they occupy. The elements encourage people to interact with the installation, allowing the system to collect real-time feedback. Not only that, but the various installations are connected into a network, so that something going on in one room can trigger activity in another.

Vapor

Vapor creates a fluid space consisting of eight floating elements that are expanding and contracting according to location and amount of users. The main focus was to emphasize the lightness of the material and maximize the three dimensional form which is created through the way that two electroluminescent A4 sheets are cut and combined. Generative design processes and the use of parametric software led to an oval shape that allows top and bottom part to reveal and conceal independently from each other. Each element is controlled and animated by two servo-driven pulleys, which are mounted to the back wall of the room. The servos allow for the expansion and contraction of the top and bottom layer and simultaneously raise the element in space. The speed of movement and frequency of illumination are determined by a Java programmed behavior and the real time input of the sensor system, which are then tuned to the overall performance of the other spaces.

Open Wires

Open Wires aims to create an environment based on lighted, ephemeral and unpredictable three-dimensional shapes.  The system consists of 31 EL strips that revolve and flicker in high speed. The strips are attached to the ceiling at two different heights. The first level is overhead, acting as a collective cloud system. The second position is lower and invites the visitors to touch and distort the ray trace. Each element mainly consists of an electroluminescent foil, a square-shaped rotary contact and a DC motor. The motor is fixed to the acrylic structure of the system. Through a metal axis, the rotary contact and the EL foil are attached to the motor. Two fixed open wires power the foil through the rotary contact.  The visual impact of Open Wires is affected by both the revolving speed of the motors and the on/off state of the EL strips. The combination of these two factors forms the unpredictable shapes in space.

Insomnia

Insomnia focuses on the flexibility, thinness and homogeneous illumination of the material. These properties are used to back light two separated optical animations based on moiré patterns. This effect appears when two transparent layers containing coherent opaque patterns are overlapped and moved against each other. Each structure consists of an EL layer, printed black and white pictures and a striped pattern, which slides horizontally. The project was approached from three sides. First the flexibility and pliability of the material was explored. Second the optical illusion resulting from the moiré effect and how it tricks and stimulates human perception was analyzed and reproduced. Third a structural and mechanical system was developed that would incorporate and unify the various layers.

Disturbance

Disturbance generates a vividly vibrating structure that appears and disappears and invites the users to pass through and linger among its suspended tentacles. The piece consists of 64 thin electroluminescent strips, which are evenly spread along a circular disk that is fixed to the ceiling of the space. While lit, they form a cylindrical surface that blurs and shivers when it’s being hit by the fast spinning propeller that sits in the center of the disk. Depending on the proximity and location of approaching people light patterns gradually appear and disappear along the round surface. As with the other installations, the piece is networked and adopts its behavior to situations happening in the different rooms.

The project is a case study in the possibilities of Electroluminescence, an optical phenomenon in which light is emitted by a material in response to a strong electric field.  Material Animation used EL foils, which are extremely flexible, lightweight, thin screens that can be described as:

flat light bulb sandwiches consisting of layers of conductive and non-conductive plastic and a layer of phosphor. Light is produced when an electric current is passed through a semiconductor with tiny holes. As the excited electrons pass over these holes, they release their energy as photons, which result in a steady glow of the material.  Compared to other lighting technologies electroluminescent lights require very little alternating current but a relatively high voltage (between 60 and 600 volts).  In contrast to neon lamps, filament lamps or LEDs, electroluminescent light is non-directional, so the brightness of the surface appears consistent from any viewing angle. The emitted light is perfectly homogeneous and visible from a great distance. Because EL sheets are self-contained, there is no further infrastructure needed for installation.

WU XING:

I have filed Material Animation under Fire because of the EL components and all the electronics involved in this fascinating project. Special thanks to Manuel Kretzer for all the info!

Cited:

Kretzer, Manuel. “Material Animation.” CAAD ETH 2011. (Text Excerpts and Images unless noted otherwise).

Image courtesy thenewyorkgreenadvocate.blogspot.com

The Lumenatrix Backlighting System by Duo-Guard aims to remedy at least the energy consumption issue by providing an LED-based architectural lighting system that allows designers to create free standing, smoothly illuminated architectural elements such as walls and ceilings without hot spots.

The Lumenatrix system is comprised of tiles (squares, hexagons, octagons, or rounds that can be custom-fabricated in 2″-12″ depths) supplied individually or in prearranged configurations.  The tiles can be recessed, surface, or pendant mounted, and they’re capable of transmitting daylight, which reduces the cost of a glowing wall during daylight hours.  The tiles are arranged in panels that consist of a structural power rail grid system that provides low voltage electricity to the LEDs.  The lights can slide on the rails to produce specific lighting effects.

Image courtesy thenewyorkgreenadvocate.blogspot.com

Heat sinks allow the system to run at lower temperatures, which theoretically increases the lifespan of the LED bulbs, and with one LED per square foot of illuminated surface, the power consumption of the system can be as low as 1-3 watts per square foot.

Check out the following video produced by Duo-Guard for Greenbuild last year to learn more about the system!

WU XING:

I have filed Lumenatrix Backlighting system under Fire, since it involves lighting.

Cited:

Lumenatrix Site

ARCHITERIALS is a year old now, and like most healthy, well-adjusted one-year-olds it needs to be changed constantly, crawls all over my apartment, and makes strange burbling noises.  No, really – it does.  It’s terrifying.

Over the past year I’ve profiled approximately 65 materials and learned about blogging, bacteria, and biscuits, although I must confess that the biscuts were a side project.  A delicious, buttery side project.  Anyhow, to celebrate the birthday of ARCHITERIALS and the fact that the tagline “Investigating architectural materials since 2010” has finally attained temporal legitimacy, I’ve compiled for this, the 10th day of January,  a list of 10 materials from 2010 that are generally awesome.  I’ve also summarized the awesomeness of each material in a brief paragraph, and I’ve tried to frame each one as part of a larger, sort of big-picture trend in materials science that I’m studying.  Should you click on the links and read the detailed posts about each material for more information? Definitely. 

Finally, thank you so much to those who’ve submitted information, followed, liked, and posted photos over the past year, I appreciate it more than you can imagine!  Keep the materials coming and do tell your friends if your friends seem like people who might be interested in ARCHITERIALS.

Ten Awesome Materials from 2010 and Reasons They are Awesome:

1.  Materials that can be deployed in disasters or used to improve living conditions:  Concrete Cloth

Concrete cloth is a concrete-impregnated fabric that is fire-proof, waterproof, moldable, drapeable, durable and generally fantastic.  Applications include: gabion reinforcement, sandbag defenses, ground surfacing/dust suppression, ditch lining, landing surfaces, formwork, spill containment and landfill lining, waterproofing, building cladding, boat ramps, erosion control, roof repair, water and septic tanks.  Concrete cloth solves problems you don’t even know you have, although nothing can repair your terrible relationship with your mother-in-law.   

2.  Sustainable, non-toxic materials:  Reclaimed Wood and Agricultural Fiber Panels

Kirei Board, Kirei Coco Tiles and Kirei Wheatboard made from the non-food portions (stalks and husks) of sorghum, coconut, and wheat plants.  The agricultural fiber that’s not sold by farmers for use in the manufacture of Kirei board takes up space in landfills or gets burned up and pollutes the air – therefore repurposing it cuts down on that sort of thing.  Sustainable building materials make the planet happy, and a happy planet makes for happy people. 

3.  Biodegradable materials:  Arbofoam

As it turns out, lignin can be transformed into a renewable plastic if it’s combined with resins, flax and other natural fibers. The resulting bio-plastic, called Arboform, can be thermoformed, foamed, or molded via injection machines.  It’s durable and super-precise when it’s cast, and it degrades similar to wood into water, humus, and carbon dioxide. It’s very cool stuff indeed and I’d love it if someone would send me information about a project where it’s been used.  Biodegradable materials cut down on landfill and reduce environmental pollution. 

4.  Thermoplastic/thermoelastic/thermoformed/thermo-etcetera materials:  Chemical Velcro

How could you not get excited about an adhesive 10 times stickier than Velcro and the reusable gecko-inspired glues that many research groups have been trying to perfect that comes apart when heated??!  I have been trying without success to get my hands on some of this to build demountable partition walls for my tiny apartment, and I’m not giving up.  Materials that respond to changes in temperature by changing their behavior or attributes will find widespread application in the future. 

5.  Materials that clean and sanitize themselves:  Liquid Glass

Liquid glass a coating that takes advantages of the unique properties of materials at nanoscale.  It is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids.  According to manufacturers, you can spray liquid glass on everything from wood to seeds to your sneakers.  It could someday replace all the toxic cleaning products you currently use to tidy and disinfect, and it reportedly costs about 8 dollars.  Materials that clean and sanitize themselves cut down on the need for toxic chemicals and pollutants. 

6.  Materials that emit light efficiently:   White LED Lights

White LED lights emit more light than a typical 20-watt fluorescent bulb, as well as more light for a given amount of power. With these improvements, the new LEDs can replace traditional fluorescent bulbs for all general lighting applications, and also be used for automobile headlights and LCD backlighting.  Shedding light on any given subject has never been more efficient.  As we transition to alternative forms of energy we are also looking for materials that emit light without using much energy in the first place.

7.  Nanomaterials:  Gold Nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles can be used to further increase the efficiency of LED lights.  Researchers have implanted the particles in the leaves of aquatic plants, causing the leaves to emit red light.  Theoretically, the light produced by the leaves could cause their chloroplasts to conduct photosynthesis, meaning that no additional energy source would be needed to power the process.  In fact, the leaves would actually work overtime, absorbing CO₂ at night.  Nanomaterials allow us to intervene in processes like photosynthesis with a previously unheard-of degree of delicacy.

8.  Materials that augment already useful material properties:  Bendywood 

Bendywood is wood that has been pre-compressed so that it can be easily bent by hand.  The tension that forms on the outside of a bend merely returns the plant cells to their former shape, and the wood doesn’t break.  The material is delightfully flexible and pliable.  Bendywood was developed for indoor uses such as furniture, handrails, or curved mouldings, and it shows enormous promise.  Materials like Bendywood amplify the appealing properties of familiar materials so that it’s even easier to use them to our benefit.

9.  Bio-based materials:  Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)

At the intersection of biology and solar tech, there are jellyfish that produce green fluorescent protein (GFP).  Dripping GFP onto a silicon dioxide substrate between two electrodes causes it to work itself into strands, creating a circuit that absorbs photons and emits electrons in the presence of ultraviolet light.  The electron current (aka electricity) can then be used to power your hairdryer.  I’m completely fascinated by materials that help us to blur the boundaries between biological and man-made machines.

10.  Materials that repair themselves:  Bacilla Filla

Bacilla Filla is a material that patches up the cracks in concrete structures, restoring buildings damaged by seismic events or that have deteriorated over time.  Custom-designed bacteria burrows deep into the cracks in concrete, where they produce a mix of calcium carbonate and a special bacteria glue that hardens to the same strength of the surrounding concrete.  Materials that can detect their own flaws and damage and repair themselves will revolutionize the way we build and think about building materials in the future.

Image courtesy www.virginmedia.com

Installing blast-resistant glass in buildings that are potential targets of attacks or in regions prone to severe weather can save lives but unfortunately, most blast-resistant glass cannot be placed in a regular window frame. The upshot is that it’s incredibly difficult – not to say prohibitively expensive – to replace standard glass windows in most structures (Verrico).  So what can ordinary people who are not now and probably never will be Pope do to avoid being on the receiving end of jagged shards of glass flying through the air as a result of high winds or explosions

Image courtesy University of Missouri

A team of engineers from the University of Missouri and the University of Sydney in Australia think the answer is to install a “blast-resistant glass that is lighter, thinner, and colorless, yet tough enough to withstand the force of an explosion, earthquake, or hurricanes winds” (Verrico).  In contrast with today’s blast-resistant windows, which are made of pure polymer layers, their design consists of a plastic composite that has an interlayer of polymer reinforced with glass fibers.  And most exciting, it’s only a quarter-inch thick.

Image courtesy University of Missouri

So let’s talk about this interlayer for a minute.  Long glass fibers 15 to 25 micrometers in diameter (about half the thickness of a typical human hair) are woven together to form a kind of glass cloth, which is then soaked with liquid plastic and bonded with adhesive.   The small size of the glass fibers reduces the incidence of defects and cracking in the glass.   The fibers also provide reinforcing for the polymer matrix used to bind them together.  The glass fibers, plastic, and the adhesive that bond the interlayer to two thin sheets of glass on either side are all transparent to visible light.

Image courtesy University of Missouri

It is expected that the blast-resistant glass will “slip easily into standard commercial window frames, making it much more practical and cost-efficient to install…. The goal is to create blast-resistant panes as large as 48 by 66 inches (he standard General Services Administration window size for qualification blast testing) that can still be cost-effective. While dependent on results from upcoming tests, [the] glass could become commercially available in three to four years” (Verrico).  I can see this type of glass being mandated in the future in places like Florida and the other Gulf Coast states, and for government buildings all over the world.  And maybe it one day lightweight, blast-resistant glass will even be used to increase the fuel efficiency of the Popemobile?

WU XING:

I’ve filed thin, blast-resistant glass under water, fire, and wood because it’s a composite and it just feels right.

Cited:

Verrico, John. “A New Kind of Blast-Resistant Glass.” Press Release. US Department of Homeland Security – Science and Technology. 12/9/10. Accessed 1/4/11.  URL.

Resin is intriguing stuff.  In my mind it’s like honey to the power of two; it’s sticky as all hell, often golden or amber (ha!) in color, and it is, chemically speaking, a lot many kinds of serious.  Technically resin is a “hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees valued for its chemical constituents and uses such as varnishes and adhesives, as an important source of raw materials for organic synthesis, or for incense and perfume” (Wikipedia).  It can also be used to make translucent panels in a wide range of colors and textures, which is why I’m writing about it.

Image credit http://www.entertainmentwise.com

If there were a Rolling Stone magazine equivalent for the materials science set, graphene would be on the cover.  Graphene consists of “single-atom–thick sheets of carbon prized for its off-the-charts ability to conduct electrons and for being all but transparent” (Service).  Graphene, like Russell Brand, has some intriguing qualities:  it’s extremely strong and highly conductive, which along with its transparency, make it an attractive alternative for use as a transparent conductor.  Everything from computer displays and flat panel TVs to ATM touch screens and solar cells use transparent conductors these days, and finding a material that is strong, thin, and flaw-free has been a challenge. 

Image credit http://www.lbl.gov

According to Moore’s Law, the density of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles every two years.  Silicon and “other existing transistor materials are thought to be close to the minimum size where they can remain effective. Graphene transistors can potentially run at faster speeds and cope with higher temperatures. Graphene could be the solution to ensuring computing technology to continue to grow in power whilst shrinking in size, extending the life of Moore’s law by many years” (Science Daily).  In other words, graphene might be about to drop Jailhouse Rock. 

Since scientists first isolated graphene in 2004, they’ve struggled to produce the carbon sheets in sizes large enough to be useful.  Last year, a group led by University of Texas, Austin chemist Rodney Ruoff grew graphene squares one centimeter square atop flexible copper foils.  A few days ago, a group of researchers led by Jong-Hyun Ahn and Byung Hee Hong of Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea submitted a report in Nature Nanotechnologydescribing their efforts to scale up the approach taken by the Texas team to make graphene sheets large enough for full-screen displays (Service).

The graphene microchip. (Credit: Photo / Donna Coveney)

Ahn and Hong et al used chemical vapor depositionto grow graphene on large sheets of copper foil. A thin adhesive polymer was layered on top of the graphene, and then the copper backing was dissolved away. “Peeling off the adhesive polymer gave them a single graphene sheet. To make their film stronger, they repeated the initial steps, layering four sheets of graphene atop one another. The researchers then chemically treated their graphene sandwich with nitric acid to improve its electrical conductivity.  The film allowed 90% of light to pass through and had an electrical resistance lower than that of the standard transparent conductor made from indium tin oxide (ITO)” (Service).

Credit: Jong-Hyun Ahn et al., Nature Nanotechnology, Advance Online Publication (2010).

Graphene could be used to make more efficient/cheaper solar cells, better large screen displays for electronics, and so on.  If the larger sheet sizes pan out, we might just be looking at the Elvis of materials.  Time will tell.

WU XING:

I’m filing graphene under EARTH because it’s carbon-based.

Cited:

Science Daily. “Breakthrough in Developing Super-Material Graphene.” 01/19/10. Accessed 06/23/10.  URL.

Service, Robert F. “Graphene Finally Goes Big.” Science Now. 06/20/10. Accessed 06/23/10.  URL.

Image courtesy Litracon.hu

LUCEM

LUCEM was developed by a German company called robatex GmbH.  I have no earthly idea what any of that stands for – except that the “tex” aspect may relate more to textiles than to chips and salsa, which is maybe a little bit disappointing.  Their products and manufacturing processes are patent-pending and they won’t tell me about them, but as a consolation they offer additional consulting services about textiles and concrete.  Here’s what else you can get (according to their product information): a massive light transmitting concrete element that becomes translucent due to the incorporation of “high quality optical fibres” when placed in front of a natural and/or artifical light source.  This may produce a “fascinating atmosphere of light & shadows as well as colours and shapes” (Source: LUCEM).  The product is fire-resistant (always nice) and 100% recyclable.  In some cases it is also UV-resistant.  You know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking … FEATURE WALL!

Image courtesy LUCEM.de

Litracon